PM launches Atal Jal Yojana aimed at improving groundwater level
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday urged farmers to opt for less water intensive crops and irrigation methods that will help conserve water, as he launched the Atal Jal Yojana, aimed at improving groundwater level in seven states.
Speaking at the launch of the scheme, he said by forming the Jal Shakti Ministry, his government has tried to free the subject of water from a compartmentalised approach to a more comprehensive and holistic one.
Modi said the Atal Jal Yojana will help improve groundwater level in 78 districts, more than 8,300 villages in the states of Maharashtra, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka.
He said agriculture in the country is largely based on irrigation carried out through the use of groundwater and using old-age techniques of irrigation also leads to wastage of water.
Crops like sugarcane, Modi said, need a lot of water and places where such crops are grown have noticed a depletion of groundwater table.
"To improve this, we need to make farmers aware of conservation of rain water and taking alternative crops for cultivation and move towards micro-irrigation," he said.
"It is necessary to explain the farmers in his own language," he said.
He also urged every village to prepare a water action plan, water fund and make use of the funds through different related state and central schemes.
Modi said villages with low groundwater level should prepare water budget and farmers should be encouraged to grow crops accordingly.
He said that on the one hand, Jal Jeevan Mission will work towards delivering piped water supply to every house, and on the other, Atal Jal Yojana will pay special attention to those areas where groundwater is very low.
To incentivise village panchayats to perform better in water management, Modi said a provision has been made in the Atal Jal Yojana in which better performing village panchayats will be given more allocation.
He said in 70 years, only 3 crore out of 18 crore rural households have access to piped water supply.
"Now our government has set the target to deliver clean drinking water to 15 crore homes in the next five years through pipes," he said.
The prime minister also emphasised that water-related schemes should be made according to the situation at every village level. This has been taken care while making the guidelines of the Jal Jeevan Mission, he added.
Modi also said that both Union and state governments will spend Rs 3.5 lakh crore on water-related schemes in the next five years. He also urged people of every village to make a water action plan and create a water fund.
He appealed to NRIs to provide whatever assistance in water-related issues in their villages.
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BJP using women's quota bill as front to pass Delimitation Bill that will break India: Mamata
Cooch Behar (WB) (PTI): Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday alleged the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre was using the proposed amendment to the women's quota law in Parliament as a front for the Delimitation Bill that would "break the country into pieces".
The TMC will fight this Central government's move at every step, she asserted at her party's poll rally here.
The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill to tweak the women's quota law, along with the Delimitation Bill and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, to implement the proposed amended women's quota law, in the Union territories of Delhi, Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir, were introduced in the Lok Sabha on Thursday.
According to the Constitution amendment bill, Lok Sabha seats will be increased to a maximum of 850 from the current 543 to "operationalise" the women's reservation law before the 2029 parliamentary polls, following a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census.
Seats will also be increased in state and Union territory assemblies to accommodate 33 per cent reservation for women.
Opposing the Centre's move, Banerjee alleged that "the BJP brought the Delimitation Bill while keeping the women's reservation bill at the front".
"The BJP is trying to increase the number of seats in the Lok Sabha to nearly 850 through the Delimitation Bill. It will break the country into pieces," the TMC supremo said.
She also alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not speaking the truth about the development of north Bengal at a BJP rally last week.
"The prime minister said nothing was done for the development of north Bengal. But we spent Rs 1.72 lakh crore on the development of the region," Banerjee said and asked Modi to cross-check data before making such remarks.
