Essay – Jal Shakti Abhiyan
Jal Shakti Abhiyan Essay: Jal Shakti Abhiyan was launched on 1st July 2019 by ministry of Jal shakti, it was launched by union Jal Shakti minister, Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat. It was initially launched in 1592 blocks in 256 water stressed districts. It was a campaign to promote water resource management, water conservation and water security. The campaign was to run acrossthe country through a collaborative effort of various ministries of the Government of India and state governments and through citizen participation. Amir Khan was appointed as the brand ambassador of Jal Shakti abhiyan.
The government decided to launch the abhiyan on 1st July 2019 because of certain incidents that had taken place before and certain data that was released earlier, like the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) in September 2018 had said that peninsular India witnessed a deficit of 72% rain. Later that month the IMD had declared that 256 districts recorded deficient or scanty rainfall. In December 2018 AndhraPradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Odisha had declared drought. In January 2019, the IMD pointed out that retreating monsoon rainfall between October and December had been “substantially below normal”. In March 2019 report of water crisis emerged in Chennai and Bangalore. NITI aayog had reported in 2019 that by 2020, 21 Indian cities would run out of ground water and by 2030, 40% of Indian population would have no access to drinking water.Also, the government had made a promise to provide piped drinking water to every household by 2024(Nal se Jal scheme).The 2018 Composite Water Management Index (CWMI) had noted that 6% of economic GDP would be lost by 2050, while water demand would exceed the available supply by 2030. Taking in to account all these and some other factors the government launched the abhiyanfocusing on accelerated implementation of five targeted interventions:1) Water conservation and rainwater harvesting, 2) renovation of traditional and other water bodies, 3)reuse of water and recharging of structures, 4) watershed development and 5) intensive afforestation. In addition to these interventions the abhiyan also included development of Block Water Conservation Plans and District Water Conservation Plans, Krishi Vigyan Kendra Melas, Urban Wastewater Reuse and 3D contour mapping of all villages. In 2019 the campaign was conducted in two phases;the Phase 1 was conducted during south west monsoon season from 1st July to 15th September 2019 and Phase 2 was conducted during north east retreating monsoon from 1st October to 30th November 2019.Because of these abhiyan in 2019, 2.73 lakh water conservation and rainwater harvesting structures had been built,45000 water bodies and tanks had been renovated, 1.43 lakh reuse and recharge structures had been built, 1.59 lakh watershed development-related works had been completed, 12.36 crore trees had been planted and 1372 block water conservation plans had been created.Later on, the scope of Jal Shakti Abhiyan 2019 was expanded and “Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain” with the theme “Catch the Rain – Where it Falls When it Falls” had been taken up to cover all the blocks of all districts across the country from 22nd March 2021 to 30th November 2021 for the pre-monsoon and monsoon period. The 2021 campaign had five focused interventions: 1) rainwater harvesting & water conservation, 2) enumerating, geo-tagging & making inventory of all water bodies, preparation of scientific plans for water conservation, 3) Setting up Jal Shakti Kendras in all districts, 4) intensive afforestation and 5) awareness generation. The”Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain” 2022, the third in the series ofJal Shakti Abhiyans, had been launched across the country from 29th March 2022 to 30th November 2022 for the pre-monsoon and monsoon period. The targeted interventions of the campaign for 2022 were: 1) water conservation and rainwater harvesting, 2) enumerating, geo-tagging & making inventory of all water bodies, preparation of scientific plans for water conservation based on it, 3) Setting up of Jal Shakti Kendras in all districts, 4) intensive afforestation and 5) awareness generation. The Jal Shakti Abhiyan, 2019 and Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain,2021 had been successful campaigns of the Government. While around 6.20 lakh water related works had been completed and 12.36 crore intensive afforestation was carried out under abhiyan in 2019, more than 46.70 lakh water related works had been taken up along with more than 36.75 crore intensive afforestation activities were carried out under Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rainas on 25th march 2022.
Some areas where we need to focus more for better water management and water security are: 1) Proper and sustainable planning of rapidly growing urban settlement because the rapid growth has put a lot of pressure on ground water and resulted in ground water exploitation, 2) There is a need to shift from water intensive crops like rice, sugarcane etc., to less water intensive crops like millet, bajara etc., 3) There is a need to bring a change in the mindset and behaviour of citizens and to promote rational use of water, 4) Farmers in India face acute shortage of water mainly due to irregular planning of water conservation during monsoon season, hence there is a need to build reservoirs through community based participation and to educate the farmers on proper planning of water conservation.
Over the years Jal Shakti Abhiyan has been producing fruitful results but still persistent effortsare needed, considering the degree of severity of the water situation and the chances of these situation to further worsen because of climate change crisis.The participation of all the citizens matters the most if we want to solve the issue and to maintain resources for the future generations.
FAQs on Jal Shakti Abhiyan Essay:
1.) What is meant by water security?
Ans: The availability of sufficient quantity of acceptable quality of water for sustaining livelihoods, for socio-economic development and for ensuring protection against water related disasters.
2.) What is meant by water stressed?
Ans: Water stress takes place when the demand for water is greater than the available amount during a certain period.
3.) What is meant by afforestation?
Ans: The act of planting tress on an area to form a forest.
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