34-Ownership of Ground Water and Its Pricing - Rajasthan Perspective.

Abstract

In Indian law, the person who owns the land also owns the ground water below. Though this law has some relevance as far as the domestic groundwater use is concerned, it is outright absurd for industrial use. The result is that today industries withdraw ground water that remains unregulated and unpriced. This lawlessness on use and extraction of groundwater has created problem of over-exploitation of ground water in the state of Rajasthan. As a result almost entire state has been classified as dark zone from groundwater exploration point of view. The present paper highlights the status of ground water in terms of quality and quantity for the state of Rajasthan. The paper also highlights summary of various water laws followed at international and national level and proposes a pricing structure of groundwater extraction for domestic, agriculture and industrial use. Making law and keeping the file should not be mandate of the law-makers, but one should propose ways for stakeholders participation in effective enforcement of these laws. Paper also addresses these issues for effective implementation.