The Prime Minister's Council on Climate Change Friday approved the National Water Mission focusing on making water conservation a peoples' movement in India.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who chaired the meeting of the Council, highlighted the need to create a general consciousness of the need to use water in the most sustainable manner in view of its scarcity and assess the impact of
climate change on water.
The Council felt that to make the Mission a peoples' movement it was essential to make available all data on water in the public domain to be able to mobilise citizens, local bodies and state governments for focused action on water
conservation and augmentation.
Given that there are multiple uses of water and in view of need for an integrated approach based on basin development planning, Singh said "political leadership at the local and state level and civil society organisations need to be
involved in activities of the Mission."
A PMO statement said that the first step in this direction would be to prepare a comprehensive water data base in the public domain and assessing the impact of climate change on water.
"Action needs to be focused on vulnerable areas, where ground water is overexploited. It was also decided that water use efficiency should be raised by 20 per cent through the promotion of water-positive and water-neutral technologies,"
the statement added.
Members felt incentives should be provided for using water in a sustainable manner and that the Research and Development requirements of the mission should be focused upon.
Many members suggested that the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme Act can be utilised to convert water conservation into a peoples movement.
Ministers of Finance, Power, Water Resources, Non- Conventional and Renewable Energy Resources, Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and Environment and Forest besides members of the Council were present at the meeting.
Water Mission is one of the eight missions in the National Action Plan on Climate Change launched by the Prime Minister last year to tackle the threats of global warming.
The government has already launched Energy Efficient and Solar Mission while a draft of Green Mission has been prepared for public consultation.