Catch the Rain

The Ministry of Jal Shakti had launched the Jal Shakti Abhiyan (JSA) in 2019 to address India’s escalating water crisis, targeting 1,592 blocks out of 2,836 across 256 water-stressed districts. This initiative aimed to improve water management, promote conservation, and ensure sustainable water resources. Unfortunately, the programme was temporarily suspended in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In response, the government introduced the “Catch the Rain” campaign, with the tagline “Catch the rain, where it falls, when it falls”. This campaign sought to motivate states and stakeholders to construct Rain Water Harvesting Structures (RWHS) and instil a culture of rainwater conservation at the grassroots level. By 2021, this effort evolved into “Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain” (JSA: CTR), which expanded to cover all districts across the country, becoming an annual programme. The focus of the 2023 campaign, themed “Source Sustainability for Drinking Water”, was on ensuring sustainable water management, with particular attention on 150 districts identified under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM). These districts required enhanced water conservation efforts, particularly in rural areas where water scarcity posed significant challenges to the availability of safe drinking water. In 2024, the JSA: CTR programme is adopting the theme “Nari Shakti se Jal Shakti”. Women, especially in rural India, are often the primary users of water resources and are uniquely positioned to drive change in water management practices. The 2024 campaign will focus on five critical areas: (i) water conservation and rainwater harvesting, (ii) inventorying and geo-tagging of water bodies, (iii) establishment of Jal Shakti Kendras (water resource centres), (iv) large-scale afforestation, and (v) raising awareness about the importance of sustainable water practices. These interventions aim to create a foundation for long-term water security through community engagement and environmentally sound practices. In addition to these five focus areas, the 2024 campaign has promised to introduce several new initiatives, including the de-silting and cleaning of water bodies, revitalisation of abandoned borewells for groundwater recharge, and snow harvesting in hilly regions such as Ladakh, where innovative water conservation techniques like ice stupas are essential. In Jammu & Kashmir, the implementation of the JSA: CTR campaign was recently reviewed in a meeting chaired by Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo. During this meeting, the Chief Secretary emphasised the need for a thorough review of existing water conservation policies, calling for the digitisation of all relevant data to improve management and accessibility. He highlighted the importance of ensuring district-level coordination and activating Jal Shakti Kendras to encourage greater grassroots participation. Chief Secretary Dulloo also urged officials to adopt modern technologies, such as remote sensing, to monitor groundwater levels and effectively track changes in the water table. Additionally, he directed that coordination with the National Informatics Centre (NIC) be enhanced to facilitate geo-tagging of existing water resource data, which would lead to better tracking and management of these vital resources. If implemented effectively, the Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain programme holds the potential to bring in a major transformation in India’s water management landscape.