Saturday, March 29, 2025
Punjab's water is being wasted for the sake of this point.
In today’s times, when the SYL (Sutlej-Yamuna Link) canal issue between Punjab and Haryana is making headlines again, it becomes important for everyone to understand what the riparian water law actually is.
According to international riparian laws, in plains regions, the areas situated along rivers—those that naturally bear the consequences of floods or erosion caused by rivers—have the primary right to the river waters. In simple terms, the land through which a river flows naturally has the right to use that water, and this right belongs to the owners of that land.
However, in India, these international principles have seemingly been ignored. Punjab’s river waters are being given—free of cost—to non-riparian states. Based on international water laws, Punjab qualifies as a riparian state.
Before India’s independence, during British rule, Punjab’s water was only given to Bikaner (in present-day Rajasthan), and even then, the Bikaner royal family paid Punjab in return for that water. But after independence, one of the first decisions made by the Indian government was to make the water supplied to Rajasthan completely free. Since then, a pattern has emerged where Punjab’s water is being distributed freely to other states.
Today, nearly 75% of Punjab’s river water is being given to other states for free:
Rajasthan receives 8.60 million acre-feet (around 50.09%)
Haryana gets 3.50 million acre-feet (about 20.38%)
Jammu & Kashmir receives 0.65 million acre-feet (approximately 3.79%)
Delhi gets 0.20 million acre-feet (around 1.16%)
This situation arose because, on 1 November 1966, when Punjab was reorganized on linguistic lines, the Central Government passed a “Reorganization Act”. This act included three specific provisions—Sections 78, 79, and 80:
Section 78 deals with water distribution,
Section 79 covers construction of rivers and canals,
Section 80 gives the Central Government control over headworks, which would typically fall under state jurisdiction.
These sections gave the Central Government authority over Punjab’s rivers, allowing it to distribute water to other states at will. As a result, Punjab has been facing what many see as an unjust deprivation of its water resources, despite being a rightful riparian state.
