On World Water Day PM Modi calls for More Participation of Women in Jal Jeevan Mission

By: WE Staff | Monday, 22 March 2021

Speaking on the occasion of World Water Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured that there will be more women participation in Jal Jeevan Mission.

“There will be more women participation in Jal Jeevan Mission as no one understands its worth better than them. It’s the first time since independence that a government has worked so seriously for water testing. Over 4 lakh women trained for (rain) water testing during corona,” said Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.

March 22 is celebrated as World Water Day. According to United Nations "The value of water is about much more than its value, and the theme for 2021 is "Valuing Water." This day is celebrated keeping in line with Sustainable Development Goal number 6 which is aimed at achieving water and sanitation by all for 2030.

Launched in 2019, Jal Jeevan Mission is a campaign that envisages providing safe and adequate drinking water through individual household tap connections by 2024 to all households in rural India. It also includes the implementation of sustainable measures such as greywater management, water conservation, and rainwater harvesting.

“Just one and a half years ago, out of 19 crore rural families in our country, only 3 and a half crore households got water from the tap. I am happy that after the launch of JalJeevan Mission, about 4 crore new families have got tap connection in such a short time,” said PM Modi.

He also added “The better India manages rainwater, the less will be the country’s dependence on groundwater. Therefore, campaigns like ‘Catch the Rain’ are very important and need to be successful. Be it Pradhan Mantri Krishi SinchayeeYojana or Prime Minister Agriculture Irrigation Scheme; be it ‘Per Drop More Crop’ campaign or Namami Gange Mission; be it Jal Jeevan Mission or Atal Bhujal Yojana, everyone is working fast to achieve the goals.”

“Apart from the conservation of rainwater, the management of river water in our country has also been discussed for decades. To save the country from this water crisis, it is now necessary to work fast in this direction. The Ken-Betwa Link Project is also part of this vision,” he said.

Ken and Betwa are the tributaries of the river Yamuna. The Ken-Betwa Link project is the first project under the National Perspective Plan for Interlinking of rivers. Under this project water from Ken will be transferred to the Betwa river.

The Indian Prime Minister launched the 'JalShakthiAbhiya: Catch the Rain' on the occasion of World Water Day via video conference.

The campaign will be implemented in both rural and urban parts of the country with the theme "catch the rain, where it falls when it falls." It is from 22nd March 2021 to 30th November 2021- the pre-monsoon and monsoon period in the country.

It will be launched as a “Jan Andolan” to take water conservation at the grass-root level through people’s participation. It 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, a government statement said.

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 ‘JalShapath’ for water conservation.