Catch the Rain Awareness Campaign : JSA II | UPSC

HEADLINES:

“JSA II: Catch the Rain” Awareness Generation Campaign launched

WHY IN NEWS:

Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangthan to undertake ‘Catch the Rain’ awareness campaign covering 623 districts across the nation from December 2020 to March 2021

MINISTRY? :- Ministry of Jal Shakti

SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 3:Water Conservation

ISSUE:

“JSA II: CATCH THE RAIN” AWARENESS GENERATION CAMPAIGN

OVERVIEW

The State accords the highest priority to the issue of water conservation and the need of the hour is to adopt an integrated approach towards water management.
As a preparatory phase of JSA-II, the Ministry has involved Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangthan (NYKS) for undertaking ‘Catch the Rain’ awareness campaign to cover 623 districts.

AIM

“JSA II: Catch the Rain” Awareness Generation Campaign aims to to focus on water conservation and rainwater harvesting with involvement of the youngsters in the revolutionary campaign.

TAGLINE

NWM has launched a campaign Catch the rain” with tag line “catch the rain, where it falls, when it falls” .

The tagline is an indication to all stake-holders to create Rain Water Harvesting Structures (RWHS) suitable to the climatic conditions
Ultimately, it is sub-soil strata to store rain water as rains falling in the four/five months of monsoon are the only source of water for most parts of the country.

Catch the rain

ORGANISERS

“JSA II: Catch the Rain” Awareness Generation Campaign is organised by

National Water Mission(NWM)
Ministry of Jal Shakti
Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS)
Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports .

TIMELINE

The awareness generation phase of campaign will run from mid-December 2020 to March 2021.

FOCUS AND PARTICIPATION

Some of the activities suggested to be taken up with peoples active participation under this campaign are:

Drives to make water harvesting pits, rooftop RWHS and check dams.

Removal of encroachments and de-silting of tanks to increase their storage capacity.

Removal of obstructions in the channels which bring water to them from the catchment areas.
Repairs to traditional water harvesting structures like step-wells and using defunct bore-wells and old wells to put the water back to aquifers etc.
The NYKS teams will also meet district administration, line departments and water agencies, hold meetings with Pradhans, local influencers.
Volunteers will also prepare plans for the water conservation to be taken up in the next phase of the campaign.

ACTIVITES

NYKS will undertake this awareness building campaign through various IEC activities.

This will include :

Conducting education & motivational programs
Mass awareness campaigns
Environment building including wall writing
Banners & e-posters
Knowledge competitions
Demonstration activities like theme-based nukkadnataks & skits
Branding & popularize the campaign by logos & printed IEC materials etc.

CO-ORDINATION

To facilitate these activities, states have been requested to open “Rain Centers” in each district– in Collectorates/Municipalities or GP offices.

During this period, these Rain Centres will have a dedicated mobile phone number and will be manned by an engineer or a person well trained in RWHS.
This centre act as a technical guidance centre to all in the district as to how to catch the rain, as it falls, where it falls.

SIGNIFICANCE

Efforts should be made so that all buildings in the district should have rooftop RWHS .
Maximum quantity of rain water falling in any compound should be impounded within the compound itself.

The basic aim should be that No or only limited will water to flow out of the compound.

This will help in improving soil moisture and rasing ground water table.
In urban areas it will reduce water gushing onto roads, damaging them and will prevent urban flooding.
Under the “Catch The Rain” initiative, all water bodies in the districts are to be enumerated, (checked with revenue records) and encroachments to be removed.

IASbhai WINDUP:

All District Collectors, heads of institutions like IIMs, IITs, Central Universities, Private Universities, Chairmen of Railways, Air Port Authority, PSUs; DGs of Central Armed Police Force etc having large tracts of lands with them have been requested to take steps to “Catch the Rain”.

SUGGESTED READING : JAL JEEVAN MISSION

SOURCES: PIB | Catch the Rain Awareness Campaign : JSA II | UPSC

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