The Parliament has passed National Waterways Bill, 2015 which was introduced in Lok Sabha on May 5, 2015 by the Minister of Road Transport and Highways and Shipping, Mr. Nitin Gadkari.

       This bill focused on to clear decks for the conversion of 106 rivers and creeks across India into transport waterways.It was firstly passed by Lok Sabha in the winter session and later was passed by Rajya sabha in the budgetary session.

The National Waterways Bill, 2015 aims at declaring 106 additional inland waterways as National Waterways in addition to the five existing National Waterways.

This bill repeals the existing five Acts that declare the existing 5 national waterways. These existing five national waterways are now covered under the new Bill. Thus the total number of national waterways will go up to 111.

        As per Entry 24 of the Union List of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution Of India, the central government can make laws on shipping and navigation on inland waterways which are classified as national waterways by Parliament by law. 

The Reason behind the initiation and implementation is that,  inland waterways are recognised as a fuel efficient, cost effective and environment friendly mode of transport, it has received lesser investment as compared to roads and railways.  Since, inland waterways are lagging behind other modes of transport. So the central government has evolved a policy for integrated development of inland waterways. 

Inland waterways mainly comprise rivers, lakes, canals, creeks and backwaters. It extends about 14,500 km across the country. However, potential of this mode of transport has not been fully exploited so far.