President Ram Nath Kovind addresses after launching Catch the Rain campaign 2022 in New Delhi on March 29, 2022. (Photo/PIB)
New Delhi: President Ram Nath Kovind presented the third National Water Awards and launched the Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain campaign 2022 in here on March 29, 2022.
Speaking on the occasion, the President said that presentation of National Water Awards for exemplary work in the field of water management, and expansion of water campaign to underline the importance of water in our daily life and on the planet Earth, is commendable.
The President said that it gives him immense pleasure to launch ‘Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain 2022’.
He urged everyone to work on the focused interventions of this edition of the campaign.
He said that district magistrates and village sarpanchs would have to play a crucial role in motivating the local populace for active participation of each individual in water conservation work.
He urged everyone to take a pledge that just as the largest vaccination drive in history is being carried out in India, in the same way we all would make this campaign the biggest water conservation campaign in the history.
President Kovind said that water sources like ponds and lakes, which provide water to cities throughout the year, have also disappeared under the pressure of urbanization.
“It has turned water management upside down. The quantity of ground water is decreasing and its level is also going down. On one hand, cities have to draw their water from faraway places and, on the other hand, streets are flooded in monsoons.”
He said that scientists and activists have also been expressing their concern about this paradox of water management during the last few decades.
“In India, this problem becomes more serious because our country has about 18 percent of the world’s population, while we have only 4 percent of the fresh water resources. The availability of water is uncertain and depends to a large extent on rainfall.”
President Kovind said that the issue of water is a part of an even larger crisis of climate change.
“As climate changes, flood and drought conditions are becoming more frequent and more severe. The Himalayan glaciers are melting, and the sea level is rising. The serious consequences of such changes are coming to the fore, which are having an even worse impact on the lives of farmers, women and the poor.”
The President said that today the water crisis has become an international crisis and it can take dire forms. Some defense experts have even said that in future it can become a major cause of international conflict.
He said that facing the impact of climate change and protecting our Earth is an epic challenge before all of us. (Press Release)
