Sanchay Jal, Behtar Kal Campaign

The Ministry of Jal Shakti has launched the Sanchay Jal, Behtar Kal  campaign for rainwater harvesting and water conservation.

Features of the Campaign

• It is a time-bound, mission-mode campaign on 1,592 “water-stressed” blocks in 257 districts.
• The campaign would be rolled out in 1,592 blocks, identified as “water-stressed” as per the Central Ground Water Board’s 2017 data. This includes 313 critical blocks, 1,000-odd over-exploited blocks and 94 blocks with least water availability (for states without water-stressed blocks).
• Over exploited blocks are those which have used up over 100% of their groundwater availability whereas critical blocks are those where the extraction levels have reached 90-100%.
• The five targeted interventions under the campaign include water conservation and rainwater harvesting, renovation of traditional and other water bodies/ tanks, re-use and borewell recharge structures, watershed development, and intensive afforestation.
• The campaign involves focused implementation and convergence of existing water conservation schemes under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, Integrated Watershed Management Programme, and Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana’s per-drop-more-crop (micro-irrigation) programme.
• Central government officials of the rank of joint secretaries to additional secretaries across ministries are been designated as Central Prabhari officers for each of the 257 districts to monitor implementation of the plan.

The campaign designed on lines of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan relies largely on mass awareness programmes.