Comprehensive measures for 100 water stressed districts: FM

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the government is proposing comprehensive measures for 100 water stressed districts in the Budget 2020.

This initiative will be part of the Jal Jivan mission, which will tentatively have a large pool of funds to the tune of Rs 3.06 lakh crore, the Finance Minister announced during her Budget 2020 speech. Through this initiative the government has expressed its willingness to prioritize districts which have historically faced water crisis. She added that the comprehensive measures on addressing this shortage of water will be chalked out through a framework to mitigate crisis in these water-stressed districts.

The funds allocated for the Jal Jivan will be used for augmenting various water management programmes - rain water harvesting, sewage water treatment, water desalination, recharging of lakes as well as augmenting existing water resources.

The rise in the demand of water as urbanization rapidly unfolds in parts of the country, which includes industrial activity, has put pressure on groundwater and in a cascading effect strained the existing models to meet the water demand. The domestic consumption of water in India, under normal circumstances, is estimated to be around 135 litres per day per person. Recently, a report had claimed that country's groundwater table is depleting rapidly, and if it continues, then it will have a huge impact on urban and rural economy. Water is a vital resource for both residential and industrial purposes, and inefficient water management models further accentuate the crisis.

( With inputs from IANS )