The “Catch the Rain” campaign, officially known as the Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain (JSA:CTR), is an initiative by the Indian government aimed at promoting water conservation and rainwater harvesting .
Here’s a detailed overview:
- Objective: The main goal is to conserve water, minimize wastage, and ensure equitable distribution of water resources across the country . It aims to take water conservation to the grassroots level through people’s participation .
- Tagline: The campaign’s tagline is “Catch the rain, where it falls, when it falls” .
- Implementation:
- The campaign is implemented by the National Water Mission (NWM), Ministry of Jal Shakti .
- It is typically active during the pre-monsoon and monsoon periods .
- Key Activities: The campaign focuses on several key activities :
- Rainwater Harvesting Structures (RWHS): Encouraging all stakeholders to create rainwater harvesting structures suitable for local climatic conditions and subsoil strata .
- Removal of Encroachments: Removing encroachments and desilting tanks to increase rainwater storage capacity .
- Water Harvesting Pits: Constructing water harvesting pits, rooftop RWHS, and check dams .
- Obstruction Removal: Removing obstructions in channels that bring water from catchment areas .
- Repairing Traditional Systems: Repairing traditional water harvesting systems like step-wells and using defunct bore-wells and old wells to recharge aquifers .
- Rain Centers: Establishing Rain Centers in each district to provide technical guidance on RWHS .
- Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain-2025:
- Drives nationwide awareness and action for water conservation .
- The vision of ‘हर बूंद से सिंचाई’ (Har Boond Se Sinchai) to improve water use efficiency .
- “Jal-Jangal-Jan: Ek Prakritik Bandhan Abhiyan”:
- Launched by the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti in partnership with the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change .
- Aims to restore ecological connections between forests and water bodies like rivers and springs .
- Objectives:
- Promotion of water conservation and rainwater harvesting .
- Preparation of scientific plans for water conservation and enumeration, geo-tagging & making an inventory of all water bodies .
- Jal Shakti Kendras in all districts .
- Focus on intensive afforestation .
- Awareness generation amongst the public and stakeholders .
