India faces an unsure water future. Unless fresh policies are adopted and implemented to make water development and management sustainable, India will have neither the means to maintain the existing resources and build new infrastructure, nor the water required for its survival. This report focuses on two basic issues: the major water-related challenges facing India, and the critical measures required to address them. It calls for a reinvigorated set of public water institutions to sustain water development and management in India. The study: * examines the evolution of water management in India * describes the achievements of the past * analyses the challenges ahead * suggests ways of evolving a sustainable water management system Drawing heavily on background documents by eminent Indian practitioners and policy analysts, it explores various options of managing the transition from past practices in a principled and pragmatic manner.