IASbaba's Flagship Course: Integrated Learning Programme (ILP) - 2024 Read Details
Search 22nd March, 2021 Spotlight here: http://www.newsonair.com/Main_Audio_Bulletins_Search.aspx
Topic:
General Studies 2:
General Studies 3:
In News: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday launched ‘Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain’ campaign for conserving water and stressed that every penny of MGNREGA funds be spent on rain water conservation till the monsoon arrives. Addressing an event at the virtual launch of the campaign on the World Water Day, Modi said it is a matter of concern that majority of rain water in India gets wasted. He said the more the rain water is conserved, the less will be the dependence on groundwater.
The Campaign
The ‘Catch the Rain’ campaign will be undertaken across the country, in both rural and urban areas.
In India, the lack of access to clean water is an ongoing challenge that the country has been facing for several years.
In 2017, in a written reply in Lok Sabha, the Ministry of Water Resources (as it was before being merged into the Jal Shakti ministry in 2019) said that the average annual per capita water availability fell from 1820 cubic meters assessed in 2001 to 1545 cubic meters in 2011, and could reduce further to 1341 and 1140 in the years 2025 and 2050 respectively.
“Annual per-capita water availability of less than 1700 cubic meters is considered as water stressed condition, whereas annual per- capita water availability below 1,000 cubic meters is considered as a water scarcity condition. Due to high temporal and spatial variation of precipitation, the water availability of many regions of the country is much below the national average and can be considered as water stressed/water scarce,” the Ministry had said.
In a 2018 report, the water and sanitation advocacy group WaterAid ranked India at the top of 10 countries with the lowest access to clean water close to home, with 16.3 crore people not having such access.
Notably, the same report also took note of government efforts, saying, “(India) is also one of the world’s most-improved nations for reaching the most people with clean water, but faces challenges with falling groundwater levels, drought, demand from agriculture and industry, pollution and poor water resource management – challenges that will intensify as climate change contributes to more extreme weather shocks.”
Water in the Constitution
The Ministry of Jal Shakti says on its website, “As most of the rivers in the country are inter-State, the regulation and development of waters of these rivers, is a source of inter-State differences and disputes. In the Constitution, water is a matter included in Entry 17 of List-II i.e. State List. This entry is subject to the provision of Entry 56 of List-I i.e. Union List.”
Under Article 246, the Indian Constitution allocates responsibilities of the States and the Centre into three lists– Union List, State List, and Concurrent List.
Water is under Entry 17 of the State List, which reads: “Water, that is to say, water supplies, irrigation and canals, drainage and embankments, water storage and water power subject to the provisions of entry 56 of List I.”
MGNREGA’s role in saving water
Over the past 15 years, the MGNREGA programme has helped bolster water sufficiency and management of precipitation in many villages.
The rural employment guarantee Act was amended in 2014 to ensure that at least 60% of the expenditure was on projects that benefit agriculture and allied activities; as a result, the rural development ministry had said in 2019 that 75% of the activities in the list of permissible activities under MGNREGA “directly improve water security and water conservation efforts”.
30 million water conservation-related works — that translates to 50 works/village — have been undertaken through MGNREGA, creating a water conservation potential of close to 29,000 million cubic metres of water. For perspective, that is nearly 17% of the capacity of the 123 reservoirs that are monitored for storage by the Central Water Commission.
Why is World Water Day celebrated?
To focus on the importance of freshwater, the United Nations marks March 22 every year as World Water Day. The theme of World Water Day 2021 is “Valuing Water”.
According to the UN, World Water Day celebrates water and raises awareness of the 2.2 billion people living without access to safe water.
The idea for this international day goes back to 1992, the year in which the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro took place. That same year, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution by which March 22 of each year was declared World Day for Water, to be observed starting in 1993.
“The value of water is about much more than its price – water has enormous and complex value for our households, food, culture, health, education, economics and the integrity of our natural environment. If we overlook any of these values, we risk mismanaging this finite, irreplaceable resource.”
Solutions: Need to make “every drop count”
This will ensure that cities survive under drought. This can be done by
Nature-based solutions can address overall water scarcity through “supply-side management,” and are recognised as the main solution to achieving sustainable water for agriculture.
Three areas that need urgent measures are
Note:
Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6) aims to ensure availability and sustainable management of water for all by 2030. By definition, this means leaving no one behind.
Human right to water: In 2010, the UN recognized “the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights.” The human right to water entitles everyone, without discrimination, to sufficient, safe, acceptable, physically accessible and affordable water for personal and domestic use; which includes water for drinking, personal sanitation, washing of clothes, food preparation, and personal and household hygiene.
Connecting the Dots: