India's dated policies on water are on their way out. Union water resources minister Salman Khurshid said at an event here on Monday that the government will be introducing a new national water policy next year. Khurshid said that the union government is planning to convene a one-day meeting of all the chief ministers to discuss the issue of water allocation and management - how to improve storage and utilisation.

“The prime minister has agreed to address a day-long session of the chief ministers,” he said.

The minister clarified that while the union government will formulate a new policy on water governance incorporating aspects like environment and development, the states will be free to formulate and implement independent policies.

He highlighted that the existing water policy at the national level was adopted in 2002 and needed to be reviewed and revamped given the changing context of utilisation.

The minister said that the government was ready to bring changes in the existing laws, if necessary, including constitutional ones.

“We are sitting on a volcano and a major crisis is staring at us”, Khurshid said.

Stressing on his ministry's commitment to a people-centric water policy he said it was necesssary to make the water issue a people’s movement to help change the people’s mindset. “We would start a ‘Water Week’ from next year”, he said.

The minister also stated that the government is waiting for signals from the Nepal government for further talks on water rights and sharing of international river water. Talks with the president of Nepal during his recent visit to India had been successful, Khurshid pointed out

The minister, however, discounted the apprehensions of water diversion that had arose over the reported Chinese move to build a dam on its side of the Brahmaputra.

The daylong international conference on water was attended by experts from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Singapore besides India.