Property in Indian Water: A Future Transformed by Climate
U. of Adelaide Law Research Paper No. 2021-54
Amity Law Review (15) December 2019 p1-17
18 Pages Posted: 7 Jul 2021
Date Written: July 6, 2021
Abstract
This article, which contains four parts, explores the ways in which climate
change challenges the nature of property in Indian water. The first briefly
recounts the ways in which control over surface freshwater is currently achieved
in India. It focuses on the use of property as a concept for use in determining
allocation, identifying a continuum of approaches to allocating property in water.
Yet, because such allocation is nothing more than a fragmentation of the water
resource in increasingly smaller bundles, the second part explains why doing so
will result, ultimately, in the inability of any user to make effective use of the
resource, for any purpose. The third part considers two alternatives to property
as a means of allocating the use of freshwater found in Indian rivers, one secular,
the other sacred. Finally, the article concludes with some brief reflections on the
nature of transformative change necessary to achieve a sustainable and inclusive
approach to water allocation.
Keywords: Indian water, population, warming, scarce resource, property.
JEL Classification: K11
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation