Highlights:
- Indian Prime Minister launches rainwater harvesting campaign
- Many parts of India, including rural and urban areas are facing a severe water crisis
- The rainwater harvesting campaign is called “Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain”
On Monday, the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, announced a rainwater harvesting campaign called the “Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain” as the Monsoon season comes around the corner.
The aim of the campaign is to prepare the citizens of India to collect rainwater and reduce dependence on groundwater sources.
In a video conference with several village representatives, PM Modi said, “Before the arrival of the monsoon, the work of cleaning tanks, ponds and wells has to be done, if soil has to be removed, then that work should be done and their capacity for water collection should be increased by not having any obstructions in the flow of rainwater”.
Also Read: Sharad Pawar Rules Out Anil Deshmukh’s Resignation Amid Ruckus Over Ex-Top Cop’s Letter
The campaign is introduced on the backdrop of severe water crises faced by not only the rural parts of the country but as several urban and metropolitan areas, most prominently in Chennai.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also oversaw the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) between the Union water resources minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and the Chief Ministers (CMs) of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Yogi Adityanath respectively, to implement the Ken Betwa Link Project (KBLP), using which the two tributaries of Yamuna river – Ken and Betwa – will be linked through a canal and water from the Ken river will be transferred to the Betwa river.
The Ken Betwa Link project of the National Perspective Plan for interlinking of the two rivers which was a plan that was formulated back in 1980 envisaging the inter basin water transfer in the country.
The central government led by Narendra Modi has laid special emphasis on securing the water supply of the country with the launch of the Jal Jeevan Mission in August of 2019 which was just 3 month after coming back to power in a landslide victory.
In the Jal Jeevan Mission, the government is aiming to provide a functional water tap connection to every household by the year 2024.
The importance of the scheme is such that even during the lockdown (between April and June 2020), 19 lakh or 1.9 million tap connections were installed in villages.
The rainwater harvesting campaign is aimed at reducing the country’s dependence on groundwater.
“The better India manages rainwater, the more the country’s dependence on ground-water will be reduced, and campaigns like ‘Catch the Rain’ are necessary to be successful,” Modi said.
