Governance

The South Asian Conference on Sanitation (SACOSAN), a government led biennial convention held on a rotational basis in each country, is a platform for dialogue and influence created by the governments of South Asian Countries to review the progress made in the area of Sanitation.  The SACOSAN process would help to generate political will to narrow the gap in Sanitation access and usage.

The revelation by the Union Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar in the Lok Sabha on 26 July 2010 that over 11,700 tonnes of foodgrains worth Rs 6.86 crore were found "damaged" in government godowns is astonishing in a country where many people go without food.

There has been growing public and policy preoccupation in recent years with potential climate impacts on water security in the wake of the worsening risk of global warming. In 1991, then–UN secretary general Boutros Boutros-Ghali pronounced that “the next war will be fought over water, not politics.” In 2001, Kofi Annan warned that “fierce competition for fresh water may well become a source of conflict and wars in the future.” And present UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon has argued that the ongoing Darfur crisis grew at least in part from desertification, ecological degradation, and a scarcity of resources, foremost among them water. Apart from this chorus of concern, many policy scholars have asserted that, as population growth and economic development raise pressures on demand and environmental pressures degrade supplies, resource scarcities could precipitate violent international conflicts, with shared rivers an especially dangerous flashpoint.

Water law and policy framework in India has undergone significant changes in the last couple decades. Given the complex nature of the law and policy framework, the awareness among common people is minimal or nil. This is an irony given the fact that recent law and policy changes call for ‘users’ to be as a key player in the management and development of water.