Water Crises and Market

• —water markets.  They already exist and are unlikely to disappear.
• —Two basic prerequisites: A tradable commodity and ownership rights.
• —Is water a commodity – we have already answer this question in Yes and No.
• —The second ,namely, ownership,is even more problematic.
• There is no recognition of ownership rights over flowing surface water in Indian of international law.
• The advocates of the water markets recommend Define property rights and allow trading.
• The state in India does accord land title , similarly define property rights of water.
• Can an individual sell the water available to him.
• Are the water rights of a farmer for irrigation , or those industry for industrial uses property rights and they can be made tradable?
• Consider domestic water supply first. We may say that a citizen ( or a Household ) has a right in this regard, but what kind of right is it?
• Assuming hypothetically that an individual is entitled to a supply of 100 litre per day and a household of 5 members to 500 litre per day , can the individual or a household be allowed to sell that right to someone else?
•  If  the right to water is a part to the right of life , how can it be regarded as property right and made tradable? That objection seems unanswerable.
• Are the rights of a farmer for irrigation, or those of an industry for industrial uses , property rights, and can they be made tradable?
•  In some countries as USA it is a sellable commodity. Conflict  between states be solved if this is allowed.
• —In the domestic context, how to allow limited and regulated water markets to function without inequity and injustice, and without danger to the resource; and
• —In the international sphere, how to protect the rights of the poorer and weaker countries over their own natural resources from predatory corporate giants.
• Prof. M.K.Ghadoliya