The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in its Global Study on Homicide Report 2023 said that one in every five murders in India between 2019-21 is due to water-related conflicts. "Nearly 20 percent of all interpersonal murders recorded in India in the period 2019–2021 can be attributed to conflict over water," the report said.
The report added that disputes over access to water in India are a prominent driver of interpersonal homicide outside the family. Moreover, data from the Pacific Institute showed that the number of incidents of violence associated with water resources has risen substantially since 2015 — mostly in South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and Central America.
"Interpersonal homicide outside the family is challenging to systematically quantify due to limited information on the victim-perpetrator relationship and situational context. Instances can arise in communities facing threats to livelihoods, resulting in strained relations. Land disputes, often driven by insecure land tenure, can also contribute to violence."
Source: Global Study on Homicide Report 2023
The UN report cited population growth, economic expansion and climate change as the primary reasons for water security in many regions of the world, which in combination with other societal and political factors, has led to increased violence associated with water disputes in recent years.
The media across the country have reported several cases of fighting over water, some of which have proved fatal. For example, a famous case of South Delhi came into limelight last year when a 45-year-old woman was stabbed to death by his neighbour over filling water from a community tap. In another case that turned into an internet sensation then, a 60-year-old elderly man was beaten to death by five people after he intervened in a fight over tanker water. The Wazirpur area in the national capital is known for facing water related issues, especially in the summer, due to irregular supply. “They beat up my father. He fell to the ground, and they rained punches on him. He started bleeding from the mouth. Nobody intervened except for our family,” his son Rohit alleged.
(Edited by : Shoma Bhattacharjee)
First Published: Dec 12, 2023 7:18 PM IST
