21-Mar-2022: Water Treaty/Agreement

Government of India has signed water treaties/ agreement with our neighbouring countries in the past for mutual benefits in the field of water resources. Indus Waters Treaty was signed in the year 1960 with Pakistan concerning the use of waters of the Indus system of rivers. The Treaty extends to main rivers of Indus basin i.e. Sutlej, Beas, Ravi (Eastern rivers) and Jhelum, Chenab and Indus (Western rivers) including their tributaries and sub tributaries and other water bodies. All the waters of the Eastern Rivers were allocated to India for her unrestricted use while India is under obligation to let flow all the waters of the Western Rivers, except for the domestic, non-consumptive and other uses permitted in the Treaty.

A Treaty has been signed with Nepal in the year 1996, viz. Mahakali Treaty concerning Integrated Development of the Mahakali River (known as river 'Sarda' in India), including Sarda Barrage, Tanakpur Barrage and Pancheshwar Project. In addition, Kosi Agreement, 1954 (amended in December, 1966) and Gandak Agreement, 1959 (amended in April, 1964) were signed with Nepal for construction of Kosi Project and Gandak Project respectively.

Ganga / Ganges Waters sharing Treaty was signed with Bangladesh in the year 1996 for sharing of Ganga/Ganges waters at Farakka. As per the Treaty, the Ganga/Ganges waters is being shared at Farakka (which is the last control structure on river Ganga in India) during lean period, from 1st January to 31st May every year, on 10-day period basis as per the formula provided in the Treaty.

No proposal is pending with the Government to have such water treaty/agreements with the neighbouring countries in the coming days.

21-Mar-2022: Initiatives taken for Water Conservation

Water being a state subject the projects on water conservation are planned, funded, executed and maintained by  the State Governments. Government of India supplements the efforts of the States through technical and financial assistance to them through various schemes and programmes.

Water conservation initiatives are taken up by the Central Government on continuous basis and are covered under various schemes and programmes such as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS),  Atal Bhujal Yojana,  Pradhan Mantri Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY), Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT),  Unified Building Bye Laws (UBBL) of Delhi, 2016, Model Building Bye Laws (MBBL), 2016, Urban and Regional Development Plan Formulation and Implementation (URDPFI) Guidelines, 2014 etc.

In order to boost water conservation and rain water harvesting in the country, Ministry of Jal Shakti has taken up a nationwide campaign “Jal Shakti Abhiyan - Catch the Rain” (JSA:CTR) with the theme “Catch the rain, where it falls, when it falls”  for creating appropriate rainwater harvesting structures  in urban and rural areas of all the districts in the country, with people's active participation, during the pre-monsoon and monsoon periods during 22.03.2021 to 30.11.2021.

States/ UTs have been advised to enable Rural Local Bodies/Panchayats to utilise 15th Finance Commissions grants to take up rooftop rain water harvesting in Government buildings like panchayat, bhawans, anganwadis, Primary Health Centres etc. Master Plan for Artificial Recharge to Groundwater- 2020 has been prepared which envisages construction of about 1.42 crore rain water harvesting and artificial recharge structures in the country. Government organises workshops, seminars/webinars, awards   etc. and encourage people to become active participants for water conservation and  rainwater harvesting. Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) has advised all States/UTs to take measures to promote/adopt artificial recharge to ground water /rain water harvesting. National Water Policy (2012) advocates water conservation and rainwater harvesting.

Traditional methods of water conservation and rain water harvesting in the country varies from area to area depending upon the topography, climatic conditions, soil structure, etc. Government of India encourages the best practices on traditional methods of conservation of water and disseminates it with a view to bringing awareness and replication in other areas.

10-Feb-2022: New irrigation technology

Water resources projects are planned, funded, executed, and maintained by the State Governments themselves as per their own resources and priorities. Role of Government of India is limited to providing technical support and, in some cases, partial financial assistance under the existing schemes implemented by the Ministry of Jal Shakti.

In order to supplement the efforts of the State Governments, Government of India has taken many important initiatives for widespread promotion of technological advancements in irrigation. Use of remote sensing for monitoring of projects including ground water table estimation & cropped area assessment, SCADA based systems for irrigation, micro irrigation, underground pipelines for distribution, precision-irrigation, use of technology in watershed and spring shed development for integrated development of rainfed areas through soil & water conservation including regeneration of ground water & arresting runoff, and use of solar pumps for ground water based irrigation in favorable regions, are some such measures through which technology is being promoted in irrigation by Government of India.

As per the data for 2018-19 provided by Directorate of Economics & Statistics, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, percentage of net un-irrigated area over net area sown in the country is estimated to be about 48.65%. Further, it is estimated that 40% of the net sown area is expected to remain rainfed even after attainment of full irrigation potential of the country. Augmentation of irrigation is to be taken up by State Governments as per availability of resources and priorities. Government of India provides catalytic, technical and financial support to the State Governments, for the same.

In order to supplement the efforts of the State Governments, Government of India has taken many important initiatives for irrigation and water conservation, the key amongst which are given below :

Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) was launched during the year 2015-16, with an aim to enhance physical access of water on farm and expand cultivable area under assured irrigation, improve on-farm water use efficiency, introduce sustainable water conservation practices, etc.

PMKSY is an umbrella scheme, consisting of two major components implemented by this Ministry, namely, Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP), and Har Khet Ko Pani (HKKP). HKKP, in turn, consists of four sub-components, being Command Area Development & Water Management (CAD&WM), Surface Minor Irrigation (SMI), Repair, Renovation and Restoration (RRR) of Water Bodies, and Ground Water (GW) Development component.

In addition, PMKSY also consists of two components being implemented by Ministries other than Jal Shakti Ministry. Per Drop More Crop (PDMC) component is being implemented by Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, while Watershed Development component (WDC) is being implemented by Department of Land Resources.

 Achievement made during last three years (2018-2021) in different components of PMKSY, are tabulated below.

In 2019, Jal Shakti Abhiyan was launched by the Government of India. This was followed in 2021, by “Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch The Rain” (JSA:CTR) campaign. Focused interventions under these annual campaigns taken up by the Government of India and the State Governments, inter-alia, include renovation of traditional and other water bodies/ tanks, enumeration, geo-tagging and making inventory of all water bodies, and removal of encroachments of tanks/lakes, and de-silting of tanks.

Since its launch till date, under JSA:CTR about 10.64 lakh water conservation and rain water structures have been completed, 1.79 lakh number of traditional water bodies have been renovated, 5.13 lakh reuse and recharge structures have been completed, and 15.32 lakh water bodies have been enumerated.

Government of India has launched the first Census of water bodies in convergence with the Sixth round of Minor Irrigation Census (reference year 2017-18), under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme – “Irrigation Census”. The objective of the Census of Water bodies is to develop a national database for all water bodies in the country.

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS) has provisions for public works relating to natural resource management, water conservation and water harvesting structures to augment and improve ground water like underground dykes, earthen dams, stop dams, check dams and roof top rain water harvesting structures in public buildings.

10-Feb-2022: Review of Irrigation projects

Water resources projects are planned, funded, executed, and maintained by the State Governments themselves as per their own resources and priorities. Role of Government of India is limited to providing technical support and, in some cases, partial financial assistance under the existing schemes implemented by the Ministry of Jal Shakti. However, for major and medium inter-state irrigation projects, appraisal is being undertaken by Central Water Commission under this Ministry.

Further, for a major or medium irrigation project to be considered for financial assistance under any of the ongoing schemes of this Ministry, its acceptance by the Advisory Committee on Irrigation, Flood Control and Multipurpose Projects, and subsequent investment clearance on recommendations by the Investment Clearance Committee of this Ministry, is required.

Identified major and medium irrigation projects are being provided financial assistance under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana – Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme, with pari passu implementation of Command Area Development and Water Management scheme being implemented by this Ministry. State-wise details of major and medium irrigation projects presently under implementation with financial assistance under PMKSY-AIBP with pari passu implementation of CADWM, including those from Maharashtra, are placed at Annexure.

For the above referred projects, implementing State Governments are mandated to address the monitoring and redressal mechanisms to ensure maintenance and quality control of irrigation projects implemented by them. Further, the projects are regularly monitored by Central Water Commission, as well as by a dedicated Project Management Unit (PMU) under this Ministry. Physical and financial progress of these projects is also monitored through a dedicated dashboard, backed with a Management Information System maintained by Ministry of Jal Shakti.

Apart from the above, implementation and progress of the projects is also monitored at the highest level in this Ministry. Secretary, Department of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation, Ministry of Jal Shakti takes project-wise periodic reviews of physical and financial progress of the projects and actions to be taken by the various State Governments are finalized for early resolution of issues. Review meetings are also held from time to time at the level of Hon’ble Minister, Jal Shakti.

In addition, a special cell for monitoring of the bottlenecks, and grievances pertaining to the projects receiving financial assistance under PMKSY-AIBP, has been provisioned. Also, third party evaluation of completed projects is also to be undertaken by this Ministry on sample basis.

Major and medium irrigation projects under implementation with financial assistance under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana – Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme, with pari passu implementation of Command Area Development & Water Management, including those from Maharashtra:

Read more ...

21-Mar-2022: MoUs with Different Nations for Development of Mining Sector

The Ministry of Mines, Government of India has signed MoUs regarding technical exchange and development of mining sector with the Republic of Mali; the Kingdom of Morocco; the Republic of Peru; the Republic of Zimbabwe; the Plurinational State of Bolivia; the Federative Republic of Brazil; the Ministry of Energy and Mines, British Columbia; the Republic of Chile; the Florida International University Board of Trustees on behalf of its Department of Earth and Environment, College of Arts, Sciences and Education, United States of America; and Rosgeologia (Rosgeo) a legal entity incorporated under the laws of the Russian Federation.

Ministry of Mines has implemented Sustainable Mining by making provisions under Chapter-V of Mineral Conservation and Development Rules (MCDR), 2017. Rule 35 of MCDR provides for star rating of the mining leases based on the sustainable mining practices adopted by the miners.

Star rating has been made mandatory under Rule 35(2) of MCDR, 2017 and every mining lease holder has to submit online self-assessment report before 1st day of July every year for the previous financial year, along with the digital images of mining lease area as per rule 34A of the said rules to the Regional Controller or the authorised officer of the Indian Bureau of Mines.

Further, as per Rule 35(4) of MCDR, 2017 every holder of a mining lease shall achieve at least three-star rating within a period of four years from the date of commencement of mining operations and thereafter maintain the same on year- on- year basis.

24-Nov-2021: Mines Ministry Attaches Special Focus on Exploration and Production of Fertilizer and Strategic Minerals

As part of unlocking India’s vast mineral potential by exploration, this year the Ministry of Mines has handed over, 152 mineral block reports to different State Governments so far. 52 potential G-4 mineral blocks approved by the Geological Survey of India (GSI) have been handed over to 15 State Governments yesterday in New Delhi during the national conclave on Mines and Minerals by Union Minister of Coal, Mines and Parliamentary Affairs Shri Pralhad Joshi.

The States those received the mineral block reports include Madhya Pradesh (8), Chhattisgarh (6), Karnataka (7), Maharashtra (6), Odisha (5), Rajasthan (5), Jharkhand (5), Gujarat (2), Tamil Nadu (2), Telangana (1), Bihar (1), Assam (1), Arunachal Pradesh (1), Andhra Pradesh (1) and Himachal Pradesh (1). The mineral potential identified by GSI includes ferrous group of minerals, precious metals & minerals, non-ferrous & strategic minerals, industrial & fertilizer minerals.

The G-4 stage blocks are governed by the results of reconnaissance survey and supporting the mineral industry for development of bulk minerals, strategic and critical minerals, noble metals for overall participation by the stake holders. Special focus was given for bringing out potash and phosphorite blocks for exploration and production of fertilizer minerals to support the agrarian economy of the country.

Earlier in September this year, 100 potential mineral block reports have been handed over to different State Governments by the Ministry of Mines. Mineral mining paves the way for rapid industrialization and facilitates fast-paced infrastructural development. A sustainable mineral mining sector is needed to make India a five trillion dollar economy.  To build a competitive and thriving mining sector, the Centre has undertaken several innovative reforms during the last seven years.