NIRVIKAR SINGH of University of California, Santa Cruz states that rapid economic growth, low per capita availability of water and underdeveloped physical and institutional infrastructure could lead to a potential 50% water supply shortfall in India making it one of the most severely affected countries as reported in the McKinsey-Water Resources Group study on the economic aspects of water supply.
In an East Asia forum commentary, "India’s water management challenge", he advocates an approach that focused on improving water usage efficiency in agriculture which accounted for 80% of India's water utilization and a shift away from large-scale infrastructure projects, municipal dams and river interlinking towards local water management practices to promote greater efficiency of water use while state governments could focus on promoting innovation in agricultural practices and productivity.
He states that although the National Water Mission offered a comprehensive approach including conservation, efficiency and government co-ordination, there were vital shortcomings related to lack of an economics-based prioritization, adequate co-ordination vertically down to the local level and horizontally across government departments and calls for an inclusion of local water-management bodies to fill the current gaps.
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