President Shri Ram Nath Kovind To Felicitate Winners of 3rd National Water Awards On 29th March, 2022

[CURTAIN RAISER]                   

The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind will felicitate the winners of the 3rd National Water Awards on 29^th  March 2022 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. The President will also launch the Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain campaign 2022 during the event. Catch the Rain campaign will continue to be implemented this year till 30th November 2022.

Union Minister for Jal Shakti Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Ministers of State for Jal Shakti Shri Bishweswar Tudu and Shri Prahlad Singh Patel, Secretary, Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Shri Pankaj Kumar and Secretary, Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation Shri Vini Mahajan will also be present during the occasion.

The need for a unified National Water Awards was felt to encourage the stakeholders and people adopt holistic approach towards water resources management. The Awards also strives to create awareness among the masses on the importance of water and motivate them to adopt best practices in effective water management.

The first National Water Award was launched by the Jal Shakti Ministry in 2018. National Water Awards have provided a good opportunity to start-ups as well as leading organizations to engage and deliberate with senior policymakers on how to adopt the best water resources management practices in India.

The Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Ministry of Jal Shakti is giving 57 awards to States, Organizations, Individuals etc. in 11 different categories – Best State, Best District, Best Village Panchayat, Best Urban Local Body, Best Media (Print & Electronic), Best School, Best Institution/RWA/Religious organization for Campus usage, Best Industry, Best NGO, Best Water User Association, and Best Industry for CSR Activity. Some of these categories have sub- categories for different zones of the country. The award winners in different categories will be given a citation, trophy and cash prize.

The States of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu have got the first, second and third prizes respectively in the Best State category.  Some of the winners have done exemplary work in the field of water management. The Awards are expected to usher-in a water consciousness in the minds of people of India and will help in bringing a behavioral change.

The NWAs focuses on the good work and efforts made by individual and organisations across the country in attaining the government’s vision of a ‘Jal Samridh Bharat’. The Award also provides an occasion for all people and organisations to further cement a strong partnership and people engagement in water resources management activities.

After the successful implementation of Jal Shakti Abhiyan in 2019, which was a national call to action for water conservation and management and implemented in 1,592 water stressed blocks in 256 districts of the country, the Jal Shakti Abhiyan-II: Catch the Rain, where it Falls, When it Falls campaign was launched by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi on the occasion of World Water Day on 22nd March 2021, which was taken up in all districts (rural as well as urban areas) of the country during the pre-monsoon and monsoon period, i.e. from March 2021 to 30 November 2021. The campaign spearheaded by National Water Mission evoked a very good response all over the country. Since the launch on 22 March 2021 till 31st December 2021, both urban and rural areas put together, a total of more than 46 lakh water related works completed/on-going in addition to more than 36 crore afforestation works, 43,631 training programmes/kisan melas were held and 306 Jal Shakti Kendras had been established. The expenditure under MGNREGS alone is more than Rs 65000 crore. In addition to water conservation related works, use of remote sensing satellite images and GIS mapping technology for identification of existing water bodies/structures was done to create an inventory of water bodies.

In Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain 2022, some new features which have been added are spring shed development, protection of water catchment areas, gender mainstreaming in water sector. Gender mainstreaming is expected to promote the role of women in water governance/conservation & management. The State Governments will accomplish the task of setting up of Jal Shakti Kendras in each district of their state which will act as knowledge center and will offer a one stop solution to all water related problems/ issues and draw district water conservation plan as early as possible. If all water bodies in the country are enumerated under the campaign this year, it will be a major achievement.

All the Sarpanchs will conduct the special Gram Sabhas during the launch of the campaign and administer the Jal Shapath to the people in the village. Successful implementation of the “Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain” campaign relies on active participation of local community people at the grass root level where the local community people will be a “water warriors” to mitigate water scarcity issues through active participation in water conservation work and act as an owner to the water conservation structures assets. District Magistrate and Gram Sarpanchs will play crucial role in motivating the local populace as “Marg Darshak” for motivation and active participation of each individual in water conservation to ensure campaign’s success with fulfilling the desire of “Jan Shakti for Jal Shakti”.

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