Rural job scheme to pump Rs 15,000 crore into 'Jal Shakti Abhiyan'

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) will drive the Jal Shakti Abhiyan in the rural sector, pumping in Rs 15,000 crore in the first phase of the campaign between July and September, said a senior government official. 

The flagship rural development scheme has drawn up a detailed plan of over 200,000 works to be taken up for water conservation in nearly 1,100 water-stressed districts. From this month, villages in all the water-stressed areas would also hold a special pani panchayat to identify and find solutions to water problems.  

“The MGNREGA is a key partner in the Jal Shakti Abhiyan. We will make water conservation a mass movement like Swachhata Abhiyan (Clean India) in the country,” the senior government official said.

The Jal Shakti Abhiyan for water conservation launched on Monday will be taken up in two phases — July-September and October-November — to cover both the monsoon and the retreating monsoon season.

Around 40 per cent of the country is staring at drought-like conditions ahead of the monsoon as water levels have receded sharply. The rains reached the country after a delay of almost eight days on June 8, but thereafter, the progress has not been satisfactory. In the first two weeks, the southwest monsoon has been 46 per cent less than normal.

The employment-guarantee scheme, which mandates that 60 per cent of its expenditure is on national resource management, has set a target for construction of farm ponds, rain-water harvesting, re-use of water, watershed development, and intensive forestation for water conservation. 

A team of engineers will also head to the villages to study the quality of such assets created under the MGNREGA and suggest ways to make structures technically sound, the senior government official added. 

According to rural development ministry data, the expenditure on national resource management under the MGNREGA has more than doubled from Rs 18,798 crore in 2014-15 to Rs 41,329 crore 2018-19. 

The ministry was allocated Rs 60,000 crore in this year’s interim Budget of which more than Rs 26,000 crore has already been disbursed to the states. 

With more funds expected to come its way MGNREGS will direct most of its resources towards drought proofing and water conservation activities.