New Delhi: Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Union Minister for Jal Shakti said the crisis of water shortage reared its ugly head after the core committee that used to oversee water management in every village collapsed, and people disrespected water after it reached their homes through pipelines.
He said India will never witness “the last drop of water” moment because the country gets 4,000 billion cubic meters (BCM) water in the form of ice or rainwater every year. The Union minister also said the country has achieved significant success in the field of science and technology when it comes to agriculture and irrigation. He said 2,000 BCM out of the total 4,000 BCM water is harvestable and India has the ability to overcome the temporary water shortage.
The minister said now it offers some solace to the government that several influential people, including spiritual guru and Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, are expressing their concerns over water shortage and problems faced by the common man. Currently, the country is witnessing drinking water shortage because 65% of the total population are using groundwater to meet most of their daily requirements and this is the most critical area where the government needs to focus, he added.
He further added that mother Earth itself acts as the biggest dam to contain enough water for the entire mankind. He said 375 BCM of usable water comes from the surface reservoirs while only 250 BCM are utilised by the people due to evaporation and leakage issues. in some parts of the country, people are facing water shortage because they are drawing 71/2 times more water (750 BCM) than the prescribed limit which is 25% of the world consumption.
Shekhawat said the Art of Living is currently working on rejuvenation of 42 rivers and trying to manage both the demand and supply side.
Citing the example of Israel, he said the average rainfall in the country is only 110mm per annum and it is not adequate to irrigate the arid and semi-arid areas there, but despite severe water shortage, Jerusalem has earned the reputation of “water exporting country”. Currently, Israel is exporting drinking water to its neighbour Jordan and Syria.
In 1962, Israel adopted drip irrigation technology and that helped them turn deserts into a land rich with crops.
If we consider the water shortage from productivity point of view, India uses 5,600 litres of water to harvest 1kg rice while China produces the same amount of rice utilising only 350 litres of water, but it is a matter of pity that our farmers haven’t harnessed the technology that was discovered by our scientists 20 years ago, the Jal Shakti minister said.
The crisis of water shortage reared its ugly head after the core committee that used to oversee water management in every village collapsed and people forget the ways meant to save water after it reached homes through pipelines, he added.
Today, river Ganga has emerged as the cleanest river in the country after the Modi government at the Centre took special initiatives to divert all the nullahs and prevented the polluted water from tanneries from mixing with Ganga water, he said.
The minister stressed on water recycling and urged people from all walks of life to come forward and join the movement to conserve water.