PRESIDENT LAID STRESS ON GLOBAL
CRISIS OF WATER AND ITS POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
SETHI
EMPHASISED THE NEED FOR PARTICIPATORY APPROACH TO WATER RESOURCES
MANAGEMENT IN THE COUNTRY
The President of
India, Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam in his inaugural speech laid stress
on global crisis of water and its possible solutions on the occasion
of Rotary International Presidential Celebration on Water Management
here today. He further elaborated on the importance of Interlinking
of the rivers, desalination of sea water, recharge of groundwater
and use of solar energy with the augmentation of solar power satellite
to desalinise sea water for beneficial use.
Union Minister for
Water Resources, Shri Arjun Charan Sethi in his opening remarks
expressed his gratitude to the President of India, Dr. A. P. J.
Abdul Kalam for his keen interest shown in technological development
and particularly in Water Resources Sector and praised his presence
as Chief Guest is a source of inspiration to the nation for his
scientific outlook. While addressing the Rotary International
Presidential Celebration on Water Management, he said that a result
of growing population, per capita availability of water in the
country is reducing day by day. On the other hand, the demand
for water is increasing mainly due to urbanisation and industralisation.
He expressed concern over uneven distribution of water both in
space and time. Nation is to face the challenging task ahead as
water has become a scarce commodity. He stressed the need for
revolving strategy for development and management of water resources
in the country. The development of water resources requires an
integrated approach as optimal utilisation is the need of the
hour. At the same time, he laid emphasis on improvement of efficiency
in the system and sought active participation of all sections
of the society to meet the challenges of the future.
The National Water
Policy 2002 provides for participatory approach to water resources
management and to involve stakeholders in an effective and decisive
manner in various aspects of planning, development and management
of water resources schemes. As the ground water resources is fast
depleting due to overexploitation for irrigation and industries,
the quality of water has been adversely affected, he said. It
is, therefore, necessary to manage the extraction of groundwater
in efficient and sustainable manner. To meet the objective of
sustainable development, the strategy has to focus on augmentation
of available water resources, their optimal utilisation and without
sacrificing its quality. For recycling and use of treated effluents,
adoption of traditional techniques are to be adopted and promoted
where ever feasible for conservation of water resources. The Government
of India has formulated a National Perspective Plan in the country
for that surplus flood water are transferred to the water deficit
area. The project has definite advantages. Realising the importance
on urgent need for creating awareness about conservation and preservation
of freshwater, the Government of India declared 2003 as the Freshwater
Year in keeping with the United Nations’ Resolutions declaring
2003 as the International year of Freshwater.
Shri Sethi thanked
the Rotary International for choosing Delhi as venue for their
Presidential Celebration and that too for discussing the important
issues of water management especially during the observance of
Freshwater Year 2003. The two-day delebiration on the above issues
will come out with some recommendations to provide valuable inputs
in planning the strategies for meeting the future challenges in
water resources sector. About 500 Rotarians from different parts
of the globe have participated in the Rotary International Presidential
Celebration after a lapse of 8 years here in Delhi.
