New Delhi: Women should lead the Jal Jeevan Mission and it is the villages that are taking it forward said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday at the launch of Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain campaign virtually. Interacting with various men and women involved in water conservation from different parts of the country, the Prime Minister said that the people of India could learn a lot from the Adivasi community who for ages have been saving and have high regard for water.
Stressing the need to prepare to ‘catch the rain’ as the slogan goes the Prime Minister Narendra Modi said all people be it the youth, women, men and everyone in the family should be ready and prepare for the monsoon as one does when looking forward to a marriage in the family. He exhorted the people of India to get ready by cleaning tanks, desilting water bodies as the monsoon was just a few weeks away. “In the next 100 days lets all start preparation for rains,” he said.
Heaping praise on Chief Ministers of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh who signed an agreement to implement the Ken Betwa Link Project (KBLP) he said that it was a historic event and that it should have been done long ago.
The program will be implemented between March 22 and November 30, covering the monsoon period in the country. During this campaign, geotagging of all water bodies throughout the nation will be carried out, an official said on condition of anonymity. On average India receives 1,170mm of rainfall, most of it during the summer monsoon months, but only 10-20% of that is currently tapped.
Union minister for Jal Shakti ministry, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and chief minister of Shivraj Singh Chouhan were also part of the event.
