“Life depends on water and its preservation depends on you”
On the occasion of World Water Day, we are here with an informative article on the ‘Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain’ campaign. In this article, we will discuss the history, activities and significance of this campaign. Apart from this, we will also look at the Ken-Betwa Link Project and highlights of the World Water Day 2021.
Table of Contents
History of Jal Shakti Abhiyan
Jan Shakti Abhiyan was launched by the Ministry of Jal Shakti in 2019. It was a campaign for water conservation and water security in the country through a collaborative effort of various ministries of the Government of India and state governments, being coordinated by the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation.
Under the campaign, 256 water stressed districts were covered, more than 75 lakh traditional and other water bodies and tanks were renovated and around a crore water conservation & rainwater harvesting structures were created. Now, let’s move on to the next phase of this campaign i.e., ‘Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain’ Campaign.
‘Catch the Rain’ Campaign – Next leg of Jal Shakti Abhiyan
On 22nd March 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually launched the ‘Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain’ campaign to mark the occasion of World Water Day. The theme of the campaign is ‘Catch the rain, where it falls, when it falls’. The campaign will be implemented across the rural and urban areas from March 22 to November 30 i.e., the pre-monsoon and the monsoon period in the country. It will be launched as a Jan Andolan in order to undertake water conservation at the grass-root level with people’s participation. The programme will be rolled out across the country’s 734 districts covering over 600,000 villages. It aims to include all the stakeholders so as to create “rainwater harvesting structures” which are suitable to the climatic conditions to store the rainwater properly. Some of the activities highlighted under this campaign are:
- Drives to make check dams, water harvesting pits, rooftop RWHS etc
- Removal of encroachments and desilting of tanks to increase their storage capacity
- Removal of obstructions in the channels which bring water to them from the catchment areas etc
- Repairs to step-wells and using defunct bore-wells and unused wells to put water back to aquifers etc are to be taken up with the active participation of people
- To facilitate these activities, states have been requested to open “Rain Centers” in each district- in Collectorates/Municipalities or GP offices
Significance of ‘Catch the Rain’ Campaign
The major significance of this campaign is that it highlighted the importance of rainwater harvesting to tackle the issue of water scarcity. On average India receives 1,170mm of rainfall, most of it during the summer monsoon months, but only 10-20% of that is currently tapped. Hence the campaign emphasized to use the rainwater to mitigate the crisis of water. The idea of “No or only limited will water to flow out of the compound” will help in improving soil moisture and rising groundwater table. In urban areas, it will reduce water gushing onto roads, damaging them and will prevent urban flooding.
Apart from launching of the campaign, Prime Minister Modi also witnessed the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) between the Union Minister of Jal Shakti and the Chief Ministers of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh to implement the Ken Betwa Link Project, the first project of the National Perspective Plan for interlinking of rivers.
What is Ken-Betwa Link Project? Know about India’s first River Interlinking Project
The Ken-Betwa project involves the transfer of water from Ken River, Madhya Pradesh to the Betwa River, Uttar Pradesh by constructing the “Daudhan Dam” and a canal to link the two rivers.
The project will provide the drinking water supply to about 62 lakh people, annual irrigation to 10.62 lakh hectare, and will generate 103 megawatts of hydropower.The project will be significant to the water-starved region of Bundelkhand especially to the districts of Tikamgarh, Panna, Chhatarpur, Damoh, Sagar, Vidisha, Datia, Shivpuri, and Raisen of MP and Mahoba, Banda, Jhansi, and Lalitpur of UP. The project will also encourage more such interlinking of river projects which will tackle the problem of water scarcity in the country.
Know about World Water Day 2021
The World Water Day – is observed annually across the globe on March 22 to highlight the importance of water. The resolution to observe World Water Day was first adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 22, 1992, after which March 22 was declared as World Water Day and is celebrated around the world since 1993. The day is used to raise awareness regarding the sustainable management of freshwater resources. The United Nations choose the theme for each year with the focus on topics which are required for “clean water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH)”. The day is celebrated in line with the targets mentioned in the Sustainable Development Goal 6.
The theme of World Water Day 2021 is “Valuing Water” and has been chosen to highlight the value of water in our daily lives. Due to this ongoing pandemic situation, the World Water Day 2021 is celebrated virtually in which the United Nations Water Development report released to make policy recommendations to various countries on how to deal with the water crisis.
As we are moving on the path of development, the crisis of water is also increasing. By the year 2050, around 5.7 billion people would be living in areas where water would be scarce for at least one month a year. Hence, it is extremely important for us to realize the gravity of the situation. To tackle the problem of water scarcity, the government is coming up with campaigns like ‘Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain’.
In this article, we discussed the ‘Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain’ campaign in great detail. Moreover, we also talked about Ken-Betwa project, Jan Shakti Abhiyan and World Water day 2021. Hope you enjoyed reading it!
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