From India to Global South, a Gujarat water-governance model - The Indian Express

New Delhi recently hosted the ninth edition of the India International Water Week under the theme of climate-resilient water management. The talk focused as much on what India has achieved in the last decade as on what comes next — keeping water supply sustainable, using water more efficiently, and treating used water as both an environmental and economic resource.

India’s influence in the global water sector has grown substantially. From a country exposed to frequent climate shocks and access challenges to one now preparing for climate extremes such as floods and droughts, it offers lessons for other countries in the Global South. Over the past decade or so, India has designed and implemented some of the world’s largest programmes to improve water governance, rejuvenate rivers, increase access to water and sanitation, and enable community-driven water conservation, protection, and augmentation. And if we pause and take a step back in time, it is important to acknowledge the leadership of then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s initiatives between 2001 and 2014, a period that served as a laboratory for the water governance reforms that rolled out across India after 2014. These included the design and implementation of the Swachh Bharat Mission, Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), Jal Shakti Abhiyan, Namami Gange, Atal Bhujal Yojana (ABY), Per Drop More Crop (PDMC), etc.

This 25-year journey is documented in our new case study, ‘From Gujarat to India: Water Lessons for the World’, which traces water governance reforms in Gujarat and India from 2001 to 2026. Drawing on official data, policy and programme records, the literature and consultations with practitioners, the study examines how political leadership and prioritisation, public financing, institutional reform, administrative implementation and community engagement came together to strengthen water security at scale. Its central finding is that water security is as much a challenge of governance and institutions as it is of engineering — and that the Gujarat experience offers a useful lens for understanding the subsequent national journey and its relevance to the Global South.

The case study distils four key lessons which, if studied and contextualised appropriately, can prove effective in the coming years and inform water governance in other countries in the Global South: Lead with governance, manage the resource and the service together, root action in communities, and build for scale from the start.

Lead with governance, not only hardware: Political will and institutional strengthening, rather than infrastructure alone, are core to water security. India has developed a framework for putting them into action at scale, called the “4 Ps”, which were articulated by PM Modi and UN Secretary-General António Guterres through the Delhi Declaration in October 2018. The first is political leadership that prioritises water, reflected in initiatives such as universal tap water access, a cleaner Ganga, community-driven groundwater management, and communication campaigns that keep water top of the mind, such as Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain. Second, enabling public (and private) financing for the capital and recurring costs of water governance. Third, developing partnerships between national, state, and local governments; community-based organisations, and national and international knowledge organisations, including multilateral development banks like the World Bank. Fourth, ensuring people’s participation in local water decision-making and management, such as communities resolving to make their villages open-defecation free or preparing village-level water security plans. The “4 Ps” are worth emulating in any other context or geography.

Manage the water resource and the service together: Taps and canals will fail if water does not flow. Addressing both water resources development and service sustainability simultaneously and at scale is paramount. Many cities in Africa are growing at a rapid rate, and industrial and irrigation demand will follow, so planning resources and services together now is cheaper than retrofitting later. As India’s experience in recent decades shows, getting ahead of the coming surge in water demand with linked water resources and services plans would help countries gain from these economic shifts with lower risk for water insecurity. A key part of getting ahead of this surge is being forward-thinking on water reuse, especially for non-potable uses, including planned data centres and semiconductor fabrication units. In India alone, the annual market revenue from the sale of treated used water is projected to reach around Rs 73,000 crore by 2047, at current prices.

Root water action in community ownership: Water access gains momentum in communities equipped with effective local water governance institutions such as India’s Pani Samitis, infrastructure that consistently delivers a high-quality service, and a balance of internal resources and external support. This has been demonstrated through numerous water conservation, harvesting, and recharge programmes. There is a governance linkage across scales to achieve this. As demonstrated in Gujarat during 2001-2014, the Chintan Shivirs helped prioritise water governance among key stakeholders and formulate actionable solutions to design water-related policies aligned with community expectations. A similar approach was replicated at the national level. The recent Departmental Summit on Water organised by the Ministry of Jal Shakti and addressed by the PM in September 2026 is an example.

Going big and scaling up: The world is off track on SDG 6 to ensure safe drinking water and sanitation for all, and to sustainably manage water resources, used water, and ecosystems by 2030. Estimates suggest an additional $500 billion in annual investment is required. To meet the scale of water governance reforms, infrastructure installation, data collection, and maintenance required for SDG 6, governments and their leaders cannot afford to slow down. Implementation of JJM across the country demonstrates that India can both think big and implement big. The global community can learn from political leadership at the highest level in India about the will, the financing and the institutions to do it at scale.

Iyer is a former secretary to the Government of India at the Ministry of Jal Shakti; Bassi is a fellow with the Council on Energy, Environment and Water; Smith is an assistant professor at George Mason University. Views are personal