Mann Ki Baat: PM’s pitch for saving ”every drop” of water

New Delhi

Linking the intense heatwave and drought to environmental degradation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today made a strong pitch for a mass movement to save forests and conserve “every drop” of water during the upcoming Monsoon season.

Modi, who has been reviewing drought situation with Chief Ministers recently, said a number of states have taken some good initiatives towards water conservation and that he had asked Niti Aayog to study the best practices for their replication all over the country.

In his monthly radio programme ‘Mann Ki Baat’, he also talked about some other issues, like the need for moving towards cashless society for transparency and curbing blackmoney.

During the 30-minute broadcast, the Prime Minister also urged the countrymen to practice Yoga for illness-free life and informed that on the International Yoga Day on June 21, he would join a programme in Chandigarh.

Referring to the intense heatwave being witnessed in the country, he said concerns increased few days back when news came in that Monsoon could be delayed by a week beyond June 1.

“Most parts of the country are experiencing intense heatwave. Be it humans, birds or animals, all are troubled.

It is only because of environment that such problems continue to increase. Depletion of forests has been going on, trees continue to be cut. In a way, the humankind itself destroyed the environment and put itself on the path of destruction,” he said.

He mentioned the recent cases of fire in forests of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, and said the root cause of such incidents is that there are dry leaves and little carelessness.

“That is why, saving forests and conserving water becomes everybody’s responsibility,” Modi said while underlining the need for saving “every drop” of water, which he described as “God’s ‘prasad'”.

“I urge the countrymen, let us decide that we will not let even a drop of water go waste during June, July, August and September (comprising Monsoon season)… The issue of water concerns not only the farmers but everybody… The rainy (Monsoon) season is coming.. Start the preparations now to see where to save water,” he said.

“I urge you. Do not let this (Monsoon) season go. In the coming four months, a mass movement in the form of ‘Save Water Abhiyan’ is needed to save every drop of water. And this task is not only of the governments or politicians but that of the common masses,” he said, seeking contribution from the media too in this endeavour.

Emphasising that saving water should be a priority for the countrymen, the Prime Minister questioned how a situation can be allowed to persist wherein water is wasted during Monsoon and later there is problem of scarcity.

“Even if one drop of water is wasted, it should pain us,” he said.

While talking about water-scarcity, he referred to his meetings with Chief Ministers of drought-hit states — Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Odisha.

He said he had departed from the past tradition of holding a common meeting with the Chief Ministers and decided to meet them separately to give individual attention to each of them.

“Whichever party may be in party in any state, it was emphasised that permanent solutions are required to deal with this problem which has been going on long. The focus (of these meetings) was how to have lasting solutions,” Modi said.

Describing it as a “learning experience” for him, he said he had asked Niti Aayog to study the “best practices” of various states so that those could be replicated in all the states.

In this context, he said some states, especially Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat, had made immense use of technology to meet the situation of water scarcity.

He mentioned various schemes being undertaken by different states like Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Telangana and Rajasthan for optimal use of water.

Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat have set the targets of expanding micro-irrigation to 2-3 lakh hectares of land per year, which he commended.

Citing the initiatives undertaken by various states, Modi said some are using micro-irrigation, some drip-irrigation, some ground water recharging while some others are using ‘check dams’.

He then spoke about the need for using technology to turn India into a ‘cashless society’.

“We have to build a modern India. We have to make India transparent…We will need to some of our old habits,” the Prime Minister said.

He spoke about the government’s steps in this direction like introducing Jandhan, Aaadhar and Mobile phone banking (JAM). He also mentioned ‘POS’ (Point of Sale) instrument and ‘RuPay’ mechanism of making payments.

Pitching for cashless transactions, he said, “it will bring transparency… The impact of black money will reduce.” PTI