JAL JAGAR- Nari Shakti se Jal Shakti

Under the Jal Shakti Abhiyaan- Catch the Rain (JSA-CTR) 2024, Nari Shakti se Jal Shakti is the theme. Out of the 151-focus district, Dhamtari is one due to the decadal ground water table declining.

Aim of JSA-CTR -

Ensuring water security for all the people in the region. 

To take water conservation at grass-root level through people participation.

To bring sensitivity on the subject and give focused approach to water conservation.

Stakeholders require effective tools to identify and manage available water resources efficiently.

The focused interventions are

1) water conservation & rainwater harvesting,

2) enumerating, geotagging & making inventory of all water bodies,

3) preparation of scientific plans for water conservation,

4) setting up of Jal Shakti Kendra in the district,

5) intensive afforestation,

6) Awareness generation,

7) de-silting & cleaning of water bodies,

8) revitalizing abandoned defunct borewells for ground water recharge. 

Water-based governance initiatives, to achieve the above are undertaken by 6 major departments as follows:

1) Irrigation- Jal Shakti Abhiyaan, focuses on catch the rain, where it drops, when it drops. 

2) PHE- Jal Jeevan mission, aims at providing household tap connections for drinking water to every family.

3) Agriculture- watershed projects & PM Krishi Sinchai Yojana

4) Forest- CAMPA, CFRR & JFMC involvement

5) Rural development- MGNREGA, Amrit Sarovar, Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM-R)

6) Urban Areas- under mandate of Mission Amrut (SBM-U)

Objective of Jal Jagar-

While JSA-CTR has been implemented via GIS-based planning in the district since the last 2 years, this year the need for a focused campaign for behavioral & attitudinal change from the mentality of plenty of water-to-water scarcity was felt. There is a gender dimension when we speak of water resources. Women interact with water more actively than their counterparts. At home, it is them who travel long distances to fetch water and then plan its judicious use, majority of agrarian labor is put in by women, while the decision of what to sow is taken by the men, in the education system, a lack of sanitation facilities leads to more dropout of girls as compared to boys, in water conservation efforts then it is necessary to driving home the point that water stress is felt, borne and resolved by women more than men. Hence participation of women has to be central to the campaign. To increase community Participation, sensitization and ownership of water resources and conservation efforts is central to the success of JSA. behavioral change is the only way that the efforts will have a lasting impact. we came across traditional practices &knowledge to achieve our ends to bridge it with scientific planning was required to address the situation. In this background the Jal Jagar campaign was designed to meet the above ends under the broader umbrella of JSA-CTR. to make it a mass movement.