On World Water Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will announce the “Jal Shakti Abhiyan Catch the Rain” campaign. The historic MoU to undertake the Ken Betwa Link Project, the first project of the national view plan for river interlinking, will also be signed at the event by the chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. According to the PMO, the campaign will be carried out throughout the country in both rural and urban areas, with the slogan “catch the rain, where it falls, when it falls.” It will be introduced from March 22 to November 30 – the country’s pre-monsoon and monsoon seasons.
This project entails transferring water from the Ken to the Betwa River through the Daudhan Dam and a canal connecting the two rivers. It will provide annual irrigation for 10.62 lakh hectares, drinking water for approximately 62 lakh persons, and hydropower for 103 megawatts. The Project would greatly benefit the water-stressed region of Bundelkhand, particularly the districts of Panna, Tikamgarh, Chhatarpur, Sagar, Damoh, Datia, Vidisha, Shivpuri, and Raisen in Madhya Pradesh, and Banda, Mahoba, Jhansi, and Lalitpur in Uttar Pradesh.
It will pave the way for more interlinking of river projects to ensure that scarcity of water does not become an inhibitor for development in the country. The campaign will be undertaken across the country in both rural and urban areas. It will be implemented from today till 30th November – the pre-monsoon and monsoon period in the country. It will be launched as a Jan Andolan to take water conservation at grass-root level through people’s participation.
The campaign is intended to nudge all stakeholders to create rainwater harvesting structures suitable to the climatic conditions and subsoil strata, to ensure proper storage of rainwater. After the event, Gram Sabhas will be held in all Gram Panchayats of each district, except in the poll bound states to discuss issues related to water and water conservation. Gram Sabhas will also take Jal Shapath for water conservation.
