Title: Need to include ‘water’ in the Concurrent List.
SHRI RAJAIAH SIRICILLA (WARANGAL): Madam Speaker, I am very thankful to you for giving me this opportunity. I rise today to bring certain facts, through you, before this august House. This is with regard to the sharing of water. There are several disputes in sharing of water. We all know that India is an agricultural country.
More than 80-85 per cent of the people are living in rural India and are dependent on agriculture. Most of the water is available only due to rains. We are utilizing just 10-15 per cent of that rain water and the rest is going waste. It is a peculiar situation in our country that on the one side we are facing floods and on the other side, we are facing drought situation. We are suffering not only for want of water for irrigation purposes, but also for drinking purposes. At the same time, there are disputes in sharing the river waters. These disputes are pending in several courts for several years and we are not able to sort out this issue. This not only creates inter-State disputes, but this is also putting certain amount of pressure on the Government of India.
As of now, the subject of water is in the State List, but there is a feeling that it could no more continue to remain in that List, in the interest of the country and in the interest of the federal system. If it remains so, it may create certain other problems in the future.
Therefore, I would request the House, through you, Madam to consider this. This is the right time to think of bringing the subject of ‘water resources’ into the Central List or if not, at least into the Concurrent List so that water can be safely and without any dispute distributed among the needy areas of the country. Thank you.