Daily Editorial Analysis 16 June 2026

Circular Water Economy – A Sustainable Solution to India’s Urban Water Crisis

Context

• Recurring heatwaves and rising temperatures across cities such as Narsinghpur (MP), Ahmedabad (Gujarat), and Barmer (Rajasthan) have intensified urban water scarcity.
• High evaporation rates, growing domestic demand, and dependence on distant water sources have exposed the vulnerabilities of India’s urban water management system.
• With annual per capita water availability projected to decline from about 1,500 m³ to below 1,200 m³ by 2050, India is moving closer to the internationally recognised water-scarcity threshold of 1,000 m³ per capita.
• This necessitates a shift towards a circular water economy centred on the reuse of treated wastewater.

Why Water Reuse Matters

• Treated domestic wastewater (used water) can be reused for several non-potable purposes, including:
  • Agriculture and horticulture
  • Landscaping and urban greening
  • Construction activities
  • Public sanitation facilities
  • Industrial processes such as textiles
  • Lake and water-body rejuvenation
• According to the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), large-scale wastewater reuse can:
  • Create an investment opportunity exceeding ₹3 lakh crore.
  • Generate nearly 1 lakh additional jobs by 2047.
  • Reduce freshwater stress in urban areas.
• For example, Thane can bridge its current water deficit of 53 million litres per day through expanded reuse of treated wastewater.

Key Actions to Build a Circular Water Economy

• Develop city-specific water reuse plans

  • While around 14 Indian States have introduced water reuse policies, broad policy frameworks alone are insufficient.
  • Cities require tailored reuse plans that define water deficit reduction targets, water quality standards, sector-wise reuse priorities, revenue models, and institutional implementation mechanisms.
  • This is because of diverse urban needs, for example,
    • Delhi, Varanasi, Bengaluru (agriculture in peri-urban areas);
    • Chennai (lake and water-body rejuvenation);
    • Thane (construction sector); and
    • Surat (industrial applications).
  • City-specific planning can maximise local benefits and improve resource efficiency.

• Mobilise private financing

  • India’s wastewater infrastructure remains inadequate. For example, less than 50% of urban sewage is connected to treatment networks, and only about one-third of sewage was actually treated in 2021.
  • Major constraints include insufficient sewerage infrastructure, lack of skilled manpower, energy shortages, and poor maintenance funding. To bridge the investment gap, private capital must complement public expenditure.

  • Blended finance models:

    • The Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) adopted under the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) offers a useful template by sharing financial risks between governments and private developers.
    • Such models can accelerate the development of sewage treatment and reuse infrastructure.

  • Improve functionality of Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs):

    • Many sewage treatment plants fail to meet the discharge standards prescribed by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
    • Major challenges are poor operation and maintenance, mixing of domestic sewage with industrial effluents, and discharge of untreated waste by non-compliant industries.
    • Most STPs depend on biological treatment processes using microorganisms. Heavy metals and toxic chemicals from industrial waste can destroy these microorganisms, reducing treatment efficiency.
    • Strengthening compliance: Strict enforcement of Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) norms, use of AI and digital monitoring systems, real-time tracking of industrial violations, and incentives for compliant industries.
    • Gujarat’s financial support mechanisms for industries implementing ZLD provide a successful model.

  • Launch a National Circular Water Mission:

    • India requires a comprehensive mission to transition from the traditional “use-and-dispose” approach to a regenerative water management model.

    • Key reform areas:

      • Technological reforms: Expansion of decentralised wastewater and faecal sludge treatment systems. Focus on rapidly growing peri-urban regions.
      • Institutional reforms: Empower Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), establish Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) for reuse projects, and convert wastewater management into a viable economic activity.
      • Financial reforms: Incentivise users of treated wastewater, recognise freshwater as an economic asset, introduce efficient water pricing mechanisms, and protect vulnerable sections through targeted subsidies.
      • Behavioural reforms: Promote public acceptance of treated wastewater reuse. Encourage citizen participation in water conservation. Mainstream wastewater reuse as a normal urban practice.

Policy Support and Emerging Roadmap

• The vision for a circular water economy has received policy backing through:
  • The study “Water, Nature, Progress”
  • Economic Survey 2025–26
• Both documents advocate institutional, financial, and technological reforms to enhance water resilience and reduce dependence on freshwater resources.

Conclusion

• India’s aspiration of becoming a Viksit Bharat by 2047 hinges on strengthening water security amidst rising climate risks and urbanisation.
• A circular water economy offers a transformative pathway. The policy framework and successful examples already exist; the challenge now is rapid and large-scale implementation to build long-term water resilience.

Circular Water Economy FAQs

Q1. How can a circular water economy help address urban water scarcity in India?

Ans. It promotes the treatment and reuse of wastewater for non-potable purposes such as agriculture, construction, and industrial use.

Q2. Why are city-specific water reuse plans necessary for effective urban water management?

Ans. These can set targeted goals for reducing water deficits, establish quality standards, identify sector-wise reuse applications, etc.

Q3. What is the role of private sector participation in strengthening India’s wastewater treatment infrastructure?

Ans. Private investment can bridge financing and technological gaps in sewage treatment infrastructure.

Q4. What are the major challenges affecting the performance of sewage treatment plants (STPs) in India?

Ans. Key challenges include inadequate maintenance, energy shortages, lack of sewer connectivity, etc.

Q5. What is the significance of a National Circular Water Mission?

Ans. It can institutionalise wastewater reuse through technological, financial, institutional, and behavioural reforms.

Source: IE

The Trust Deficit in India-Bangladesh Ties

Context

• Over 100 days have passed since Tarique Rahman’s BNP government assumed power in Bangladesh.
• Despite initial optimism, India-Bangladesh relations remain strained — much as they were under the preceding interim government led by Muhammad Yunus.
• This article highlights the growing trust deficit in India-Bangladesh relations despite the formation of a new government in Bangladesh and multiple diplomatic outreach efforts by India.
• It examines the unresolved issues driving bilateral tensions, including trade restrictions, visa policies, water-sharing concerns, immigration rhetoric, and the looming renewal of the Ganga Water Treaty, while underscoring the need for pragmatic engagement to safeguard regional stability.

India’s Outreach: Gestures Without Substance

• India made two diplomatic gestures even before Rahman formally took charge:
  • EAM S. Jaishankar visited Dhaka in December 2025, to condole the death of Rahman’s mother and former PM Khaleda Zia.
  • Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri delivered PM Modi’s invitation letter, and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla attended Rahman’s swearing-in ceremony on February 17.
• However, BNP insiders consider these gestures insufficient. They expected India to reverse concrete punitive measures taken during the Yunus-led interim period.

Pending Grievances: What Dhaka Wants

• Bangladesh’s key expectations from India remain unmet:
  • Transhipment revival — resumption of goods transit from Bangladesh through India
  • Visa restoration — full reinstatement of business and medical visas
  • Market access — removal of restrictive trade barriers on Bangladeshi goods
  • Ganga Water Treaty — renewal of the 1996 treaty due to expire on December 31, 2026
• Dhaka argues that without these actions, India has given Rahman no political capital to spend while managing anti-India domestic forces, including the Jamaat-e-Islami and student groups.

The Hasina Factor and the Immigration Rhetoric

• BNP’s veteran leadership made a significant concession by publicly stating that Sheikh Hasina’s continued presence in India would not be a dealbreaker for normalising ties — a departure from the hard position of the Yunus government.
• India did not reciprocate. Instead, after the recent elections in West Bengal and Assam, New Delhi intensified its rhetoric around illegal immigration from Bangladesh in official communications.
• Bangladeshi diplomats expected this language to be toned down after the elections. The Ministry of External Affairs’ continued stridence has generated what officials in Dhaka’s secretariat describe as “a sense of betrayal.”

Rahman’s China Option

• Sensing a stall in normalisation, Rahman is reportedly in the final stages of planning visits to Malaysia and China in late June 2026 — a signal that Dhaka may seek to diversify its partnerships further if India does not engage meaningfully.
• However, the China pivot has its limits. Bangladesh’s ties with China, the US, and others have grown since August 2024 — but these cannot substitute for India on one critical issue: river water.

The Ganga Treaty: A Ticking Clock

• The 1996 Ganga Water Treaty — a 30-year agreement — must be renewed before December 31, 2026.
• The stakes are high:
  • River experts warned that a delay would jeopardise the Ganges-Kobadak irrigation project, affecting large parts of western and central Bangladesh.
  • Unpredictable water supply will disrupt upcoming sowing seasons and hurt an economy already battered by an energy crisis caused by the US-Israel war on Iran.

Bangladesh’s Domestic Vulnerabilities

• The Rahman government faces compounding internal pressures:
  • A severe measles outbreak has killed at least 600 infants, with the government criticised for poor crisis management.
  • Rising incidents of sexual violence reflect a law and order breakdown that has persisted since the August 2024 protests.
  • A banned but mobilising Awami League under Sheikh Hasina’s banner stands to gain if Rahman fails to deliver on the Ganga treaty before the year-end deadline.

The Case for Pragmatism

• Both capitals need to act on material realities, not political optics.
• If Bangladesh spirals into instability — economic, hydrological, or political — it would directly hurt India’s northeastern connectivity, border security, and regional influence. Instability in Bangladesh is emphatically not in India’s interest.

Conclusion

• India and Bangladesh are caught in a cycle of unmet expectations — India offers gestures, Dhaka wants action; Dhaka softens on Hasina, India escalates immigration rhetoric.
• With the Ganga treaty deadline looming, pragmatism must replace posturing before bilateral inertia becomes irreversible damage.

The Trust Deficit in India-Bangladesh Ties FAQs

Q1. Why do India-Bangladesh relations remain strained despite diplomatic outreach?

Ans. Bangladesh believes India’s symbolic diplomatic gestures have not been matched by substantive actions on trade, visas, transhipment facilities, and water-sharing concerns.

Q2. What are Bangladesh’s key expectations from India?

Ans. Bangladesh seeks restoration of transhipment facilities, easier visa access, improved market access for exports, and timely renewal of the Ganga Water Treaty.

Q3. Why is the Ganga Water Treaty important for Bangladesh?

Ans. The treaty supports irrigation and agricultural productivity, particularly in western Bangladesh, making its renewal critical for economic and food security.

Q4. How has immigration rhetoric affected bilateral relations?

Ans. Continued references to illegal immigration by Indian authorities have created resentment in Bangladesh, weakening trust despite political changes in Dhaka.

Q5. Why is stability in Bangladesh important for India?

Ans. A stable Bangladesh supports India’s northeastern connectivity, border security, economic interests, and broader strategic influence in the region.

Source: TH

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