National Water Policy Needs Wider Consultation with Various Stakeholders

Many challenges have emerged significantly in water sector that needs to be addressed through appropriate revision of National Water Policy. In order to meet the present challenges in water sector, revision of National Water Policy 2012 has been envisaged by the Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Ministry of Jal Shakti and a drafting committee has been constituted on 5th November, 2019 to revise the National Water Policy. The revision of National Water Policy requires wider consultation with various stakeholders including State Governments.

A meeting of the State Ministers in-charge of Water Resources, Water Supply and Sanitation was held on 11th June 2019 at New Delhi to review the steps taken by various States on water conservation and the implementation of action plans to deal with the water supply situation, plan for water harvesting and conservation in convergence with other programmes. State Governments were requested to complete water conservation measures for large-scale rain water harvesting.

Government of India has launched Jal Shakti Abhiyan (JSA), a water conservation campaign, which is being implemented in 256 water-stressed districts of the country. The Phase–I was implemented from 1st July, 2019 to 30th September, 2019 across the country and Phase–II is being implemented from 1st October, 2019 to 30th November, 2019 in the Southern States which receive retreating monsoon.

During the campaign, officers, groundwater experts and scientists from the Government of India have worked with State and District officials in these districts to promote water conservation and water resource management by focusing on accelerated implementation of five target interventions, viz. water conservation & rainwater harvesting, renovation of traditional and other water bodies/ tanks, reuse and recharge of bore wells, watershed development and intensive afforestation. With this campaign, huge awareness has been generated and various stakeholders, viz. government departments, agencies, NGOs, officials, Panchayats, individuals, etc. have started taking steps for water conservation.