Catch the Rain Campaign

What is the Catch the Rain Campaign?

• The “Catch the Rain” campaign launched by National Water Mission(NWM) is an awareness generation program nudging the state governments and stakeholders to take up rainwater harvesting structures appropriate to the soil substrata and climatic conditions, with the active participation of people.

Key Features :

• Duration of the campaign: The awareness generation phase of the campaign will run from mid-December 2020 to March 2021.
• The tagline of the campaign: NWM has launched a campaign Catch the rain” with the tagline “catch the rain, where it falls, when it falls” in order to nudge all stakeholders to create Rain Water Harvesting Structures (RWHS) as rains falling in the four/five months of monsoon are the only source of water for most parts of the country.
• As a preparatory phase of Jal Shakti Abhiyan-II, the Ministry has involved Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangthan (NYKS) for undertaking the ‘Catch the Rain’ awareness campaign to cover 623 districts
• NYKS will undertake this awareness-building campaign through various Information, Education and Communication (IEC) activities which will include
  • conducting education & motivational programs
  • mass awareness campaigns
  • environment building including wall writing
  • banners & e-posters
  • knowledge competitions
  • demonstration activities like theme-based nukkad Natak & skits
  • branding & popularising the campaign by logos & printed IEC materials etc.

What activities will be conducted under the campaign?

• It drives to make water harvesting pits, rooftop Rain Water Harvesting Structures (RWHS) and check dams
• Removal of encroachments and desilting of tanks to increase their storage capacity
• Removal of obstructions in the channels which bring water to them from the catchment areas
• Repairs to traditional water harvesting structures like step-wells and using defunct bore-wells and old wells to put the water back to aquifers etc are some of the activities suggested being taken up with peoples’ active participation under this campaign.

What is Jal Shakti Abhiyan(JSA)?

• The Jal Shakti Abhiyan (JSA) is a time-bound, mission-mode water conservation campaign.
• Two Phases of JSA:
  • Phase 1 from 1st July to 15th September 2019 for all States and Union Territories(all states)
  • Phase 2 from 1st October to 30th November 2019 for States and UTs receiving the retreating monsoon(States with retreating monsoon)

Key features of JSA:

• Jal Shakti Abhiyan is a collaborative effort of various Ministries of the Government of India and State Governments, being coordinated by the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation(DDWS)
• Under the campaign teams of officers from the central government will visit and work with district administration in water-stressed districts, to ensure five important water conservation interventions. These will be;
• Water conservation and rainwater harvesting.
• Renovation of traditional and other water bodies/tanks.
• Reuse and bore well recharge structures.
• Watershed development and
• Intensive afforestation

National Water Mission

• The Government of India has established the National Water Mission as one of the eight National Missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change.
• The main objective of NWM is “conservation of water, minimizing wastage and ensuring its more equitable distribution both across and within States through integrated water resources development and management”.
• NWM has identified five goals:
  • Comprehensive water database in the public domain and assessment of the impact of climate change on water resources,
  • Promotion of citizen and state actions for water conservation, augmentation and preservation,
  • Focused attention to vulnerable areas including over-exploited areas,
  • Increasing water use efficiency by 20%, and
  • Promotion of basin-level integrated water resources management.