ABSTRACT
India has been making water policies and programmes for drinking water and sanitation since its independence. Though recent policies have evolved from various policies over the years, they make a marked difference and are set to tread a new path towards water security and sustainable service delivery. Some of the important issues in this regard include:
How are the new guidelines different from the earlier policies?
How are these policies and guidelines going to impact unit costs and service levels? and
How far could these guidelines be operationalised, and what could be the institutional requirements?
Such an assessment calls for a review of the new policies, the existing institutional arrangements, and their potential in achieving the policy objective of water security ‘for all and forever’. This chapter aims to help identify the gaps in the policy as well as institutional requirements. It is mainly based on a review of policies over the years in India with the main focus on the new guidelines pertaining to water in general and drinking water, sanitation and hygiene in particular. A critical assessment of these guidelines in achieving the policy objectives is taken up for water and sanitation.