Jal Shakti minister urges people across the world to unite in fight against water crisis

While speaking at the concluding session of fifth India Water Impact Summit for Clean Ganga (NMCG) and the Centre for Ganga River Basin Management and Studies (Ganga) on Wednesday, Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said that the world needs to come together to the water crisis in the same way as the world has united in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. This summit was organised to explore new technologies in water security and the rejuvenation of local water bodies in the country. As per the official, "River Conservation Synchronised Navigation and Flood Management" was the focal point of the discussion. 

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Jal Shakti Min Shekhawat: 'World should fight water crisis together'

During his addresses, the Jal Shakti Minister congratulated NMCG and CGanga for successfully organising the summit. Equation the summit with "Vaicharik Kumbh", Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said that this scheme would promote panchayat-centric groundwater management and behavioural change with the main emphasis on demand-side management. He also stated that this conference has resulted in greater interaction between investors and stakeholders in the water sector to promote international cooperation between India and other countries for the water crisis. 

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Shekhawat said, "We have learnt a lot from national and international experiences and it is our promise that we will try to bring these learnings and concepts into practice. There is a political will and determination like never before, backed by support from academic and self-help organisations."

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Taking about the groundwater, The Minister said that India is working to reduce our dependence to use groundwater, which is the most used form of fresh water in the world.  Shekhawat said, "We are working on the Atal Bhujal Yojna, a pioneering initiative to map and recharge aquifers and conserve groundwater in collaboration with the World Bank. The scheme has been formed with the main objective of strengthening the institutional structure for groundwater management and bringing about behavioural changes at the community level for sustainable groundwater resource management in 7 states."

Apart from Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Minister of State Ratan Lal Katariya, Minister of Water Resource Department Vijay Kumar Choudhary and Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri were also present India Water Impact Summit. 

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(With ANI inputs)