Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain campaign

News: The Prime Minister has launched the Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain campaign on World Water Day.

About Catch the Rain Campaign:

• Catch the Rain is a Jan Andolan campaign.
• It aims to take water conservation at the grassroots level through people’s participation.
• The campaign intends to accelerate water conservation across the country.

Aim: To encourage all stakeholders to create rainwater harvesting structures(RWHS). As it is suitable for the climatic conditions and subsoil strata. These structures will ensure the proper storage of rainwater.

Tag line: Catch the rain, where it falls, when it falls.

Implementation: The campaign will be implemented by the National Water Mission(NWM), Ministry of Jal Shakti.

Coverage: The campaign will take place across the country, in both rural and urban areas. It will be implemented from March 22 to November 30 (the pre-monsoon and monsoon period) in the country.

Key activities under the Catch the Rain Campaign:

The Catch the Rain Campaign will include certain key activities like,

• Removal of encroachments and desilting of tanks. This will increase rainwater storage capacity.
• The campaign includes drives to make water harvesting pits, rooftop RWHS and check dams.
• Removal of obstructions in the channels bringing water from the catchment areas.
• Repairs to traditional Water Harvesting Systems(WHS) like step-wells. Further, using defunct bore-wells and old wells to put the water back to aquifers.
• States have been requested to open Rain Centers in each district. These Rain Centres will act as a technical guidance centre in RWHS.