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Shri Priyaranjan Dasmunsi, Minister for Water Resources has called for evolving an integrated water resources development and management strategy for poverty reduction, sustainable economic development and environmental substance. Expressing concern over excessive ground water exploitation in some parts of the country, the Water Resources Minister observed that more water is being pumped out of aquifers than is being replaced by natural recharge resulting in degradation of land, salinity ingress and other quality problems. To reverse the present trend of declining ground water level, he announced that the Government has proposed a scheme on, “Artificial Recharge to Ground Water and Rain Water Harvesting” which has been approved by the Planning Commission and is under consideration for approval. The scheme is to operate on community cluster basis and priority will be given to locations where proposed people’s water conservation mission operates. The Water Resources Minister was speaking at the inaugural function organized in connection with the World Water Day-2005 here today. Shri Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav, Minister of State for Water Resources, Smt. Sheila Dikshit, Chief Minister of Delhi, Prof. M. Tawfik, Director, UNESCO, New Delhi Office, Shri A.K. Goswami, President, Indian Water Resources Society, Shri R. Jeyaseelan, Chairman, Central Water Commission and other officers from various State Governments besides prominent water experts were also present on the occasion.
On this occasion, the Water Resources Minister presented JAIN-INCID Sookshma Sinchai Puraskar - 2005 to Shri Udai Kumar from Coimbatore District for evolving, experimenting and implementing research based appropriate technologies in the area of water harvesting and agriculture. The Water Resources Minister observed that immediately after independence due emphasis was given to the Water Resources Development in India in successive five year plans and this led to self sufficiency in food production and availability of potable drinking water to most of the people. Still due to rapidly dwindling per capita water availability, which has plummeted to about one-third to what it was at the time of independence, the country has very little option other than continuously exploring new avenues of development of the utilizable water resources. Therefore, a simultaneous restoration of the traditional water bodies also features as a priority item in the list of activities of the Water Resources Ministry, he added. Expressing satisfaction at the Government’s launching of a new pilot scheme on “National Project for Repair, Renovation and Restoration of Water Bodies directly linked to Agriculture” at a cost of Rs.300 crores to be implemented by states during the remaining period of the Tenth Five Year Plan, the Minister informed that the scheme will enable restoration and augmentation of storage capacity of the water bodies and to recover and extend their lost irrigation potential.
Earlier, inaugurating the function, the Water Resources Minister highlighted the difficulties in managing the global water resources and informed that the uneven distribution as regards the geographical size and the population of the country remains a big challenge as India with a share of 4% of the world’s water and 2.45% of the world’s land resources has to support about one-sixth of the world’s population. The challenge is even more compounded given the high degree of spatial as well as temporal variation associated with its availability, he added. The Minister further called for judicious apportionment of the available water resources, which is the foremost agenda for achieving our socio economic and environmental commitments.
Shri Priyaranjan Dasmunsi also called for an interface between the governance and the civil society and stated that it offers exciting possibilities and can yield rich dividends. This is even more true in the case of water sector where the feedback from the end users are imperative for devising future planning and strategies, he added. The Minister observed that for the success of any scheme the participation of people and all stakeholders is a must and that the full benefits of the scheme can be derived only if the principle of 4 Ps i.e. Public-Private-People Partnership are followed. He further informed that the Government has been advocating the importance of the participatory approach in water resources development and management. In this regard the Command Area Development, which is already under operation for early completion of on-farm development works has been restructured and thrust is now being given to participatory approach. The Minister sought active cooperation and participation from the Water Users’ Association, various Non-Governmental organizations as well as private sector organizations in this endeavour.
Stressing on the efforts of the Ministry for making people aware on the issues and activities in water resources sector and to engage participation of the younger minds particularly the students of IITs and other Engineering Colleges in understanding the problems in water sector and coming out with solutions, Shri Priyaranjan Dasmunsi stated that he has already announced for instituting an award for them, wherein the students would be asked to participate in an Essay competition on topics relating to water resources issues in India. The top three entries will be included in the publication to be released on the coming World Water Day. The three winners of the competition will receive the award which will include Rs.25,000/- in cash, a citation and a specially designed trophy. This would be in addition to the media awards announced already; one for the print media and one for the electronic media for best researched story on water. He further informed that the Water Resources Day with theme, “Economic Development of perennially flood-prone areas” will also be celebrated in different parts of the country in the month of April.
Shri Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav, Minister of State for Water Resources stated that our existence and development solely depends on water. The relevance of the water management needs to be stressed to all stakeholders, he added, and called for evolving multifarious tools and strategies to stress awareness on water issues throughout the country.
Shri V.K. Duggal, Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources informed that the State Governments all over the country are celebrating the World Water Day in association with the Central Water Commission, Central Ground Water Board and various other UN Bodies. The theme of World Water Day, which is “Water Is Life”, is all the more relevant due to increasing urbanization and receding water levels. The water management is therefore called for at every level where people needs to be educated for adopting a judicious use for water.
RJ/AKS/AM
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