Question : Water Scarcity

(a) whether water scarcity in the country is taking serious turn in different parts of the country, if so, the details thereof along with the reaction of the Government thereto;
(b) whether export of foodgrain is likely to decrease in wake of acute water scarcity in the country, if so, the details thereof along with the steps taken by the Government to provide adequate amount of water to agriculture;
(c) whether it is a becoming difficult to provide water to all people of the country in wake of the fact that 17 per cent population has 4 per cent water availability, if so, the action taken by the Government in this regard; and
(d) whether the Government proposes to launch water conservation campaign on the lines of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, if so, the details thereof?

MINISTER OF STATE FORJAL SHAKTI
(SHRI RATTAN LAL KATARIA)

(a) to (c) Water is a State subject and planning, funding, implementation and maintenance of water supply schemes are primarily the responsibility of the State Governments. The Central Government provides technical and financial assistance to the States for improving the coverage of safe drinking water in rural habitations under centrally sponsored National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP). As per information furnished by States on Integrated management Information System (IMIS), 81.03% of rural habitations are fully covered i.e. getting more than 40 litres per capita per day (lpcd), 15.61% rural habitations are partially covered (getting less than 40 lpcd) and 3.36% rural habitations are quality affected i.e. affected by chemical contamination. In order to mitigate the hardship of people to access potable water, the following actions have been taken recently by the Central Government:
• An advisory has been issued by this Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation on 20th May 2019 to States on water conservation and to meet the drinking water requirements of rural areas on priority, during scarcity.
• Further, Cabinet Secretariat, vide its letter dated 29th May 2019 addressed to selective States, recommended action plans for dealing with drought like situation.
• The Hon’ble PM has written letters to all Sarpanches in the country motivating them to take up water conservation activities like de-silting and cleaning of water bodies, rain water harvesting etc with people participation.

(d) Ministry of Jal Shakti has launched Jal Shakti Abhiyan (JSA), which is a time-bound, mission-mode water conservation campaign. Under JSA, there are five intervention areas which include, inter alia, water conservation and rain water harvesting. JSA is a collaborative effort of various Ministries of the Government of India and State Governments, being coordinated by the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DDWS), Ministry of Jal Shakti. Under JSA, total 1592 blocks have been selected in 256 ground water stressed districts.