NEW DELHI Terming water as fundamental to the economy, ecology and human equity, President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday said modernisation of India is dependent on modernisation of its water management.
Addressing the gathering after inaugurating the 5th Edition of India Water Week-2017 here, the President said, “Today, the world is debating if the flow of information is more important than the flow of energy.
That is a good question. But the flow of water is still more important”. The President said that in India, 54 per cent of people were dependent on farming for their livelihood but their share of national income was just 14 per cent.
He said, the Government, to make agriculture more remunerative and improve prosperity of farming communities, has introduced several new projects including water for every farm, per drop, more crop and doubling farm incomes by 2022.
Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Drinking Water and Sanitation Uma Bharti and Ministers of State for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Arjun Ram Meghwal and D Satya Pal Singh were also present.
Mr Kovind said for achieving the doubling farm incomes by 2022 target, the government was rapidly expanding the area under irrigation, and completing 99 long-pending irrigation projects out of which 60 per cent of these projects were in drought-prone areas.
Stating that water will play an important role in India’s industrialisation, Mr Kovind said, “Industry requires a large volume of water. This is particularly true for the manufacture of electronic hardware, computers and mobile phones. And these are all focus areas for Make in India”.
The President said that 80 per cent of water in the country was used by agriculture while only 15 per cent by industry and in the coming years, the ratio would change resulting in rise in total demand for water.
“Efficiency of water use and reuse, therefore, has to be built into the blueprint of industrial projects,” he added.
The President said that in urban India, 40 billion litres of waste water was produced every day. It was vital to adopt technology to reduce the toxic content of this water, and deploy it for irrigation and other purposes.
This has to be part of any urban planning programme.
Urging for a water management approach that was localised, he stated that it should empower village and neighbourhood communities and build their capacity to manage, allocate and value their water resources.
Mr Kovind said that access to water was a byword for human dignity. For India, providing safe drinking water to a population spread across six hundred thousand villages and urban areas was not just a project proposal. It was a sacred commitment.
The Government had prepared a strategic plan for ensuring drinking water supply in all rural areas by 2022, when India completes 75 years of Independence.
By that year, the goal was to cover 90 per cent of rural households with piped water supply. “We cannot fail. The deliberations of this conference have to ensure that we do not fail,” he added.
(AGENCIES)
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