With the summer heat being exceptionally severe this year, the district has been facing severe water shortage. The District Collector has been mobilizing his subordinate officials to conserve the remaining water reserves for preventing the district from plunging into acute drinking water crisis. Along with an awareness campaign for conserving water, strict measures have been taken for stopping the over-exploitation of ground-water. Vigilance teams have been deployed to tour the villages and find the farmers who are drawing water from deep borewells or from the river reservoir for irrigation. The farmers are agitated by such action. A delegation of farmers meets the District Collector with their issues and complains that while they are not being allowed to irrigate their crops, big industries located near the river are drawing huge amounts of water through deep borewells for their industrial processes. The farmers allege that their administration is anti-farmer and corrupt, being bribed by the industry. The district needs to placate the farmers as they are threatening to go on a prolonged protest. At the same time, the District Collector has to deal with the water crisis. The industry cannot be closed as this would result in a large number of workers being unemployed.
(a) Discuss all options available to the District Collector as a District Magistrate. (b) What suitable actions can be taken in view of mutually compatible interests of the stakeholders? (c) What are the potential administrative and ethical dilemmas for the District Collector?
Approach · directive: “discuss / what”
What it asks · Discuss the Collector's options, suggest actions that reconcile farmers', industry's and citizens' interests, and identify his administrative and ethical dilemmas.
The question has 3 parts — answer each
- (a) Discuss all the options available to the District Collector as District Magistrate
- (b) Suggest suitable actions that serve the mutually compatible interests of the stakeholders
- (c) Identify the Collector's likely administrative and ethical dilemmas
Open with · In a drought the Collector must share a shrinking commons among drinking needs, farm livelihoods and industrial jobs — fairly and visibly.
Cover
- Stakeholders: residents needing drinking water, farmers, industries and their workers, vigilance staff, the State government, future groundwater users.
- (a) Options: ban all extraction (saves water, hurts livelihoods); let farmers irrigate (placates, deepens crisis); one set of rules for all users.
- (a) Legal tools as District Magistrate: prohibitory orders on borewells, requisitioning water sources, and disaster-management and groundwater powers.
- (b) Drinking water first; meter and cap industrial draw and mandate recycling; rotational, time-bound irrigation for farmers.
- (b) Also: tankers, advisories for less water-intensive crops, relief for affected farmers, an independent probe into bribery claims, regular dialogue.
- (c) Dilemmas: livelihoods vs conservation, jobs vs fairness, perceived bias vs industry's importance, strict enforcement vs public order.
- (a) Prohibitory orders under BNSS s.163 (earlier CrPC s.144); a published water budget with drinking water first, the same rule for every user.
Close with · Equal rules for every user, transparency and dialogue can turn a zero-sum water conflict into shared stewardship.
Add value (verified)
- Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 lets a District Magistrate issue written prohibitory orders in urgent cases of nuisance or apprehended danger where immediate prevention or speedy remedy is desirable. The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (No. 46 of 2023) — Gazette of India, 25 December 2023 ↗“Urgent cases of nuisance or apprehended danger 163. (1) In cases where, in the opinion of a District Magistrate, a Sub-divisional Magistrate or any other Executive Magistrate specially empowered by the State Government in this behalf, there is sufficient ground for proceeding under this section and immediate prevention or speedy remedy is desirable, such Magistrate may, by a written order”
- National Water Policy 2012: water is to be managed under the public trust doctrine as a common pool community resource; safe water for drinking and sanitation is a pre-emptive need, followed by other basic domestic needs. National Water Policy 2012 — e-PG Pathshala module (INFLIBNET, UGC) ↗“Water needs to be managed under public trust doctrine as a common pool community resource. Water is essential for sustenance of eco-system and therefore minimum ecological needs should be given due consideration. While allocating water, safe water for drinking and sanitation should be considered as pre-emptive needs followed by high priority allocation for other basic domestic needs (including needs of animals).”
- Dynamic Ground Water Resource Assessment 2024: average stage of extraction 60.47%; 751 of 6,746 assessment units (11.1%) over-exploited. Union Minister of Jal Shakti releases Dynamic Ground Water Resource Assessment Report 2024 — PIB ↗“The average stage of groundwater extraction for the country stands at 60.47 %. Out of the total 6746 assessment units (Blocks/ Mandals/ Talukas) in the country, 4951 (73.4 %) assessment units are categorized as ‘Safe. 711 (10.5 %) assessment units are categorized “Semi-critical’’, 206 (3.05 %) assessment units, have been categorized as ‘Critical’ and 751 (11.1%) assessment units have been categorized as ‘Over-exploited’.”
- The Central Ground Water Authority's revised guidelines (effective 1 June 2019) levied a Water Conservation Fee on groundwater use, graded by the area's category and the type of industry. NOC for Ground Water Extraction — PIB (Ministry of Water Resources), 3 January 2019 ↗“Central Ground Water Authority has notified revised guidelines to regulate and control ground water extraction in India, which will be effective from 01.06.2019. The entire process of grant of NOC will be done online through a web based application system. As per the revised guidelines, Water Conservation Fee (WCF) would be levied for use of ground water depending on the category of area, type of industry”
- Atal Bhujal Yojana: groundwater data disclosed in all 8,203 Atal Jal gram panchayats of 7 states, each of which has prepared community-led water budgets and water security plans, updated annually. Status of Atal Bhujal Yojana in Uttar Pradesh — PIB (Ministry of Jal Shakti) ↗“Measurement and public disclosure of groundwater data have been made across all 8,203 Atal Jal Gram Panchayats (GPs) of all 7 states through physical as well as electronic means. Community-led Water Budgets (WBs) and Water Security Plans (WSPs) have been prepared by all GPs of all 7 states and updated annually.”
- Gandhi's talisman: when in doubt, recall the face of the poorest and most helpless person you have seen and ask whether the step you contemplate will be of any use to him. The Gandhi Talisman (This Was Bapu, no. 70) — mkgandhi.org ↗“I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, try the following expedient: "Recall the face of the poorest and the most helpless man whom you may have seen and ask yourself, if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him.”
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2024, GS Paper IV — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer · 383 words (UPSC limit 250) · Minimalist IAS
The National Water Policy 2012 treats water as a common pool resource held under the public trust doctrine, with safe drinking water a pre-emptive need. In a severe drought the Collector must apply that principle to drinking needs, farm livelihoods and industrial jobs, while a bribery charge questions his own impartiality.
Stakeholders
- Those affected: residents needing drinking water; farmers with standing crops; industries and their workers; the administration accused of bribery; the State; future users of the aquifer.
(a) Options as District Magistrate
| Option | Merit | Demerit |
|---|---|---|
| Ban all extraction | Saves water fast | Ruins crops and jobs; unrest |
| Exempt farmers only | Ends the protest | Deepens crisis; unfair |
| One rule for all users | Equitable, lawful | Needs metering, vigilance |
- Legal tools: prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the BNSS (earlier Section 144 CrPC) in urgent cases; requisitioning sources and tanker supply; groundwater and disaster-management powers.
- Industry: closure would cost jobs, so rationing its draw is the feasible course.
(b) Actions serving mutually compatible interests
- Water budget: drinking water first, then livestock, then rationed quotas for industry and farms, the same rule for a factory's borewell and a farmer's.
- Industry: meter every borewell, cap the draw, mandate recycling and publish readings; the CGWA's 2019 guidelines already tied a water conservation fee to area category and industry type.
- Farmers: rotational, time-bound irrigation for standing crops, advice on less water-intensive crops, drip support and crop-loss relief.
- Community stewardship: under Atal Bhujal Yojana, all 8,203 participating gram panchayats have prepared community-led water budgets and water security plans; the district can copy the model.
- Trust: an independent inquiry into the bribery charge, vigilance findings put online, and a weekly water committee of farmers, industry and panchayats.
(c) Administrative and ethical dilemmas
- Competing goods: livelihoods today versus water tomorrow; farmers' survival versus workers' jobs; strict enforcement versus public order.
- Impartiality: the industry's economic weight versus equal treatment; defending his staff versus probing the allegation against them.
- Whom first: Gandhi's talisman, to recall the face of the poorest and most helpless and ask whether the step will be of use to him, puts drinking water for the weakest first.
The stakes are national: India's stage of groundwater extraction stood at 60.47% in 2024, with 751 assessment units (11.1%) over-exploited. Equal rules, open data and dialogue can turn a zero-sum fight into shared stewardship.
Written by Minimalist IAS from facts checked at source (how we verify) — a little fuller than exam length, so every part of the question is covered; in the hall, keep the structure and trim the detail. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.