Lapse In Amrit Sarovar Mission for Water Conservation, Know How Agriculture Will be Affected

Eight major states in the country are lagging behind in achieving the target of constructing 75 Amrit Sarovars in each district of the respective state. Out of 1,12,277 identified Amrit Sarovars, the work has been started for 81,425 Amrit Sarovars, and a total of 66,278 Amrit Sarovars have been successfully constructed/rejuvenated. However, West Bengal, Punjab, Telangana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Bihar, and Rajasthan are yet to meet their targets.

Every Amrit Sarovar will be a source of generation of livelihoods by using the water for different purposes like irrigation, fisheries, duckery, cultivation of water chestnut, water tourism, and other activities. It will allow higher production of food grains and enable fish farming and cultivating Fox Nut, with an adequate irrigation system.

Amrit Sarovar Mission

The Amrit Sarovar Mission was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 24, 2022, with an objective to achieve a national target of 50,000 Amrit Sarovars and provide sustainable water sources wherein every district is expected to construct/ rejuvenate a minimum of 75 Amrit Sarovar.

The Amrit Sarovar Mission is being implemented with a whole of government approach in which 8 Central Ministries/Departments are involved. It includes:

• Department of Rural Development

• Department of Land Resources

• Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation

• Department of Water Resources

• Ministry of Panchayati Raj

• Ministry of Forest, Environment and Climate Changes

• Ministry of Railways

• Ministry of Road, Transport & Highways.

The Mission works through the States and Districts, by refocusing on various schemes. It is also to be taken into consideration that the Mission encourages the mobilization of citizen and non-govt resources for supplementing these efforts.

Amrit Sarovar Mission: Salient Features

• Every Amrit Sarovar will have a pond area of at least 1 acre with a water holding capacity of about 10,000 cubic meters

• Every Amrit Sarovar will be surrounded by trees like Neem, Peepal, Banyan, etc

• Every Amrit Sarovar site has been dedicated as a place for flag hoisting on every Independence Day. The Amrit Sarovar will also act as a social gathering point in that locality

• The Amrit Sarovar Mission focuses on water conservation, people’s participation, and proper utilization of soil excavated from the water bodies to boost infrastructural projects.