New Delhi, March 28
In another 40 years, India's population will outstrip the availability of water, leading to a major crisis, warns an international expert.

This is bound to lead to more conflicts over water sharing in the country unless "political skills" are developed, said John R. Wood, Professor Emeritus at University of British Columbia, Vancouver.

"Even if every available river and stream is harnessed to the full potential, by 2045 India's population will exceed the availability of water needed to support it," Wood said in an interview in New Delhi.

"I am sure there will be technological feats but this is not just a technological problem, not just an economic problem, not even a social problem - it is a political problem. "And until the political skills are developed or recognised to deal with this kind of problems, there will be more and more conflicts," said Wood, a political scientist of repute whose book The Politics of Water Resource Development in India - The Narmada Dam Controversy has just been released.

As an example of political tools, he pointed to the institution of water tribunals in India. — IANS