THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT AND GANGA REJUVENATION (PROF.SANWAR LAL JAT)
(a) to (d) A statement is laid on the table of the House.
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (A) TO (D) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 334 ON 19.03.2015 TO BE ASKED BY DR. SUBHASH BHAMRE; SHRI PRATHAP SIMHA, MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT REGARDING “CONSERVATION OF WATER”.
(a) Yes, Madam. Management, including conser- vation and preservation of water and water bodies is a thrust area for the Government. National Water Mission (NWM) has been estab- lished as part of National Action Plan on Climate Change of Government of India with the objective of “conservation of water, minimizing wastage and ensuring its more equitable distribution both across and within States through integrated water resources development and management”. The National Water Mission has five Goals; Comprehensive water data base in public domain and assessment of the impact of climate change on water resources; Promo- tion of citizen and state action for water conservation, augmentation and preservation; Focused attention to vulnerable areas inc- luding over-exploited areas; Increasing water use efficiency by 20%; and Promotion of basin level integrated water resources management
Further, Repair, Renovation and Restoration (RRR) of Water Bodies Scheme has been laun- ched as a pilot scheme in X Plan. During XII Plan, RRR, as a centrally sponsored scheme is expected to provide central assistance for restoration of about 10,000 water bodies (9,000 in rural areas and 1,000 in urban areas) with an outlay of Rs.6235 crore. The RRR Scheme has multiple objectives such as, comprehensive improvement and restoration of water bodies, reclamation of lost irrigation potential, increase in tank storage capacity, improvement of catchment areas of tanks and ground water recharge. The scheme also envi- sages capacity building of implementing agen- cies at the National, State and District levels on sensitisation of stakeholders, identification and selection of water bodies, preparation of detailed project Reports. The Department of Soil Conservation also takes up a large number of programmes for prevention of soil erosion and conservation of water.
The National Water Policy (2012) adopted by National Water Resources Council in 2012 which also envisages efficient water management and conservation with stakeholder participation.
(b) & (c) 342 training programmes for promotion of conservation and management of water resources have been organized and 34,432 participants inc- luding 7,412 women participants attended the training programmes during the last three years and current year, i.e., upto February 2014-15. State-wise and year-wise details of these trai- ning programmes are attached at Annexure-I. In addition to the above, about 170 mass awareness programme have been organized during the last three years including the current year 2014-15, the details of which, are given at Annexure-II.
(d) Under the RRR Scheme of this ministry, 3230 water bodies, have been repaired, renovated and rehabilitated to create an additional irrigation potential of 1.773 lakh hectares.
In addition, the Department of Land Resources has reported that 8214 projects covering an area of 39.07 million hectares have been taken up for watershed development. This is likely to prevent soil erosion, enhance soil moisture abso- rption and retention, enhance ground water recha- rge, facilitate regeneration of wastelands and contribute towards making subsistence agriculture worthwhile.
Training, capacity building and mass awareness programme for multiple stake-holders, which include government officials, Panchayat repre- sentatives, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) etc. have been undertaken to promote conservation and management of water resources and artificial recharge techniques.
