Haryana Chief Minister Manohar lal on Saturday launched ‘NABARD Water Campaign-2017’ being organised by the National Bank For Agriculture And Rural Development (NABARD) in about 5,000 villages across 16 districts of the State for creating awareness about conservation, preservation and efficient utilisation of water.
The campaign, which focuses on tackling the problem of water scarcity in the most vulnerable, rain-fed and water-scarce areas in the State, was launched in the presence of Finance Minister Captain Abhimanyu and Minister of State for Cooperation Manish Kumar Grover, at Mokhra Kheri village in Rohtak district.
The main objectives of the campaign include awareness creation on the importance of water and its judicious utilisation and management, adoption of available technologies for enhancing productivity per unit of water use and promotion of investment in water-efficient technologies, rainwater harvesting and improved water conservation and management practices, said an official spokesman.
He said that the campaign is aimed at increasing the adaptive capacity of the farmers against climate change, promoting climate-resilient agriculture, enhancing the income of the farmers and ensuring improved availability of water.
Under this campaign, various stakeholders, including Government Departments, banks, NGOs and corporate houses would be persuaded to facilitate village-level programmes in their jurisdiction with the support of trained Jal Dhoots in the district.
The campaign would lay emphasis on creating awareness about the need for water conservation, preservation and its efficient management, recharging groundwater, rainwater harvesting, recycling of wastewater and adoption of a range of pro-
ven technologies such as micro-irrigation (more crop per drop), farm ponds, bunds, trenches and check dams, he said.
As many as 200 teams comprising two persons per team, are being trained by the Master Trainers from Centre for Environment Education (CEE), Ahmedabad under the campaign.
loan proposals from interested farmers, if any, mobilised by the Farmers’ Clubs, Self Help Groups (SHGs), NGOs, Farmer Producer Organi-
sations (FPOs), Water Users’ Association (WUA), and Financial literacy and Credit Counselling Centres (FlCC), would be facilitated by lDM/DDM for sanction by the bank branches concerned, said the spokesman.
He said that Jal Dhoots, with the support of DDM, banks and Panchayati Raj Institutions, would organise one-day village training to create awareness about the importance of water and availability of various low-cost technologies for conservation, preservation and efficient utilisation of water. The team would work in close coordination with DDM, Gram Panchayat, bank branches and PACS.
The campaign is expected to result in knowledge dissemination to around 1.50 lakh farmers, saving of water due to adoption of water-saving technologies, enhanced credit and flow of private investments in creation of water sources and their efficient utilisation, improved productivity and enhanced cropping intensity and crop diversification, increase in area under irrigation and enhanced adaptive capacity of the farmers, increase in forest cover and enhancement of income and livelihood security of farmer, he added.
