Inter State River Water Disputes in India: A Geographical Analysis 1 Brijendra Nath Singh * Abstract Rivers are life line of the human being. Indian rivers are worshiped as a mother, because she cares the humanity and makes the ways easy for the people and living organism. Without the water no one can alive on the earth surface. This paper is based on the rivers of India and the major river water disputes among the states. On the basis of the paper we can say that the importance of the river water is increasing day by day. Due to the less water discharge in the rivers and water necessity is increasing at fast rate. In the current scenario the river water dispute is the one of the problematic issue. To solve the river water dispute there are many tribunals established in India. This paper presents major and detailed account of the interstate river water disputes. According to the 1992 International Conference on Water and the Environment water is a vital element for human life, and human activities are closely connected to availability and quality of water. Water dispute occur because the demand for water resources and potable water can exceed supply, or because control over access and allocation of water may be disputed. Elements of a water crisis may put pressures on affected parties to obtain more of a shared water resource, causing diplomatic tension or outright conflict. This study suggests the effective measure to decrease the rate of the disputes among the states of India. Introduction On the basis of this study we can say that, Indian water-dispute settlement mechanisms are ambiguous and opaque. We distinguish analytically between situations where cooperation is possible, and situations of pure conflict, where the initial allocation of rights is at stake. In the latter case, a search for a negotiated solution may be futile, and quick movement to arbitration or adjudication may be more efficient. However, in India, the process is slow, and effectively binding arbitration does not exist. The entanglement of inter-state water disputes with more general centre-state conflicts and political issues compounds problems. We argue that these impacts can be reduced by a more efficient design of mechanisms for negotiating inter-state water disputes: some of the possibilities include a national water commission independent of daily political pressures, a federated structure incorporating river basin authorities and water user associations, and fixed time periods for negotiation and adjudication. Because large areas of India are relatively arid, mechanisms for allocating scarce water are critically important to the welfare of the country's citizens. Water contributes to welfare in several ways: health (e.g. clean drinking water), agriculture (e.g., irrigation), and industry (e.g., 1 This paper is published in Ad-Valorem, Journal of law, Volume. 1, Issue. II, April- June 2014, PP. 21-33., ISSN: 2348-5485 * Research Scholar, Department of Geography, Faculty of Science, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, U.P., India, 221005, Mob: 09026198156, Email: bsingh422@gmail.com & Managing Editor of Journal Emerging Researcher, Research for All, An International Research Refereed Journal.