Passage - 1
We often hear about conflicts among different States in India over river waters. Of the 20 major river systems, 14 are already water-stressed; 75% of the population lives in water-stressed regions, a third of whom live in water-scarce areas. Climate change, the demands of rising population and the need for agriculture to keep pace, and increased rate of urbanization and industrialization will exacerbate water stress. According to the Constitution of India, water is a State subject and not that of the Union, except for regulation of inter-State rivers. Key to ensuring balance between competing demands of various stakeholders is a basin-based approach to allocate water amongst constituent regions and States. Allocating fair share of water to them requires assessments based on objective criteria, such as specificities of the river basin, size of dependent population, existing water use and demand, efficiency of use, projected future use, etc. while ensuring the environmental needs of the river and aquifers.

Which one of the following statements best reflects the most rational, practical and immediate action required to ensure fair and equitable allocation of water to different stakeholders?

Question

Passage - 1
We often hear about conflicts among different States in India over river waters. Of the 20 major river systems, 14 are already water-stressed; 75% of the population lives in water-stressed regions, a third of whom live in water-scarce areas. Climate change, the demands of rising population and the need for agriculture to keep pace, and increased rate of urbanization and industrialization will exacerbate water stress. According to the Constitution of India, water is a State subject and not that of the Union, except for regulation of inter-State rivers. Key to ensuring balance between competing demands of various stakeholders is a basin-based approach to allocate water amongst constituent regions and States. Allocating fair share of water to them requires assessments based on objective criteria, such as specificities of the river basin, size of dependent population, existing water use and demand, efficiency of use, projected future use, etc. while ensuring the environmental needs of the river and aquifers.

Which one of the following statements best reflects the most rational, practical and immediate action required to ensure fair and equitable allocation of water to different stakeholders?

Accepted Answer

Correct Option: A national, pragmatic, legal and policy framework for water allocation should be made. The passage highlights that water is a State subject with inter-State river regulation under the Union, and increasing water stress requires a basin-based approach considering objective criteria such as dependent population, river basin specificities, and environmental needs. To implement this uniformly and equitably across competing States and regions, a macro-level structured legal, policy, and administrative framework at the national level is the most rational, practical, and immediate structural action. Other options like interlinking all rivers or massive canal creation are ecologically and economically extreme or impractical, while merely reducing sector demand does not address the institutional allocation mechanism. Thus, option (a) is the correct reflection of the passage's core message.

Which one of the following statements best reflects the most rational, practical and immediate action required to ensure fair and equitable allocation of water to different stakeholders?

हिंदी में प्रश्न एवं आदर्श उत्तर