Intensifying preparation for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Jal Kranti Abhiyan’, the Chhattisgarh Government has identified as many as 54 water villages in 27 districts of Chhattisgarh.
As per information received, two water villages each of the State have been identified for ‘Jal Kranti Abhiyan’. Of the 54 identified water villages, Integrated Water Conservation Programme have been chalked out for 40 villages.
Chief Minister Raman Singh and Water Resources Department Minister Brijmohan Agrawal have given specific directives to officials of concerned department for completing Integrated Water Conservation Programme for remaining 14 water villages.
Moreover, the Chief Minister recently held a meeting at his official residence to review the progress of works ongoing for ‘Jal Kranti Abhiyan’.
The meeting chaired by the Chief Minister was attended by Chief Secretary Vivek Dhand, Secretary of Water Resource Department Dr B l Tiwari, Secretary of Commerce and Industry Subodh Kumar Singh and other senior officials.
As per information received, the objective of ‘Jal Kranti Abhiyan’ is to ensure effective measures for conservation and enhancement of water in villages dealing with water shortage. On June 5 this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the campaign to mark World Environment Day.
Under this campaign, works related to water conservation and community irrigation will be carried out by guaranteeing active participation of Panchayat Raj institutions. By establishing better coordination with different departments, necessary initiatives will be moved for storing rain water and its effective management.
By utilizing different means, including information, education and broadcasting, public awareness programme will be carried out, informed officials, adding that for smooth execution of ‘Jal Kranti Abhiyan’, committees have been formed at State, district and block levels.
Notably, Chhattisgarh is among nine other states where the World Bank Assisted Project "Neeranchal" for the Watershed Component (Erstwhile Integrated Watershed Management Programme) of the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayi Yojana (PMKSY) would now be implemented.
The decision was taken at the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) meeting chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi, officials stated.
Apart from Chhattisgarh, the scheme would be implemented in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan and Telangana.
The total cost of the project is `2142.30 crore of which the Government's share is ` 1071.15 crore (50 per cent) and rest is the loan component from the World Bank.
The major objective of the Watershed Component of the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayi Yojana (PMKSY) is for ensuring access to irrigation to every farm and efficient use of water.
Neeranchal will translate into better implementation outcomes of PMKSY. The programme will lead to reducing surface run-off of rainwater, increasing recharge of ground water and better availability of water in rainfed areas resulting in incremental rainfed agriculture productivity, enhanced milk yield and increased cropping intensity through better convergence related programmes in project areas.
Neeranchal is designed to further strengthen and provide technical assistance to the Watershed Component of PMKSY, in particular and all components of PMKSY, in general, to enhance its delivery capacity. It will support the Watershed component of PMKSY (erstwhile IWMP) which was implemented by the Department of land Resources (DolR) in 28 States, officials stated.
Watershed development projects are area development programmes and all people living in the project area will be benefitted.
The Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) was implemented since 2009-10 by the DolR, for supporting watershed development in 28 States. From 2015-16 onwards, the IWMP will be implemented as the Watershed Component of PMKSY.
The potential of the watershed approach followed by the erstwhile IWMP to support both conservation and production outcomes including the availability of water in rainfed areas, catering to the needs of small and marginal farmers as well as the asset-less, including women, has been successfully demonstrated at scale across various States of India.
However, despite these successes, a number of challenges remain for watershed development to achieve better outcomes, including enhanced participation of communities, building stronger capacities and systems to plan, implement, monitor and post-project sustainability of local institutions and assets. These challenges, if not resolved, can result in implementation delays, slow disbursements and benefits, officials stated.
Notably in February this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally started monitoring the Integrated Watershed Management Project at Jashpur and Kanker districts in Chhattisgarh.
In the first phase of the project various Watershed management projects in Jashpur and North Bastar (Kanker) were included. Several works undertaken as part of Watershed Management Project in these districts have brought qualitative changes in the lives of rural people, officers informed.
Neeranchal is primarily designed to address the following concerns:- To bring about institutional changes in watershed and rainfed agricultural management practices in India, build systems that ensure watershed programmes and rainfed irrigation management practices are better focussed, and more coordinated, and have quantifiable results,devise strategies for the sustainability of improved watershed management practices in programme areas, even after the withdrawal of project support, through the watershed plus approach, support improved equity, livelihoods, and incomes through forward linkages, on a platform of inclusiveness and local participation.