Prime Minister
Narendra Modi’snew government
has shifted its focus to the allied issue of water after the country-wide
sanitation drive with the Swachh Bharat Mission comes to an end on October 2,
2019. The focus will is carried out by theMinistry of Jal
Shakti.
Objective:
The scheme ‘Nal se Jal’ will be a component of
the government’sJal Jivan Mission.The Ministry plans to providepiped water
connectionsto every household inIndia by
2024.
The ministry will also look atconservation of
surface and groundwaterandinter-linking
rivers across the country. The idea of inter-linking rivers
across the country was proposed by the late Prime Minister Atal Bihari
Vajpayee in order to ease the irrigation and drinking water crisis.
Ministry of Jal Shakti:
The Ministry is led by RajasthanMP Gajendra
Singh ShekhawatandRam Lal Katariawill be the
Minister of state. The ministry has been formed by merging theMinistry of Water
Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenationalong
with theMinistry
of Drinking Water and Sanitation.
The reason for the merger isto
bring all aspects ofwater management and regulationunderone
department.The introduction of the Jal Shakti Ministry
was announced in theinterim budgetof theNDA
government.
NITI Aayog’s 2018 report:
A report byNITI Aayog reportedthat 600
million Indians face high to extreme water stress and about 2 lakh people die
every year due to inadequate access to safe water. It also stressed that by
2030, the country’s water demand will be projected to be twice the available
supply. This huge demand will imply severewater scarcity for hundreds
of millions of people which will eventually lead to a drop of nearly 60% loss
in the country’s GDP.
