India’s president has called for stricter regulations to conserve the country’s water supply. “Population expansion, rapid urbanization and developmental needs have exerted tremendous pressure on India’s water availability,” President Pranab Mukherjee said in his opening address Monday at the India Water Forum 2013 in New Delhi. While India has 17 percent of the world’s population, it holds only 4 percent of the world’s renewable water resource, Mukherjee said, noting that in 10 years — from 2001 to 2011 — the per-capita availability of water in India dropped from 1,816 cubic meters per year to 1,545 cubic meters and is projected to fall to 1,140 cubic meters by 2050. The president said India’s current legal framework regarding water is inconsistent and inadequate to deal with the country’s complex water situation. “A broad over-arching national legal framework of general principles on water could pave the way for essential legislation on water […]