Water Property Rights in India

As Indian states continue to revise and reform their water laws in response to the escalating water crises, property rights in water instruments and their effect on water governance gain importance. Based on the examination of 153 law and policy documents shortlisted to 64, it is found that (i) India has a plural governance model with provincial water statutes; (ii) these laws avoid addressing the underlying landownership-related groundwater and riparian rights, and instead perpetuate water rights linked to the land through a registration process; (iii) new state-issued permits provide quasi-property rights to permit holders but how this relates to point (ii) is unclear; and (iv) as most water is over-allocated, reallocating water will be challenging, given the above property rights system.