India is currently facing its worst water crisis in its history threatening millions of lives, a first of a kind ‘composite water management index’ by Niti Aayog said on Thursday. The water management index ranked 24 states on the basis of nine broad indicators, based on data for 2015-16 and 2016-17, and Gujarat topped the index, the report stated. Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra followed Gujarat on the index while Tripura ranked as the best among Northeastern and hill states.
Union Minister for Water Resources Nitin Gadkari, Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar and Niti Aayog’s Chief Executive Officer Amitabh Kant released the report. Kant said the Aayog will continue the index and ranking in the coming years.
States provided data to the Aayog and international development consulting company IPE Global validated the data, the report stated. West Bengal, Jammu and Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Manipur are not feature in the report as they did not provide data, Niti Aayog CEO Kant said. The report also does not reflect water scarcity issues from Gujarat this year as the index measured water management data till 2017.
