ABSTRACT

This chapter introduces the book as one that engages with the changes – some formalized legally and institutionally while others still emerging and evolving – taking place in the water sector in India since the 1990s. The first round of reforms (roughly, 1990‒2005) carried the indelible mark of Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization (LPG) regime whereas the second round of ‘reforms’ (post 2010) carried a more progressive agenda for water sector restructuring as the insights from the innovative experiences in the country found a place in the 12th Plan Working Groups reports. These were further consolidated through the Draft National Water Framework Bill, 2016, Model Bill for the Conservation, Protection, Regulation and Management of Groundwater, 2016 and A 21st Century Institutional Architecture for India’s Water Reforms, 2016. The chapter synthesizes the core arguments and ideas contained in the chapters, keeping the emergent ideas and pathways for restructuring the water sector as the main running thread. It briefly discusses the contribution made by late Prof. Ramaswamy R. Iyer to the changing water sector discourse in India. This book is a humble attempt to keep alive his legacy and take it forward.