MODI DREAMS OF WATER FOR ALL!

‘Narendra Modi’s novel water management ideas struck me’ - UP Singh, Former Secretary Ministry of Jal Shakti

When I became the DG of NMCG (National Mission for Clean Ganga), I had the first opportunity of interacting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Two things stand out in my memory, which had struck me then as novel and far-reaching. Till then, whenever there was talk of rejuvenating the Ganga, the thrust always veered towards beautification, especially of ghats, or construction of new ghats along the river. This is where all the effort stopped. Here PM Modi intervened and clearly told us that our job was not just to ensure the beautification and cleanliness of ghats or building of new ghats.

Our main purpose was to ensure the quality and purity of the water of the Ganga and other rivers. Our focus and emphasis should be on deciding and fixing the standard of the water quality and consistently maintaining that quality to make water potable and fit for bathing. Our rivers should have clean water, and towards that motto we should all devote our efforts. The second thing that struck me was the PM’s emphasis on performance, i.e. the work that should be visible on the ground. In our system, we put a lot of emphasis on ‘construction’ but not the same kind of attention towards ‘performance’. For instance, we easily build sewage treatment plants, but how well or efficiently they are functioning, and what the lacunae are, if any, that can further enhance their efficiency or performance, doesn’t remain our concern. The PM wanted us to shun this habit. He wanted us to work towards achieving our goals in a time bound manner through consistent focus on the performance aspect of any project. There was another thing that I find important to mention, and that is Modi ji’s emphasis on public participation.

He stressed involving the members of the public in cleaning the Ganga as well as other rivers. He said, even if we build a sewage plant, or any other such thing with government funding, we can’t make it a success if people don’t cooperate and be a part of the nation building process. We will keep cleaning on the one hand, and people will keep littering and polluting on the other, and the end result will come to a null. That’s why in anything and everything we do, we must take the people into confidence and make them a part of the initiatives for their effective implementation. Narendra Modi suggested another important point at the meeting. He stressed the importance of micro irrigation and said, we will have to find out ways as to how more and more farm areas could be successfully irrigated with the minimum amount of water available at our disposal.

On former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s birth anniversary on December 25, Modi ji launched the Atal Bhujal Yojana, which was to bring about a paradigm shift in water management in the country. I remember, he had told an important thing at the inaugural event at Vigyan Bhawan in Delhi related to micro-irrigation. He had said, our plants needed water, not our farms. In our country, the water use efficiency is very low. Earlier it was thought that only engineering marvels like big dams and irrigation projects could lead to ample water availability for our farms and crops. This new scheme changed the approach. For one, for the first time we had a dedicated funding for water. Second, people from the ground level were empowered to manage their water resources. The concept of participatory irrigation management was introduced for the first time.

Now on, the information and authority was not limited to the contractor or the engineer or the administrative officials engaged in fitting pipes or constructing tanks. The villagers knew of their resources, the quality and quantity of water they were to receive, and what actually was happening so that they could act accordingly at their own level, without being dependent on the government or the private agency to do things for them. This led to greater accountability and better management of water in villages. Water budgeting was introduced, so that villagers knew their surplus or deficit and a water security plan was put in place, so that they could devise ways not just to raise water availability in their respective village but also to save water from going to waste. Under the government’s Jal Jeevan Mission, Modi ji even interacted from time to time with the village-level committees to see if the plan was working as envisaged and kept guiding and instructing officials and villagers on ways to make it work even more effectively, always intent at removing the roadblocks whatsoever thwarting the process in any way. Today, the portal is in the public domain for all to see what is happening in this field.

Every important phone number of the person(s) concerned, right from the state to the block and village level across the country can be accessed and information gathered on the availability, quality and distribution of water under various heads. It can be located and addressed if anything is posing a hurdle in the ample availability of water to villagers or in the efficient and optimum functioning of the village water management committees. These seminal changes were never even thought of before. But Modi ji brought in all these and paved the way for a secure future of our rivers as well as our people.

COMPILED AND EDITED BY SHASHIKANT SHARMA