water ministry

Parliamentary Panel Report Points to Water Contamination in 48,969 Rural Habitations

The standing committee has pulled up the Department of Water Resources for not providing safe drinking water in areas with iron and high salinity contamination.

New Delhi: A parliamentary committee has, in its latest report, flagged the fact that as many as 48,969 rural habitations are affected by water contamination.

It has also noted with concern that despite this situation, the Department of Water Resource, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation was “silent” when it came to to action that needed to be taken to ensure clean drinking water reaches houses affected with contaminants.

The Standing Committee, chaired by Lok Sabha MP Sanjay Jaiswal, and comprising 20 other MPs of the Lok Sabha and eight of Rajya Sabha, made the observations in the report that also analysed action taken by the Union government on the observations and recommendations in its Eleventh Report.

Six major contaminants

The 14th report of the Standing Committee on Water Resources, which was submitted last week, also pointed out how the contamination of water supply was due to arsenic, fluoride, iron, nitrates, heavy metals and high salinity.

It noted that of the rural habitations affected by water contamination, “3,112 habitations are affected due to arsenic contamination, 2,972 with fluoride, 31,142 with iron, 866 with nitrate contamination, 300 with heavy metals and 10,575 habitations with high salinity in water.”

Also read: High Levels of Arsenic Found in Groundwater in Uttar Pradesh

The Committee further noted that under National Water Quality Sub Mission (NWQSM), which was launched in March, 2017 – as a part of erstwhile National Rural Drinking Water Programme – a plan was drawn to provide safe drinking water to 27,544 identified arsenic or fluoride-affected rural habitations by March, 2021.

Of these, it added that “as on 15 February, 2021, barring 78 habitations rest of the habitations have been covered under the scheme.”

Contamination due to iron, high salinity yet to be addressed

However, the Committee pointed out that iron and salinity contamination of water remained a major issue. It added that “the Department is silent with regard to action taken for providing clean drinking water to habitation affected with other contaminants, like iron and salinity, which constituted bulk of the water quality affected habitations.”

The parliamentary panel therefore recommended that the Department focus its attention on these habitations.

The Committee also said, “Though the piped water supply is the only solution to tackle water quality problems, till such time piped water supply reaches every rural household/habitation, alternate arrangement should be made to supply clean water by installing Community Water Purification Plants (CWPPs) in each Gram Panchayat/ Habitation in the country.”

Panel expresses scepticism about adequacy of CWPPs

The Committee said it has been told that 32,277 CWPPs have been set up in the country so far by various States. However, it said it was “quite sceptical as to whether these CWPPs are adequate enough to cater to the requirements of all quality affected habitations.”

Also read: IIT Kharagpur Study Finds 20% of India Has High Arsenic Levels in Groundwater

Therefore, it recommended that the department in consultation with states assess the total requirements of CWPPs and draw an action plan to set up adequate CWPPs in all the habitations.

The panel said the department in its action taken reply had stated that “planning and implementation of piped water supply scheme in water quality-affected habitations based on a safe water source takes time” and that “purely as an interim measure, provisions have been made to set up Community Water Purification Plants (CWPPs) to provide 8-10 lpcd potable water to meet drinking and cooking need of every household, in these habitations.”

Referring to the reply, the Committee said it “also does not state in specific terms as to whether any action plan has been prepared for setting up CWPPs in all water quality affected habitations.” Therefore, the panel demanded that a “a time bound programme be formulated in consultation with concerned States for setting up of CWPPs in all water quality affected habitations.”

Marginal Increase in Much-Hyped Jal Shakti Ministry’s Budget

The ministry covers drinking water, sanitation, water resources and river development and has been given Rs 30,478 crore to spend this financial year.

New Delhi: The expenditure outlay for the two-year-old Jal Shakti ministry presented in the Union budget on Saturday saw a marginal increase compared to the last few years, but it still remains grossly insufficient to provide drinking water facilities to all rural households by 2024.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, soon after getting re-elected, had declared that managing water resources would be his government’s top priority and rolled out the much-publicised “Nal se Jal” scheme that aimed to provide piped drinking water to all rural households by 2024. He also merged the erstwhile Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation and the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation to form one nodal Jal Shakti ministry.

However, allocations made to the ministry in Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s budget did not match the Centre’s intent at all, although the minister declared amidst fanfare that the government is committed to its mission of “har ghar jal” under the new Jal Jeevan Mission.

The 2020-21 allocations show that the government has prioritised the Mission by allocating Rs 11,500 crore to it – a little more than 30% of the total allocation to the Jal Shakti ministry.

The ministry, which, apart from drinking water, also covers sanitation, water resources, river development, has been given Rs 30,478 crore to spend this financial year.

Also read: On Drinking Water, Modi Government Isn’t Putting Its Money Where Its Mouth Is

While the total allocation for the ministry is marginally higher than the last few years, a break up of expenditure outlay for the department of drinking water and sanitation and the department of water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation do not reflect the keenness on the part of the government to provide drinking water.

Allocation for the department of drinking water and sanitation still falls short of what was given to the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation in 2017-18 before it was merged with the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation. In fact, it had been consistently decreasing from 2017-18 to 2019-20’s interim budget before the Union government increased its allocation marginally last year.

In 2017-18, the planned outlay for the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation was around Rs 23,938 crore, while in 2020-21, it has come down to nearly Rs 21,518 crore.

The figures for the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation also show the same lack of enthusiasm on the government’s part. Although Namami Gange was launched with great publicity, the budgetary allocations have been low, given the ambition of the project.

While the allocation for the ministry took a big jump in 2018-19 – from nearly Rs 5,313 crore in 2017-18 to Rs 8,860 crore in 2018-19 – it has been either declining or only slightly increasing in subsequent years. Now a department under the Jal Shakti ministry, it has been allocated around Rs 8,960 crore for 2020-21.

The Wire had earlier reported that a substantial amount of outlay in the ministry was spent on advertisements. The lack of seriousness can also be derived from an RTI reply in April, 2019, which showed that only 18% of the total money collected under the Clean Ganga Fund had been spent.

Also read: Is ‘Nal se Jal’ Just a Pipe Dream?

The total budgetary allocations for the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation and Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, which have now merged to become one Jal Shakti ministry, have nearly been similar since 2017.

Outlay aside, the ministry could not spend even the limited funds allocated to it. While budgetary estimate for the department of drinking water and sanitation in 2019-20 was nearly Rs 20,016 crore, it could spend only Rs 18,630 crore. Similarly, out of the Rs 8,245.25 crore allocated to it last year, it spent only Rs 7,518.21 crore.

Although the Modi government has projected Jal Shakti as one of its top priority ministries, the outlay pattern and spending, clearly, do not reflect the same enthusiasm.

Budget 2019: Spearheaded by Ayushman Bharat, Swachh Bharat, Health Gets a Boost

In a big jump from last year’s allocation of Rs 2,000 crore, the government’s flagship health initiative Ayushman Bharat gets 12% of the health ministry’s budget with Rs 7,998 crore.

New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman didn’t mention the government’s Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme during her budget speech today. Piyush Goyal did not mention it in the interim budget he presented before the general elections either. Nevertheless, India’s health spending has received a considerable boost in the first budget of the Narendra Modi government’s second term.

Although conventionally this health spending would be assessed only in terms of how much the union health ministry is getting in its budget allocation, the Modi government’s spending should be assessed also in terms of what it is pumping into programmes like Swachh Bharat.

As The Wire has earlier noted, schemes like Swachh Bharat, Ujwalla and Jan Aushadhi also impact health care, and many programmes from the Ministry of Women and Child Development are also related to health care. None of these are funded or administered by the union health ministry.

Also read: What Indian Healthcare Has Looked Like Under Five Years of the Modi Govt

Health ministry’s budget goes up by 15-18%

The budget estimate for the union health ministry for 2019-2020, announced today, is Rs 64,559 crore. Rs 64,559 crore for the whole ministry, is an increase from last budget’s revised estimate which was Rs 56,044 crore. This is an increase of Rs 8,515 crore or 15%. When compared with last year’s budget estimate, it is an increase of Rs 9,950 crore or 18%.

When compared with actual expenditure from just two years ago in 2017-2018, it’s shows a more impressive jump of Rs 11,447 crore or 21.5%.

The two core pillars of India’s health policy – the National Health Mission for urban and rural areas – are allotted Rs 27,039 crore and Rs 950 crore.

This brings the total to Rs 27,989 crore or 43% of the health ministry’s budget. The ministry is comprised of the department of health and family welfare, and the department of health research.

Seen separately, the department of health and family welfare’s budget estimate for 2019-2020 is Rs 62,659 crore. Their actual spending in 2017-2018 was Rs 51,381 crore. The budget estimate for it, in 2018-2019, was only slightly more, at Rs 52,809 crore.

Ayushman Bharat has been given 12% of the health ministry’s entire budget of Rs 64,559 crore. Photo: Reuters

The revised estimate for the same year was also slightly more, at Rs 54,302 crore. The move to allocate Rs 62,659 crore is thus an increase of Rs 8,357 crore or 15% over last year’s revised estimate.

The department of health research, which runs bodies like the Indian Council of Medical Research, has been budgeted Rs 1,900 crore this year. It was budgeted Rs 1,800 crore in the previous budget, which was revised to Rs 1,742.

Ayushman Bharat gets a big boost of Rs 7,998 crore, 12% of the health ministry budget

Ayushman Bharat, which the government announced in 2018 as the “world’s largest healthcare programme”, has been given a budget allocation of Rs 7,998 crore. This means the programme is being given 12% of the health ministry’s entire budget of Rs 64,559 crore.

This is a big jump from last year’s allocation of Rs 2,000 crore, and the same amount was already announced in the interim budget by Jaitley, before the elections. The programme has two components – the health insurance component of Rs 5 lakh coverage for 50 crore people, and the upgrading of health sub-centres.

The insurance component has taken the lion’s share, at Rs 6,400 crore. The upgraded health and wellness centres are being given Rs 1,349 crore in rural areas and Rs 249 crore in urban areas.

Also read: Budget 2019: Ayushman Bharat Gets Rs 6,400 Crore, But to Benefit Private Sector

A lot of this Rs 6,400 crore could go towards funding private players in building these hospitals for the health insurance, as reported earlier by The Wire.

The Wire reported last week that so far, and in the last year, the government has seen Rs 3,077 crore of claims made on Ayushman Bharat health insurance. This is about half of the total budget that has actually been allotted for the insurance for 2019-2020.

Substantial allocations to Swachh Bharat

The Economic Survey released yesterday made some nuanced points on how the Swachh Bharat mission should be seen in the light of its impact on improving healthcare. But this scheme is not administered by the union health ministry.

The mission aims to make India free of open defecation by constructing toilets, getting people to use it, and also moving towards safe and healthy disposal of faecal waste. So far the government claims to have undertaken major improvements on, at least, the construction of toilets.

Also read: Budget 2019 Lacks a Coherent Vision for Long-Term Growth

The mission is administered by the Jal Shakti ministry for rural areas, and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, for urban areas. This budget has allocated Rs 12,644 crore for the Swach Bharat Mission in total, with Rs 9,994 crore for rural areas and Rs 2,650 for urban areas.

The National Rural Drinking Water Mission, also under the Jal Shakti ministry, has been allotted Rs 10,000 crore.

AYUSH, women and child development also see small change

The AYUSH ministry which looks into the promotion of traditional medical practices of Ayurveda, Yoga, naturopathy, Unani, Sidha and homeopathy has not been allotted a lot, at Rs 1,939 crore. It is a small increase from the last budget’s revised estimates of Rs 1,692 crore.

The women and child development ministry handles programmes related to the advancement and safety of women and children but also handles issues related to maternal and child health. Overall, this ministry’s budget allocation is Rs 29,164 crore, up from last year’s revised estimate of Rs 24,758 crore.

The Integrated Child Development Scheme, which is specifically concerned with the nutrition status of children, has been allotted the bulk of the ministry’s budget at Rs 27,584 crore, up from last year’s revised estimate of Rs 23,356 crore.

On Drinking Water, Modi Government Isn’t Putting Its Money Where Its Mouth Is

This year’s budgetary allocation for the drinking water department is less than what was spent in 2017-18.

New Delhi: The expenditure outlay for the newly-created Jal Shakti ministry presented in the Union budget on Friday reveals that the Centre’s intent to provide drinking water facilities to all rural households by 2024 is not matched by the budgetary allocations.

Ever since the Modi government was re-elected, it has indicated that managing water resources will be its top priority. It rolled out its flagship “Nal se Jal” scheme that aims to provide piped water supply for every rural household.

Not surprisingly, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her maiden budget speech put the spotlight on water and the newly created Jal Shakti ministry – which was formed by merging the erstwhile Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation and the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation.

Sitharaman announced, amidst great applause from her party members, that the new ministry would ensure that every rural household gets piped water by 2024 under the Jal Jeevan Mission and that the government is committed to its mission of “har ghar jal”.

However, the budgetary allocations for the department of drinking water and sanitation for the year 2019-20 do not reflect the same enthusiasm.

Also read: Budget 2019 Reeks of a Lack of Real Ambition

In fact, allocations for the erstwhile Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation has been substantially decreasing from 2017-18 to 2019-20’s interim budget. On Friday, Sitharaman’s budget increased the allocation for the department slightly, but it still stands depleted if compared to 2017-18.

While in 2017-18, the planned outlay for the ministry was around Rs 23,938 crore, it has come down to only around Rs 20,016 crore only in 2019-20. In the interim year, the allocations were even poorer.

The same inconsistency can be seen in the department of water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation, formerly a separate ministry. While the allocation for the ministry took a big jump in 2018-19 – from nearly Rs 5,313 crore in 2017-18 to Rs 8,860 crore in 2018-19 – it has been declining in the subsequent years.

The Wire had reported earlier that a substantial amount of outlay for the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, which is now a department under the new Jal Shakti ministry, went for advertisements.

The seriousness with which the Modi government approached the Ganga cleaning project could be gauged from the fact that the National Ganga Council (NGC), which was formed in 2016 to oversee the process, had not even met once until March 2019, despite regulations demanding that the NGC should meet at least once every year.

As recently as April, 2019, an RTI reply to The Wire showed that only 18% of the total money collected under the Clean Ganga Fund founded by the Narendra Modi government has been spent so far.

When the new Jal Shakti ministry was formed after merging the two ministries, Union minister-in-charge Gajendra Singh Shekhawat had said that having one ministry related to all matters of water resources will make water management and development works related to it much more efficient. He added that bureaucratic hurdles will be avoided in the new ministry.

Also read: Budget 2019 Lacks a Coherent Vision for Long-Term Growth

However, the total budgetary allocation for the ministry left much to be desired. Around Rs 28,261 crore has been allocated – almost Rs 1,000 crore less than what was allocated to it in 2017-18, if the outlays for the two merged erstwhile ministries are put together.

In fact, if there was a combined water ministry in 2017-18 as it is today, the allocations for it saw a decline until the interim budget presented before the parliamentary elections. Now, the allocation has marginally increased but still remains low if compared with the figure of 2017-18.

With such inconsistent outlays, the mission to make water accessible to the poor appears to be only driven by the intent of creating good optics, rather than any true commitment.

Is ‘Nal se Jal’ Just a Pipe Dream?

Pipes are of no use if there is no water. The newly-formed Jal Shakti Ministry should instead focus on strong drought mitigation and water regeneration measures.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Nal Se Jal‘ (Water from Tap) scheme, which aims to ensure piped water for every household by 2024, is a laudable one. However, given the alarming water scarcity in the country, it may be difficult to achieve.

When the prime minister inaugurated Telangana’s ambitious Rs 53,000 crore Mission Bhagiratha initiative to provide piped water to the 23,000 villages of the state in August 2016, it was only a matter of time before the programme was replicated in the rest of the country.

As expected, upon coming to power, one of the first programmes the new government announced was the ambitious Nal se Jal – to be implemented by the newly-formed Ministry of Jal Shakti headed by the BJP leader Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.

While there is no clarity on the cost of the initiative, experts believe that establishing a network of pipes across the country could mean an expenditure running into lakhs of thousands of rupees.

Telangana chief minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao’s promise to provide pure drinking water to every household led the people to believe that the state would held end their battle against water shortages. Farmers in the state also felt that this would provide a huge boost to agriculture.

Also read: Will a New Water Ministry Solve India’s Impending Water Crisis?

The chief minister also promised that the scheme, inaugurated in April 2016, would be completed in less than two years. Explaining how they raised money for it, Prakash Rao, who heads the Telangana Water Resource Development Corporation, said: “We did not want to take money from the World Bank. Rather, we chose to raise it from Indian companies including LIC, HUDCO, Power Finance Corporation and five public sector banks. We have achieved 95% connectivity already and officials from more than 11 different states have visited Telangana to study this project. There are hardly 6,500 villages left which have to be connected.”

Rao further explained: “Water for Mission Bhagiratha is being sourced from 26 reservoirs which are linked to Krishna and Godavari rivers.”

Some water experts believe the reality on the ground is somewhat different. They say around 1,250 km of pipeline is yet to be laid while the completion of the distributary system is around 50%.

Another criticism levied against Mission Bhagiratha by villagers was that the water being provided to them was polluted and undrinkable. Rao explained: “That was because sometimes water was being sourced from bore wells. But this problem has also been addressed with the construction of large purifying plants which ensure that water is being purified before being supplied to the last mile.”

If the Modi government goes ahead with the Nal se Jal scheme, the question is whether a blanket programme can fit the requirements of the entire country.

Water expert Manoj Misra pointed out, “What is the point of promising the moon? Let me first clarify that Telangana is not India. No one blanket solution can be provided for the country. Is it economical to be providing piped water to hamlets in Rajasthan which receive five millimetres of water in a year? The people there have come up with traditional solutions and these should be reinforced.”

The other equally significant question to be asked is: Do we as a nation have the necessary reservoirs of water? Reservoir levels in drought-hit Marathwada are below 2%. In the rest of the country, reservoir levels have plummeted to an all-time low and in several states, the Central Water Commission admits, they are well below 10%

Even in Telangana, opposition leaders including from the Congress party had questioned how the KCR government embarked on such a major project without holding any prior discussions either at the state or the village level.

Also read: Caste Discrimination in UP’s Bundelkhand is Worsening the Water Woes of Dalits

Visakhapatnam-based water activist Satyanarayana Bolisetty said, “Such a scheme will enrich a handful of contractors without addressing the key issue which is that the water tables in our country must be increased. To do so, we have to go back to our traditional practices of water conservation – which means we stop encroachments along our river banks, lakes and wetlands. This, in turn, means strict action against the land mafia.”

Government sources in the Ministry of Jal Shakti are placing their bets on interlinking of rivers as a source or feeding the hundreds of reservoirs that will have to built to provide this network of taps. Interlinking, however, remains a controversial and expensive solution to which scientists and civil activists have expressed strong reservations.

Well-known water conservationist and environmentalist Rajendra Singh said: “The cost of this scheme will run into trillions of crores. Not only will it end up making the government bankrupt but what will a villager do with taps if there is no water?”

Singh also cautions how our dwindling water resources have made us hugely dependent on ground water resources. India is presently the largest extractor of ground water in the world and is extracting 253 billion cubic metres of water every year – which is 25% of the world’s ground water. But with ground water levels plummeting to an all-time low, there are apprehensions that swathes of the country could turn into deserts.

The Jal Shakti Ministry should come up with strong drought mitigation and water regeneration measures instead of showing us a pipe dream.

Rashme Sehgal is an author and a freelance journalist based in Delhi.

Will a New Water Ministry Solve India’s Impending Water Crisis?

The Narendra Modi-led central government has merged departments to create one single ministry to address water-related issues. But Experts are sceptical and believe a change in name and integration of existing ministries alone won’t make a difference.

Can a change in name get the Indian government’s water ministry to become more efficient? Will a tweak in organisational structure give India’s varied water issues – water scarcity, overexploited water resources, contaminated groundwater, polluted rivers, dwindling supplies of freshwater – a chance at a solution?

Just before India’s 2019 parliamentary elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in its manifesto had promised to create one single ministry to deal with all critical water-related issues. Soon after winning the election, the central government merged the erstwhile ministry of water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation and the ministry of drinking water and sanitation to form the Ministry of ‘Jal Shakti’ (Water Power). The new ministry is now led by BJP leader Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.

In its 2019 elections manifesto, BJP had noted that “water is a critical resource but its management is spread across various departments, even at the central level.” It had promised to form a new ministry of water, unifying all the water management functions, to approach the issue of water management holistically and ensure better coordination of efforts. During the election campaign as well, PM Modi had promised that his government would focus on access to safe drinking water.

After assuming charge as India’s new water minister, Shekhawat told reporters that the new ministry will encompass issues ranging from providing clean drinking water, international and inter-states water disputes, to the clean Ganga project.

With this change in the nomenclature, the water ministry has come a long way from how it was handled by the central government just after independence. In 1951, the then Indian government had set up a ministry of national resources and scientific research which looked at the subject of ‘irrigation and power’. It was only in September 1985 that the ministry of water resources, which has now been merged with the drinking water department, had taken shape.

Also read: More Than 80% of the Clean Ganga Fund Has Not Yet Been Spent

Incidentally, this is not the first time that the Modi government has renamed the water department. In July 2014, soon after coming to power, it had renamed the ministry of water resources to the ministry of water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation, highlighting their focus on the cleaning of River Ganga.

It is another matter that River Ganga is far from clean despite a series of promises and spending of billions of rupees. According to Central Pollution Control Board, for the majority of its course from Uttarakhand to West Bengal, the water of River Ganga is unfit for drinking and, in a significant section of its course, its water is unfit for bathing.

Environmentalist Rajinder Singh, who is also popularly known as the “Waterman”, expressed his concern to Mongabay-India and tagged the promises of government as nothing but fake assurances.

“This government lied about the cleaning of River Ganga. It promised to do so much about it. But nothing happened. They had ignited hopes of millions when they had formed a ministry to ‘rejuvenate’ Ganga and we thought that the government has understood the seriousness of it. That is why stopped our movement to ensure the cleanliness of Ganga. But in their five years tenure, Modi government did nothing for Ganga and its pollution has now increased,” said Rajinder Singh.

“The government realised that if it maintains rejuvenation of Ganga as water ministry’s name they would come under severe attack as this promise remains unfulfilled. Thus they changed the name of the ministry to Jal Shakti (Water Power). But how will they ensured piped water supply to all households when there is no water in the first place. It is going to be just another contractor driven scheme. Is government only here to give business to big corporates by giving them order for pipes,” he questioned.

India is already a water-stressed country with nearly 600 million people facing extreme water stress. Photo: Mayank Aggarwal/Mongabay.

BJP in its manifesto for the 2019 elections has promised to launch ‘Jal Jivan Mission’ (Water Is Life Mission) under which they will introduce a special programme ‘Nal se Jal’ (Water from Tap) to ensure piped water for every household by 2024. “We will ensure sustainability of water supply through a special focus on conservation of rural water bodies and groundwater recharge,” the BJP manifesto had said.

Also read: We Are Already Living in a ‘New India’ – and It’s Alarmingly Water-Stressed

Water is already a critical issue in India

India, which is home to about 4% of world’s water resources and more than 18% of the world’s population, is already a water-stressed country and this has been confirmed by several studies over the past few years.

The worsening situation of groundwater in the country is significant. In December 2018, during a case at the National Green Tribunal, the central government had admitted that India is the largest user of groundwater in the world, extracting about 253 billion cubic metre (bcm) every year, which is about 25% of the global groundwater extraction.

In June 2018, Indian government’s think tank NITI Aayog came out with a study that stated that the country is suffering from the worst water crisis in its history with nearly 600 million people – half of India’s overall population – facing high to extreme water stress. It had also highlighted that 75% of India’s households do not have drinking water on in their premises, 84% of rural households do not have piped water access and that 70% of our water is contaminated while adding that India is currently ranked 120 among 122 countries in the water quality index.

Recently, in February 2019, a report by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) stressed that India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and China together account for more than 50% of the world’s groundwater withdrawals.

Experts said reorganisation of departments is a good starting point but until a multisector approach is adopted to address the water problems of the country a big difference cannot be achieved.

“Changing the name of the ministry won’t make a difference. What is lacking in India is a proper water governance structure. Water sector reforms that are needed are not taking place. We need a multisector approach at the national level to address water issues,” Pradeep Purandare, a retired associate professor from Aurangabad (Maharashtra) based Water And Land Management Institute (WALMI), told Mongabay-India.

India is already a water-stressed country with nearly 600 million people facing extreme water stress. Photo: Mayank Aggarwal/Mongabay.

Government data (till May 2018) reveals that a total of 69,258 rural habitations across India with a population of over 45 million are affected with groundwater contaminated with fluoride, arsenic, iron, salinity, nitrate and heavy metal.

K.J. Joy of the Pune -based Society for Promoting Participative Ecosystem Management (SOPPECOM) stressed that a change in an overall approach towards water is required for India.

Also read: Knee-Jerk Reactions Won’t Solve India’s Groundwater Crisis

“It’s a welcome thing to integrate all the water-related departments as suggested by various experts committees. But unless we change our overall approach towards the water and the mindset towards water management, the change of the name alone is not going to do anything. We need a holistic and multilayer approach to address water issues and manage this resource. That is what we are not seeing anywhere,” Joy told Mongabay-India.

River interlinking to get a boost by NDA government 2.0?

The Indian government has an ambitious river interlinking programme and even the Supreme Court of India, a few years ago, had asked the government to expeditiously carry it out. Under this plan, a total of 30 river links have been identified across India and these involve all the major rivers of the country. The estimated cost of these 30 links runs in several trillion rupees.

Among these links, the central government is already pursuing the first project, Ken-Betwa river interlinking project, which involves diversion of thousands of hectares of the prime habitat of tigers. It has already got several clearances.

BJP in its 2019 election manifesto had promised that this new ministry will take forward the ambitious river interlinking programme, conceptualised by (former prime minister) Atal Bihari Vajpayee, across India to ensure a solution to the problems of drinking water and irrigation. “We will initiate work on this programme by constituting an authority,” BJP had said in the manifesto.

But environmental activists like Rajinder Singh are concerned. “It is the most dangerous water project for the country. The government needs to work on the source aspect of the water first before moving to projects related to supplying it. Half of the country is suffering from scarcity of water and their offer is piped water supply,” said Singh.

This article was first published on Mongabay. Read the original here.

Water Ministry’s Task Force on Ganga Is Not Having the Meeting It’s Supposed To

The Empowered Task Force on River Ganga is supposed to meet at least four times a year, but has met only twice since it was formed in 2016.

New Delhi: The national-level committees formed by the Narendra Modi government on Ganga cleaning are not meeting as they are supposed to, an RTI query filed by The Wire has revealed. It has come to light that only two meetings of the Empowered Task Force on River Ganga, headed by the minister of water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation, have been held thus far.

According to the regulations, the task force should hold a meeting every three months – so at least four times a year. The task force was formed in October 2016, with the objective of coordinating and advising on all matters concerning the preservation, rejuvenation and management of the Ganga and its tributaries.

On October 7, 2016, a notification issued by the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation stated that this committee will hold at least one or more meetings every three months, at its discretion.

However, in response to an RTI filed on January 8, 2019, information obtained from the National Clean Ganga Mission (NMCG), an organisation under the water ministry, has revealed that more than two years since its formation, the task force has held only two meetings so far.

According to the NMCG, the first meeting was held on February 8, 2017, presided over by then water minister Uma Bharti, while the second meeting was held on August 3 that year. There has been no other meeting thus far. Uma Bharti was water minister till September 3, 2017.

After Bharti, Nitin Gadkari took charge of the ministry. Information obtained through the RTI reveals that Gadkari has not presided over any meetings yet. The empowered task force is probably the largest committee or decisive unit at the national level for the cleaning, management and rejuvenation of the Ganga.

Also read | National Ganga Council Headed by Narendra Modi Has Not Met Even Once

Previously, The Wire had reported that there has not been even a single meeting of the National Ganga Council (NGC) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi so far. With the formation of the NGC in October 2016, the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) was dissolved.

The fact that not a single meeting was convened despite concerns from both the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) and the parliamentary committee headed by Murli Manohar Joshi, raises questions about the Modi government’s seriousness about cleaning the Ganga.

In a CAG audit report on the NMCG released in December 2017, the government was reprimanded. The report highlighted the delay in river cleaning, installation of sewage treatment plants and construction of toilets in houses.

At the same time, the parliamentary estimates committee chaired by Joshi expressed great disappointment in the government’s efforts regarding Ganga cleaning in its 15th report (16th Lok Sabha). It also recommended that a comprehensive and empowered authority should be formed for the task.

In its report, the parliamentary committee had said that pollution in the Ganga has been increasing rapidly for many years due to urbanisation, industrialisation and an increase in population. The river’s flow is hampered as water is diverted for irrigation, industrial purposes, drinking water and so on.

The committee further said, “Not only the mainstream of Ganga, but there is a huge shortage of sewage treatment (cleaning) capacity in the entire Ganga basin which passes through 11 states. On the mainstream of the Ganga, 7,301 million litres per day (MLD) sewage is created in five states (Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal), but facilities exist to treat only 2,126 MLD sewage.”

Dirty water from an industrial plant flowing into the Ganga in Kanpur. Credit: PTI

The estimates committee said that a sewage treatment plant is under construction to clean sewage up to 1,188 MLD. According to this, there is no arrangement for cleaning 3,987 MLD water every day, even after a sewage treatment plant is built.

Also read | Almost Rs 4,000 Crore Spent, but the Ganga Is More Polluted Under Modi’s Watch

Apart from this, the committee had said that seven IITs had jointly prepared the Ganga River Basin Management Plan, which states that in the 11 states, 12,051 MLD sewage is created daily, but only 5,717 MLD is treated. Given that, 6,334 MLD sewage falls into the river or other water resources without having been cleaned.

Environmentalist Ravi Chopra, who had worked on Ganga cleanliness, said that this shows how much importance the government gives to the river. Speaking to The Wire, he said, “The work done by the government so far will neither be able to clean the river nor ensure its unhindered flow. The cleanliness of the Ganga is not important, but its purity is.”

Chopra was a member of the NGRBA, headed by the prime minister. He had resigned in 2015 along with two other members – Rajendra Singh and S.Y. Siddiqui – in protest as no meetings were held.

The Centre had approved the Namami Gange programme in May 2015 for the protection of the river. Under this, guidelines were framed to clean the Ganga. This includes the treatment of sewage from the cities and industrial pollution, cleaning the river surface, rural sanitation, riverfront development, construction of ghats and cremation grounds, tree plantation and biodiversity conservation.

So far, a total of 254 projects have been approved for this programme, with an estimated cost of Rs 24,672 crore. Out of this, as of November 30, 2018, 131 (105 on the Ganga and 26 on its tributaries) were sewage treatment projects at a cost of Rs 19,772 crore. Only 31 of these projects have been completed till date.

The Ganga projects launched by Modi have seen controversy before. The late environmentalist G.D. Agarwal had been writing letters to the prime minister, saying that the projects approved by the government for cleaning the Ganga are only benefitting the corporate sector and business houses.

Also read | India Revives Massive Yamuna Dam Project Despite Environmental Concerns

Agarwal, who was on a hunger strike for 112 days, wrote three letters to Modi about the Ganga before he died but they all went unanswered. One of the main reasons why the three members of disbanded NGRBA handed in their resignations was that the government repeatedly ignored Agarwal’s demands

In October last year, The Wire had reported that the Ganga is not cleaner than before in any region, but in fact, has become more contaminated in many places as compared to 2013. Between 2014 and June 2018, Rs 5,523 crore were released for cleaning the Ganga, out of which Rs 3,867 crore were spent.

Apart from this, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, has found in its study that of the 39 places that the Ganga passes through, the river was clean in only one region after the monsoon in 2018.

Following the instructions of the Supreme Court, the CPCB issued a report titled ‘Ganga River Biological Water Quality Assessment (2017-2018)’ which stated that in 37 out of 41 places the Ganga passes through, water pollution was in the medium to severe category prior to the monsoon in 2018.

National Ganga Council Headed by Narendra Modi Has Not Met Even Once

According to the regulations, the council is supposed to meet at least once every year.

New Delhi: There has not been even a single meeting of the National Ganga Council (NGC) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi thus far, a Right to Information query filed by The Wire has revealed. According to the regulations, the NGC is supposed to meet at least once every year.

The NGC was formed in October 2016. Its purpose is to preserve, protect and manage the Ganga river waters. On October 7, 2016, a notification issued by the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation stated that the NGC should hold one or more meetings every year, at its discretion.

However, information obtained from the National Clean Ganga Mission, an organisation under the water ministry, has revealed that more than two years since its formation, the NGC has not held a single meeting. The NGC is perhaps the largest committee overseeing work being done towards cleaning the Ganga.

With the formation of the NGC, the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) was dissolved. The functioning of the NGRBA was similar to the NGC, and the prime minister was the chairman of the NGRBA as well.

The NGRBA was formed after the Congress-led UPA government came to power in 2009. Its first meeting was held on October 5, 2009, under the chairmanship of then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

From 2009 to 2012, there were three meetings of the NGRBA which Manmohan Singh presided over. After this, there were three meetings between 2014 and 2016, out of which two meetings were presided over by then water minister Uma Bharti. The March 26, 2015 meeting of the Authority was chaired by Modi.

Also read: Almost Rs 4,000 Crore Spent, but the Ganga Is More Polluted Under Modi’s Watch

Environmentalist Ravi Chopra, who has worked on Ganga cleanliness, said that this shows how much importance the prime minister gives to the river. “This is the final deciding body on the Ganga. It should have had at least two meetings in a year. If the prime minister is not able to convene even a single meeting, then the question arises if this is indeed a decisive body or just a copy.”

The water resources, river development and Ganga conservation minister is the vice-president of the NGC. Apart from this, the chief ministers of five states – Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, the Union environment minister, finance minister and urban development minister are its members.

In a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) audit report on the National Clean Ganga Mission (NMCG) released in December 2017, the government was reprimanded. The report highlighted the delay in river cleaning, installation of sewage treatment plants and construction of toilets in houses.

At the same time, the parliamentary estimates committee presided over by BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi expressed great disappointment in the government’s efforts regarding Ganga cleaning.

Dirty water from an industrial plant flowing into the Ganga in Kanpur. Credit: Reuters

In response, the government had claimed that for cleaning the Ganga, the water ministry had prepared a five-level mechanism at the national, state and district levels. The NGC is the most prominent of these mechanisms. The fact that not a single meeting was convened despite concerns from both the CAG and the parliamentary committee raises questions about the Modi government’s seriousness about cleaning the Ganga.

In its report, the estates’ committee had said that pollution in the Ganga has been increasing rapidly for many years due to urbanisation, industrialisation and an increase in population. The river’s flow is hampered as water is diverted for irrigation, industrial purposes, drinking water and so on.

The committee further said, “Not only the mainstream of Ganga, but there is a huge shortage of sewage treatment (cleaning) capacity in the entire Ganga basin which passes through 11 states. On the mainstream of the Ganga, 7,301 million litres per day (MLD) sewage is created in five states (Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal), but facilities exist to treat only 2,126 MLD sewage.”

The estimates committee said that a sewage treatment plant is under construction to clear sewage up to 1,188 MLD. According to this, there is no arrangement for cleaning 3,987 MLD water every day, even after a sewage treatment plant is built.

Also read: Professor G.D. Agarwal’s Contributions to the Ganga Cause Were Unparalleled

The parliamentary committee had said, “It is a matter of great concern that the Ganga has become one of the ten most polluted rivers in the world. Due to unchecked urbanisation, excessive hazardous waste and domestic sewage in the river, the cleanliness of the Ganges has suffered huge losses. Regarding the lack of effective coordination between the plurality of institutions and stakeholders at the Centre and state level, the committee suggests that a comprehensive and empowered authority should be created for cleaning the river.”

After this recommendation, the government formed the NGC. But since it hasn’t met, the government’s seriousness may be called into question.

A member of the disbanded NGRBA and social worker Rajendra Singh, known as Jalpurush, expressed disappointment and said that Modi is only showing off, and instead of saving the Ganga is only lying to the people of this country.

He said, “The Ganga river has a heart disease, but a dentist is treating it. The government has stopped the flow of the river by making a dam. The government is making ghats, a riverfront and waterways just anywhere. Under the Char Dham project, the entire Himalaya is being cut and deposited into the Ganga. This is a way to end the river’s life; the Ganga will never be cleaned.”

The Centre had approved the Namami Gange programme in May 2015 for the protection of the river. Under this, guidelines were created to clean the Ganga. This includes the treatment of sewage from the cities and industrial pollution, cleaning the river surface, rural sanitation, riverfront development, construction of ghats and cremation grounds, tree plantation and biodiversity conservation.

So far, a total of 254 projects have been approved for this programme, with an estimated cost of Rs 24,672 crore. Out of this, as of November 30, 2018, 131 (105 on the Ganga and 26 on tributaries) were sewage treatment projects at a cost of 19,772 crore. Only 31 of these projects had been completed.

Projects approved under the Namami Gange scheme. Credit: Lok Sabha

For the rest of the Rs 4,930 crore, 123 projects have been allocated for riverfront development, constructing ghats and cremation grounds, cleaning the river surface, tree planting, rural cleaning, etc.

Agrawal, who was on a hunger strike for 112 days, wrote three letters to Modi about the Ganga before he died. They all went unanswered.

Rajendra Singh said, “When we were in the NGBRA, our voice was always heard. If there were any problems, then the prime minister would call us and talk to us. But the prime minister of the day does not think it necessary to talk to experts. Now, nobody is consulting the people who speak genuinely for the Ganga. Thousands of rupees were distributed in the name of the Ganga, but the required work was not done.”

Also read: India Revives Massive Yamuna Dam Project Despite Environmental Concerns

In October last year, The Wire had reported that the Ganga is not cleaner than before in any region, but in fact, has become more contaminated in many places in comparison to 2013. Between 2014 and June 2018, Rs 5,523 crore was released for cleaning the Ganga, out of which Rs 3,867 crore was spent.

Following the instructions of the Supreme Court, the CPCB issued a report titled ‘Ganga River Biological Water Quality Assessment (2017-18)’ which stated that in 37 of the 41 places the Ganga passes through, water pollution was in the medium-severe category prior to the monsoon.