A Panel Discussion was held on Lok Sabha TV at 1 PM and 4 PM on the 24th of January 2020 to discuss provisions for Water in Ms. Nirmala Sitaraman’s Budget Session in Lok Sabha due on 1st February. The Program was anchored by Parakram Singh Shekhawat. The panelists were Arun Tiwari, Manohar Khushalani and Himanshu Thakkar. They all went into their expectations from the budget with respect to Budget Provisions for Jal Shakti – Water. 

The anchor began the discussion with a small introduction of the Ministry of water resources (Jal Shakti Mantraley), Mr. Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, the troubled state of water quality and availability through the country, and its ever arising complications. Mr. Arun Tiwari elaborated on our lack of efforts in successfully harvesting rainwater and sustaining groundwater levels, highlighting the lack of regulations surrounding these harvesting methods. The importance of sustainability was highlighted as well unless groundwater is recharged, regulated and the focus needs to be shifted to Sustainability. 

The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Water Resources and Ganga Rejuvenation have been merged into the Jal Shakti Ministry under the second term of the Modi government and the Jal Shakti Ministry was allocated Rs 28,261 Crore, an 8% increase. A 10 pointer vision for the next decade was listed out by the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. She elaborated that the Jal Shakti Ministry will manage the country’s water resources and water supply in an integrated holistic manner, and will work towards supplying all rural households with water supply by 2024. In the LSTV discussion, Manohar brought forward a set of important points such as the minimal increase in the budget allocated, the unsanitary sewage system, and lack of stormwater drains. He also insisted that along with budget allocation, our national lakes need to be taken care of efficiently and resurrected, and the need for the development of rural handicrafts and the need for a River Basin Authority, for the systematic distribution of water. 

The Atal Bhujal Yojna, is a scheme, also known as ‘Atal Jal’ will promote panchayat-led groundwater management and behavioral change with a primary focus on demand-side management. The scheme is aimed at

• doubling farmers’ incomes,
• promoting participatory groundwater management,
• improving water use efficiency on a mass scale,
• improving cropping pattern and
• promoting efficient and equitable use of groundwater resources and
• behavioral change at the community level.

Official estimates state that over INR 9 crores (90 million) toilets were constructed from 2014 when the Swacch Bharat Mission was launched under the Modi government as one of its flagship schemes. Yet, a government survey in 2017 showed that 6 out of 10 toilets built under the Swacch Bharat Mission did not have water supply, and were hence unusable.

The chemical fertilizer farming is allocated INR 80,000crores, while the green revolution farmers are allotted INR12,000crores but the Organic manure farming is allocated only INR 2 Crore, Manohar Khushalani pointed out, the obvious lack of financial support to organic farmers led to Cancer and other diseases in the cities of Punjab and Harayana, he insisted on the importance of WaterShed Management, an initiative taken by Anna Hazare previously. 

The discussion shed light upon various important aspects of Budget allocation for water conservation and also examined the various areas where more efforts are required for sustainability.

You can watch the informative debate here.

You will find more details on the next debate on LSTV on the topic of Atal Bhujal Yojna, Please find the entire debate here.

Prof. Manohar Khushalani with co-panelists Mahamandaleshwar Martand Puri and Mr. Rajya Sarai discusses the issue of cleaning Ganga on a live program conducted by News24.

Cleaning of the life-giving river Ganga has been a hot topic for so long, that it doesn’t even surprise anymore. With thousands of crores been spent on achieving this goal, we also lost Prof. G.D. Agrawal, a.k.a Swami Sanand, our Ganga Putra who lost his life trying to fight for it. For 111 days he sent letters to the government to clean the river, stop the construction of dams on it and make better rules and regulations but was left answered and his health deteriorated. 

The idea of eco-flow has been accepted by the government and as soon as it gets implemented, Prof. G.D. Agarwal will get his much-deserved homage, pointed Sarai. He also adds that his heart-attack must be investigated as it could be the result of feeding him some kind of slow poison and not the hunger strike. 

Ganga Action Plan was made in 1886 and no positive effect has been witnessed since then. Khushalani adds that we don’t lack the idea of how to improve the situation, but the approach towards achieving the goal should be honest.  

Ganga is not just a river but the soul of India, and today its a matter of shame for Indians says Martand Puri Ji. He adds that politics only cares about votes and the parties only ask for votes in the name of Ganga. He also demands that polluting Ganga should be considered National Crime if people call Ganga our National River.

After this, general people listening to this discussion were asked to give their views. Some say that the government has been deaf to the messages of people. Others say that people are also equally at fault and they need to work with the government. Some also demand a clear cut detailed declaration of where the budget money was used as they feel it might have been embezzled. 

The feeling of national responsibility is dying day by day. It has been over 30 years, many plans like Ganga Action Plan, Ganga Safai Yojana, Namami Gange, etc under a budget of more than thousands of crores were initiated and the problem remains the same. According to the Supreme Court, if this is the pace at which the situation is handled, it will take more approximately 200 years to clean Ganga. It’s the collective responsibility of the citizens and the government to save our National River. 

For more detailed visit the link : https://youtu.be/GW11GwXHSpI

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BTP Students: Sejal Kumar / Aysha Fazilath / Rahul Patwardhan / Vyshakh Dharan

This informative OneVorld video gives us some insights into the Ganga Pollution. Ganga is one of the most polluted rivers in the world. It flows through over 100 cities with a population in lakhs and takes heavy toxic metals like lead and copper. The average BOD level of the river around the year is 38 mg/L which is a lot more than the bar of the severely polluted rivers. However, many cleanup efforts have been made to clean the river Ganga. One of the main was Ganga Action Plan which was launched by Rajiv Gandhi in 1986 on which 862.59 crore rupees were spent. Its main objective was to treat the domestic sewage and prevent the toxic industrial chemical waste from being dumped into the river.

Ganga River is a trans-boundary river that flows through India and Bangladesh with a length of 2525 km. It originates in the western Himalayas and the Uttarakhand and ends up in the Bay of Bengal. It is the most sacred river and worshipped as Goddess Ganga in Hinduism. It is a lifeline to millions and is however itself dying. In recent years the Ganga has suffered a lot from pollution and the pollution level is now above the acceptable range.

The B.O.D. level for a prestige river is around 1 mg/l and ranges from 2-8 mg/l for moderately polluted rivers. Rivers with B.O.D. level above 8 mg/l are considered to be severely polluted. The average B.O.D. level around the year has been 38 mg/l. It had to suffer as it takes so much waste including toxic metals like lead and copper. The river flows through 100 cities with a population in lakhs.

IIITD Student B.Tech Project. BTP Supervisor: Prof. Manohar Khushalani
BTP Students: Sejal Kumar / Aysha Fazilath / Rahul Patwardhan / Vyshakh Dharan
Video Input: Utsav Rohilla / Nitin Yadav / Aditya Diundi