REPORT ON JAL SHAKTI ABHIYAN OUTCOMES AND LEARNINGS The movement towards water conservation has to take place at the grassroots level. - Shri Narendra Modi, Prime Minister, Independence Day Speech, 15 Aug 2019 ह शेखावत जल श啍鄿 मं配셀ﴂगजेन्द्रस रकारﴂ Gajendra Singh भारत Shekhawat Minister for Jal Shakti Government of India MESSAGE Under the visionary leadership of the Hon’ble Prime Minister, India embarked on a historic journey in its approach to the water sector by integrating two key departments dealing with water: the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, and the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation-an efforts which has truly strengthened efforts for a holistic approach in the water sector. In his Mann Ki Baat address in June 2019, the Hon’ble Prime Minister made a clarion call to the people of India to come together and launch a jan andolan for water conservation, along the lines of the Swachh Bharat Mission. That call to action led to the launch of the Jal Shakti Abhiyan in July 2019. The Jal Shakti Abhiyan (JSA) has been a collaborative efforts of various Ministries of the Government of India and State Governments, coordinated by the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Jal Shakti, and has witnessed teams of officers from the central government working with district administrations in 1592 water stressed blocks in 256 districts, to ensure five important water conservation interventions. The JSA manifested into a large-scale campaign which involved mass mobilization of different groups of people, which included school students, college students, swachhagrahis, Self Help Groups, Panchayati Raj Institution members, youth groups (NSS/NYKS/NCC), defence personnel, ex-servicemen and pensioners among various others. I compliment all team Members involved at the national, state, district and village level for their remarkable contributions made during the campaign and call upon the people of India to scale up this programme over the next few years. Jai Hind! (Gajendra Singh Shekhawat) चिवﴂ ामाजजक ꅍायﴂ जल श啍鄿 और रकारﴂ रतन लाल कटाररया एवं अधिकाररता राज्य मं配셀 परमेश्वरन अय्यर भारत रकार Parameswaran Iyer पेयजल एवं स्वच्छता व भागﴂ Rattan Lal Kataria भारत नई धि쥍셀-110001 जल श啍鄿 मं配ालय Minister of State for Secretary Jal Shakti And Social Justice Government of India & Empowerment Department of Drinking Government Of India, Water & Sanitation New Delhi - 110001 Ministry of Jal Shakti MESSAGE FOREWORD Laying impetus on jal sanchay, the Jal Shakti Abhiyan (JSA) is a time-bound, mission-mode water Water is at the top of the development agenda today, having been placed there by the Hon’ble Prime conservation campaign which transformed into a people’s movement, with an array of stakeholders Minister time and again over the last year. Immediately after the creation of the Ministry of Jal Shakti, coming together and driving the campaign for water conservation. the Hon’ble Prime Minister called for a jan andolan for jan sanchay. This clarion call manifested into a massive water conservation movement – the Jal Shakti Abhiyan (JSA). In line with the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision for a people’s movement for water security, the JSA has been a collaborative efforts of various Ministries of the Government of India and State Governments. The JSA, an intensive campaign built on citizen participation to accelerate water conservation across The Abhiyan seamlessly dovetailed various institutions at the central and district levels, with its focus the country, ran in two phases: Phase 1 started from 1st July till 30th September 2019 for all States on the programmatic implementation of five key intervention areas: water conservation and rainwater and Union Territories; and Phase 2 started from 1st October till 30th November 2019 for States and harvesting, renovation of traditional and other water bodies/tanks, reuse and recharge of bore well Union Territories which receive the retreating monsoon (Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Puducherry, and structures, watershed development, and intensive afforestation. These water conservation efforts Tamil Nadu). Led by the Minister of Jal Shakti, officers, groundwater experts and scientists from the were also supplemented with special interventions including the development of block and district Government of India worked together with state and district officials in India’s most water-stressed water conservation plans, and the promotion of efficient water use for irrigation and better choice of districts for water conservation and water resource management by focusing on the accelerated crops through Krishi Vigyan Kendras. implementation of five target interventions. This final report of the JSA is an amalgamation of the rich and substantial observations and inputs The JSA witnessed collaborations by various stakeholders for promoting and facilitating water from the field which would be highly relevant for undertaking numerous jal sanchay initiatives, across conservation across India, in not only the specified districts, but far beyond the mandate as well. The the country in the future. I congratulate the team at Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, as the coordinating Department for the campaign, for their relentless effort in coordinating the initiative and I look forward to the campaign being coordinated with other implementing Departments regularly and, with active deliberations, charted implemented regularly in the coming years. out frameworks and parameters for the field visits of participating officials. A great impetus to the campaign was also given by the office of the Principal Scientific Advisor, which rendered support in developing tools to track the overall impact on groundwater levels, soil moisture Jai Hind! levels, and other parameters. This final report of the JSA is a chronicle of the great effort made by the central, state and district levels, in accelerating the programmatic implementation of key interventions for water conservation and in generating the people’s movement for jal sanchay on the ground. (Rattan Lal Kataria) (Parameswaran Iyer) In addition, the following special interventions Environment, Forests and Climate Change, and were carried out: Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. The Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Prime i. Development of Block and District Water Minister along with ISRO and others are assisting Conservation Plans (To be integrated with the the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation District Irrigation Plans). in providing scientific inputs (like digital maps ii. Krishi Vigyan Kendra Melas to promote districts showing various layers like drainage, efficient water use for irrigation (More Crop per water bodies, MGNREGA works etc.) as well as in Drop), and a better choice of crops, for water outcome monitoring (Details in Annexure-II). conservation. The Department of Drinking Water and These areas of intervention broadly fell under Sanitation (DDWS), Ministry of Jal Shakti is the the mandate of the Ministry of Jal Shakti nodal department for the campaign. DDWS (the Department of Water Resources, River has constituted a JSA Secretariat consisting of 6 Development and Ganga Rejuvenation and the senior officers (including Secretary, DDWS). This Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation), committee is assisted by 6 Assistant Secretaries. Ministry of Rural Development, Department of Land Resources, Ministry of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare, Ministry of BACKGROUND The Jal Shakti Abhiyan (JSA), a collaborative effort of the Government of India and State Governments, was an intensive time-bound campaign to accelerate progress on water conservation activities in 1592 identified water-stressed blocks in 256 districts. 23 of these districts are aspirational districts. Selection criteria for Water Stressed Blocks/Districts/States (National mapping at Annexure I): i. Water Stressed Blocks, for the purposes of this exercise, are those where groundwater levels are critical/ over-exploited [as per Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) 2017]. These fall under 20 States/UTs. ii. For other States, the district with least groundwater availability has been selected (as per CGWB2017). Over- Other Blocks with Critical Total no. of Total no. of Total States/ exploited least groundwater Blocks Blocks Districts UTs Blocks availability 312 1186 94 1592 256 36 Under this campaign, targeted activities were iv. Watershed development undertaken under 5 key areas of intervention v. Intensive afforestation namely: Data on the above parameters from specific sites i. Water conservation and rainwater harvesting identified under the various interventions of the ii. Renovation of traditional and other water Abhiyan are analysed to measure outcomes in bodies/tanks consultation with the O/o the Principal Scientific Adviser to Government of India. iii. Reuse and recharge structures ROLL-OUT PROCESS MONITORING AND SUPPORT The campaign was carried out in two phases. Both Phase I and II involved 3 field visits each by There were various monitoring mechanisms A national-level JSA monitoring dashboard Phase I was being carried out between July the participating teams from the Government of in place to ensure seamless implementation has been developed that shows the progress 1 and September 15, 2019, for all States. India (GoI). The GoI teams consist of 256 Central and evaluation of outcomes. The monitoring of the States against key JSA interventions For States and Union Territories