Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti has said India is close to being categorised as "water scarce", citing increasing demand, uncertain availability and overexploitation of rivers as the causes.<br/><br/>She made the remarks at the World Sustainable Development Summit in New Delhi yesterday where the Centre signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on water resources development and management with the European Union.<br/><br/>Ms. Bharti said the per capita water availability in India has been on continuous decline which has put the country in water stressed category and is close to being categorised as water scarce. She said the vagaries of climate change are expected to exacerbate the situation. <br/><br/>European Commission representative Karmenu Vella said the agreement between India and EU may not solve all the issues but it was a step in the right direction and one way of implementing water partnership through exchange of technological, scientific and management experiences.