Water conservation is a way of service to the nation: PM Modi

In his Mann ki Baat programme, PM Modi urged citizens to focus on rainwater harvesting during the monsoons. He also gave examples of people who believed water conservation was their duty.

Gaon Connection
| Updated: June 28th, 2021

Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

While highlighting the importance of water conservation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged the citizens to ‘once again focus on water conservation’ as the monsoons arrive.

“When the clouds rain they don’t just rain for us, they also rain for our future generations,” PM Modi said in his monthly radio programme Mann Ki Baat yesterday, June 27.

“The rainwater gets collected on the ground, it increases the groundwater level, and that is why I believe water conservation is a way of service to the nation,” the prime minister said.

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He lauded the innovative efforts to conserve water of the residents of Andhav village, Banda district in Uttar Pradesh. Their campaign, known as Khet ka pani khet mein, gaon ka pani gaon mein, has led to increasing the height of bunds  in several hundred bighas of fields in the village. As a result, rainwater, prevented from running off, has begun to percolate into the ground. 

“These people are also planning to plant trees on the bunds of the fields. Now farmers will get all three – water, trees and money. The village is getting recognised far and wide due to its good work,” he said.

PM Modi also spoke about Satchidananda Bharati, a teacher in Uttarakhand, who helped solve a huge water crisis in the Ufrainkhal area of Pauri Garhwal. 

Bharati used chalkhal, a traditional method of water conservation in the hills, which involves digging a big pit to collect water. “Using this tradition, Satchinand Bharti made small and big ponds,” PM Modi said. The hills of  Ufrainkhal not just became greener, but the problem of drinking water was also solved, he added.

More than 30,000 such water ponds have been built which have ensured a continuous supply of water throughout the year in a region where people faced water scarcity.

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