Water being a state subject the projects on water conservation are planned, funded, executed and maintained by  the State Governments. Government of India supplements the efforts of the States through technical and financial assistance to them through various schemes and programmes.

Water conservation initiatives are taken up by the Central Government on continuous basis and are covered under various schemes and programmes such as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS),  Atal Bhujal Yojana,  Pradhan Mantri Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY), Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT),  Unified Building Bye Laws (UBBL) of Delhi, 2016, Model Building Bye Laws (MBBL), 2016, Urban and Regional Development Plan Formulation and Implementation (URDPFI) Guidelines, 2014 etc.

In order to boost water conservation and rain water harvesting in the country, Ministry of Jal Shakti has taken up a nationwide campaign “Jal Shakti Abhiyan - Catch the Rain” (JSA:CTR) with the theme “Catch the rain, where it falls, when it falls”  for creating appropriate rainwater harvesting structures  in urban and rural areas of all the districts in the country, with people's active participation, during the pre-monsoon and monsoon periods during 22.03.2021 to 30.11.2021.

States/ UTs have been advised to enable Rural Local Bodies/Panchayats to utilise 15^th Finance Commissions grants to take up rooftop rain water harvesting in Government buildings like panchayat, bhawans, anganwadis, Primary Health Centres etc. Master Plan for Artificial Recharge to Groundwater- 2020 has been prepared which envisages construction of about 1.42 crore rain water harvesting and artificial recharge structures in the country. Government organises workshops, seminars/webinars, awards   etc. and encourage people to become active participants for water conservation and  rainwater harvesting. Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) has advised all States/UTs to take measures to promote/adopt artificial recharge to ground water /rain water harvesting. National Water Policy (2012) advocates water conservation and rainwater harvesting.

Traditional methods of water conservation and rain water harvesting in the country varies from area to area depending upon the topography, climatic conditions, soil structure, etc. Government of India encourages the best practices on traditional methods of conservation of water and disseminates it with a view to bringing awareness and replication in other areas. 

This Information was given by the Minister of State for Jal Shakti,  Shri Bishweswar Tudu in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.

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