Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on July 5 announced the setup of “Jal Shakti Mantralaya”, a new integrated water ministry to handle water-related issues in a sustainable manner.
There will be a special focus on the conservation of water through rainwater harvesting, ground water recharge and the conservation of water bodies.
In the budget speech, Sitharaman also said the government had identified 1,592 blocks which are critical and over-exploited for the “Jal Shakti Abhiyan” — a national mission to ensure “Har Ghar Jal” to provide water supply to every household by 2024.
India is suffering from the worst water crisis in its history and millions of lives and livelihoods are under threat.
According to a Niti Aayog report, 600 million Indians currently face high to extreme water stress, and about two lakh people die every year due to inadequate access to safe water.
The crisis is going to only get worse. By 2030, the country’s water demand is projected to be twice the available supply, implying severe water scarcity for hundreds of millions of people and an eventual loss in the country’s GDP.
According to a report of the National Commission for Integrated Water Resource Development of erstwhile Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR), the water requirement by 2050 in high use scenario is likely to be a milder 1,180 billion cubic metres (BCM) whereas the present-day availability is 695 BCM.
The total availability of water possible in the country is still lower than this projected demand, at 1,137 BCM. Thus, there is an imminent need to deepen our understanding of our water resources and usage and put in place interventions that make our water use efficient and sustainable.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his second term, has clubbed various water ministries into a single portfolio — Ministry of Jal Shakti — to deal with related issues, including polluted rivers and the shortage of clean drinking water.
In June, in a meeting with state chief ministers at NITI Aayog, Modi said India needed to prioritise and make appropriate interventions to solve its water problems, according to a government statement. He said water conservation and irrigation both required a massive effort, based on public participation.
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