'Har Ghar Jal': A mission to tackle water crisis for rural homes
New Delhi, July 05: Nirmala Sitharaman presented her first budget today as India's first full-time woman finance minister, during which she said the government will integrated water ministry to ensure 'Har Ghar Jal' under the Jal Jivan Mission by 2024.
'Har ghar jal', for rural homes:
'Har Ghar Jal' means that every household will have potable water by 2024. To enable this, the government will form a new Mantralaya and work with states.
According to a Niti Aayog report, 21 major cities will run out of groundwater by 2020. The think tank's report added that 2 lakh people die every year due to inadequate or unsafe water.
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A total of 1,592 water-stressed blocks in 256 districts will be taken care of as a combined effort of state and central government ministries. These blocks, Sitharaman said, were identified by the government to be 'critical and overexploited'.
The government had earlier launched Jal Shakti Abhiyan, a water conversation campaign to tackle the crisis.
The campaign will focus on five aspects - water conservation and rainwater harvesting, renovation of traditional and other water bodies/tanks, reuse of water and recharging of structures, watershed development and intensive afforestation.