Approach:
Introduction by highlighting the water scarcity in India.
Enlist the objective of Jal Shakti Abhiyan.
Mention the key focus areas of this programme.
Elaborate on the strategies for its implementation and conclude briefly.
Answer:
According to a Niti Aayog report on water, nearly 600 million Indians face high to extreme water stress and 75% households do not have drinking water on their premises. India’s annual per capita
availability of water fell from 1820 cubic meters in 2001 to 1545 in 2011 and is estimated to
fall to the level of 1341 cubic meters by 2025.
Facing an imminent water crisis, the government has launched Jal Shakti Abhiyan (JSA), an
intensive water conservation campaign built on citizen participation to accelerate water
conservation and water security across the country.
The Jal Shakti Abhiyan seeks to integrate demand and supply-side management of water at the
local levels with focus on water stressed districts and blocks. The major focus areas are:
Water conservation and rainwater harvesting
Renovation of traditional and other water bodies/tanks
Creation of local infrastructure for source sustainability which includes reuse and recharge structures
Watershed development
Intensive afforestation
Various strategies have been planned under the Abhiyan to meet the objectives and sensitize the local communities about water conservation.
Some of them being:
Collaboration and coordination: It would include the collaborative efforts of different ministries and departments including the state governments to be coordinated by the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation.
Intervention teams: The central government has designated a nodal officer and an 18-point todo list has been issued to them. These officers along with their teams would work with district administration in water stressed blocks in 256 districts, to ensure important water conservation interventions.
Research support: Scientists and expert teams from IITs to be mobilized at the national level to support the teams implementing the programmes.
Use of technology: 3D Village Contour Maps may be created and made accessible for efficient planning of interventions.
Convergence with MGNREGA: A detailed plan of over 200,000 works to be taken up for water conservation in nearly 1,100 water-stressed districts has been drawn.
Awareness campaigns: A large scale communications programme has been planned to spread awareness. This would include all the stakeholders including school students, Self Help Groups, Panchayati Raj Institution members etc.
Therefore, the Jal Shakti Abhiyan is an effort by the government to create a jan-andolan along the lines of the Swachh Bharat Mission, to overcome the challenges of water conservation in India which mainly include lack of awareness among citizens, poor government policies formulation and implementation, increasing water pollution, unscientific agricultural practices, lack of water reuse etc.
