In India, as in many other tropical countries, acute scarcity of water resources has become a major problem. The scarcity is generally being blamed on drought or meteorological deviations in rainfall. While the last 3-4 years have seen reduced rainfall in India, the paper argues, the level of water scarcity cannot be related to this reduction in precipitation alone. By the turn of the century, India will reach a saturation point in terms of the use of all freshwater sources. To ensure continuity of development and the well being of the people the new water plan will have to address ecological issues and equality of access.