NEW DELHI: The world could suffer a 40 percent shortfall in water in just 15 years unless countries dramatically change their use of the resource, a UN report warned Friday.
Many underground water reserves are already running low, while rainfall patterns are predicted to become more erratic with climate change. As the world’s population grows to an expected 9 billion by 2050, more groundwater will be needed for farming, industry and personal consumption.
The report predicts global water demand will increase 55 percent by 2050, while reserves dwindle. If current usage trends don’t change, the world will have only 60 percent of the water it needs in 2030, it said.
Having less available water risks catastrophe on many fronts: crops could fail, ecosystems could break down, industries could collapse, disease and poverty could worsen, and violent conflicts over access to water could become more frequent.
“Unless the balance between demand and finite supplies is restored, the world will face an increasingly severe global water deficit,” the annual World Water Development Report said, noting that more efficient use could guarantee enough supply in the future.
The report, released in New Delhi two days before World Water Day, calls on policymakers and communities to rethink water policies, urging more conservation as well as recycling of wastewater as is done in Singapore. Countries may also want to consider raising prices for water, as well as searching for ways to make water-intensive sectors more efficient and less polluting, it said.
In many countries including India, water use is largely unregulated and often wasteful. Pollution of water is often ignored and unpunished. At least 80 percent of India’s population relies on groundwater for drinking to avoid bacteria-infested surface waters.
In agriculture-intense India, where studies show some aquifers are being depleted at the world’s fastest rates, the shortfall has been forecast at 50 percent or even higher. Climate change is expected to make the situation worse, as higher temperatures and more erratic weather patterns could disrupt rainfall.
Currently, about 748 million people worldwide have poor access to clean drinking water, the report said, cautioning that economic growth alone is not the solution, and could make the situation worse unless reforms ensure more efficiency and less pollution.
“Unsustainable development pathways and governance failures have affected the quality and availability of water resources, compromising their capacity to generate social and economic benefits,” it said. “Economic growth itself is not a guarantee for wider social progress.”
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UN warns world could have 40% water shortfall by 2030
UN warns world could have 40% water shortfall by 2030
India and Israel: trade, defense and diplomacy
NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Israel on Wednesday aiming to deepen ties with a key trade and defense partner, while balancing his government’s broader diplomatic interests in the Middle East.
New Delhi has steadily expanded cooperation with Israel across the defense, agriculture, technology and cybersecurity sectors.
One of India’s largest conglomerates, Adani Group, operates the Mediterranean port of Haifa, while Israeli military drone technology played a pivotal role during India’s May 2025 clash with Pakistan.
At the same time, India maintains strong relations with Gulf nations and Tehran, including developing Iran’s Chabahar port — a trade gateway to Afghanistan, where New Delhi has built a relationship with Taliban authorities.
Here’s a closer look at India-Israel ties.
- Trade -
In September 2023, grand plans were unveiled in New Delhi for an India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor — to link railways, ports, electricity, data networks and pipelines, including through Saudi Arabia and Israel.
Those plans were stalled by Hamas’s October 7 deadly attack on Israel, which responded with a devastating war in the Gaza Strip.
Trade remains central to the diplomatic relationship with Israel, providing access to products from its advanced tech sector, while India offers a vast consumer market.
Key sectors include agriculture technology, food security, water management, diamonds, dairy, fisheries, and manufacturing.
Bilateral trade reached $3.75 billion in 2024-25, according to Indian figures, though this is understood to exclude arms sales.
Thousands of Indians work in Israel, including those who came to replace the jobs of Palestinian construction workers barred from entering since the October 7 attack and outbreak of war in 2023.
- Defense -
Israel is one of India’s top arms suppliers, dating back to its military support during the 1962 war with China and subsequent conflicts with Pakistan in 1971 and 1999.
Between 2020-24, Israel provided 13 percent of India’s military hardware, making it New Delhi’s third-largest supplier after Russia and France, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
India and Israel have launched multi-billion-dollar joint ventures to produce drones, missile systems, radar, cybersecurity technology, naval vessels and firearms.
- Diplomacy -
Full diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in 1992. Ties deepened after Hindu-nationalist leader Modi took office in 2014.
Modi visited Israel in 2017, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to India the following year.
Both right-wing leaders have called each other a “friend.”
US President Donald Trump invited India to become a member of the “Board of Peace” that he established after helping negotiate a ceasefire to halt two years of war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
New Delhi sent a representative to the board’s inauguration this month, but said its attendance was only in an “observer” capacity.
India in January hosted foreign ministers from Arab League nations, which have heavily criticized the war in Gaza. Modi told them he offered “continued support for the people of Palestine” and “welcomed ongoing peace efforts.”
A free trade agreement with Oman last year reflects India’s push for broader Middle East market access.
- Ancient roots -
Jewish links to India span millennia with India’s Arabian Sea port of Kochi — a key post in the ancient Greco-Roman trade network — home to a Jewish community for centuries.
“Civilizational relations between the countries date back more than two millennia,” India’s foreign ministry says.
The Paradesi Synagogue in Kochi, India’s oldest, was built in 1568 — though barely any Jews remain in the city today.
Many emigrated to Israel after 1948, and more than 100,000 Jews of Indian origin live in Israel today, according to New Delhi.
In India’s northeast Manipur state, thousands from the Bnei Menashe community claim descent from one of the “lost tribes” of Israel.
Some members of the community have moved to Israel and the Israeli government has said it is preparing to resettle thousands more in the next few years.
New Delhi has steadily expanded cooperation with Israel across the defense, agriculture, technology and cybersecurity sectors.
One of India’s largest conglomerates, Adani Group, operates the Mediterranean port of Haifa, while Israeli military drone technology played a pivotal role during India’s May 2025 clash with Pakistan.
At the same time, India maintains strong relations with Gulf nations and Tehran, including developing Iran’s Chabahar port — a trade gateway to Afghanistan, where New Delhi has built a relationship with Taliban authorities.
Here’s a closer look at India-Israel ties.
- Trade -
In September 2023, grand plans were unveiled in New Delhi for an India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor — to link railways, ports, electricity, data networks and pipelines, including through Saudi Arabia and Israel.
Those plans were stalled by Hamas’s October 7 deadly attack on Israel, which responded with a devastating war in the Gaza Strip.
Trade remains central to the diplomatic relationship with Israel, providing access to products from its advanced tech sector, while India offers a vast consumer market.
Key sectors include agriculture technology, food security, water management, diamonds, dairy, fisheries, and manufacturing.
Bilateral trade reached $3.75 billion in 2024-25, according to Indian figures, though this is understood to exclude arms sales.
Thousands of Indians work in Israel, including those who came to replace the jobs of Palestinian construction workers barred from entering since the October 7 attack and outbreak of war in 2023.
- Defense -
Israel is one of India’s top arms suppliers, dating back to its military support during the 1962 war with China and subsequent conflicts with Pakistan in 1971 and 1999.
Between 2020-24, Israel provided 13 percent of India’s military hardware, making it New Delhi’s third-largest supplier after Russia and France, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
India and Israel have launched multi-billion-dollar joint ventures to produce drones, missile systems, radar, cybersecurity technology, naval vessels and firearms.
- Diplomacy -
Full diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in 1992. Ties deepened after Hindu-nationalist leader Modi took office in 2014.
Modi visited Israel in 2017, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to India the following year.
Both right-wing leaders have called each other a “friend.”
US President Donald Trump invited India to become a member of the “Board of Peace” that he established after helping negotiate a ceasefire to halt two years of war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
New Delhi sent a representative to the board’s inauguration this month, but said its attendance was only in an “observer” capacity.
India in January hosted foreign ministers from Arab League nations, which have heavily criticized the war in Gaza. Modi told them he offered “continued support for the people of Palestine” and “welcomed ongoing peace efforts.”
A free trade agreement with Oman last year reflects India’s push for broader Middle East market access.
- Ancient roots -
Jewish links to India span millennia with India’s Arabian Sea port of Kochi — a key post in the ancient Greco-Roman trade network — home to a Jewish community for centuries.
“Civilizational relations between the countries date back more than two millennia,” India’s foreign ministry says.
The Paradesi Synagogue in Kochi, India’s oldest, was built in 1568 — though barely any Jews remain in the city today.
Many emigrated to Israel after 1948, and more than 100,000 Jews of Indian origin live in Israel today, according to New Delhi.
In India’s northeast Manipur state, thousands from the Bnei Menashe community claim descent from one of the “lost tribes” of Israel.
Some members of the community have moved to Israel and the Israeli government has said it is preparing to resettle thousands more in the next few years.
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