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‘Spend every penny under MNREGA for water conservation, supply’: PM Modi
The prime minister’s comments came as he launched the Jal Shakti Abhiyan’s second leg on the occasion of World Water Day.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said maximum funds from the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme should be utilised for projects to augment water conservation and supply till the onset of monsoon. The prime minister’s comments came as he launched the Jal Shakti Abhiyan’s second leg on the occasion of World Water Day.
Modi launched the “Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain’ campaign via video conferencing and also watched over an agreement between the Union minister of Jal Shakti Gajendra Shekhawat 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 the interlinking of rivers.
The Jal Shakti Abhiyan is the Jal Shakti ministry’s flagship water-conservation campaign. The next leg of the programme, dubbed “catch the rain where it falls, when it falls”, will be rolled out across the country’s 734 districts covering over 600,000 villages.
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Modi listened to gram panchayat leaders from various parts of the country on ongoing efforts to conserve water.
The prime minister said that the majority of rainwater during the monsoon months is simply washed away. Conserving rainwater will ease the pressure on groundwater in stressed areas. According to official data, 254 districts in the country are said to face acute water stress.
He said the campaign, which will run from March through November, should focus on conserving every drop of water.
“I would want to see that every penny of MNREGA, till the rainy season comes, should be utilised for this purpose. Money available under MNREGA should not go anywhere else other than for whatever is required for readiness to conserve water,” the prime minister said.
Modi said a major step had been taken for the Ken-Betwa link canal, adding that “rapid development is not possible without water security and effective water management”.
He said that the vision of “India’s development and India’s self-reliance is dependent on our water sources and our water connectivity”.
During the campaign, geotagging of all water bodies throughout the nation will be carried out which shall form the basis for assessment of the rejuvenation efforts for water bodies across the country, an official said on condition of anonymity.
According to data from the state-run policy think tank NITI Aayog, nearly 600 million Indians face “high to extreme water stress” and the country’s water demand is likely to double by 2030, potentially costing a 6 per cent loss in the gross domestic product (GDP) by 2050.
