What’s in the news?

• The Government of India has taken several initiatives to create awareness among public regarding the necessity of water conservation. 
• Jal Shakti Abhiyan was conducted in 2019 in 1592 blocks out of 2836 blocks in 256 water stressed districts of the country and was expanded as “Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain” (JSA: CTR) in 2021 with the theme “Catch the Rain – Where it Falls When it Falls” to cover all the blocks of all districts (rural as well as urban areas) across the country. 
• “Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain” campaign has become an annual feature since 2021 comprising five focused interventions, including awareness generation. 
• The campaign has created immense awareness amongst the masses about the existing water problem and therefore the importance of water conservation.  
• The crux of this campaign is building a large-scale awareness campaign so that conservation of water becomes a Jan Andolan. 
• Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain (JSA:CTR) campaign has five focused interventions- 

(1) rainwater harvesting & water conservation 

(2) enumerating, geo-tagging & making inventory of all water bodies; preparation of scientific plans for water conservation 

(3) setting up Jal Shakti Kendras in all districts 

(4) intensive afforestation and 

(5) awareness generation.

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1989132