Guj tops water management index
UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha remain poor performers
Gujarat has retained its top rank in water management while Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh have managed to improve their points, according to the second Round of Composite Water Management Index (CWMI 2.0) which was released by jal shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Niti Aayog vice-chairperson Rajiv Kumar.
However at the same time, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha have retained their status as poor performers, with the matter of concern being that 16 out of the 27 states have still failed to score more than 50 points and continue to be poor performers.
The index has come at a time when the government has made water conservation as one of its prime objectives, even as several regions in the country are facing shortage of ground water.
According to the report, the high ranking states have adopted best practices in water management but the overall picture is still work in progress.
The report noted that 80 per cent of states which have been gauged in the last three years have shown improvement in their scores, but with 16 states out of the 27 states scoring less than 50 points is a matter of concern, as these constitue 48 per cent of the population, 40 per cent of agricultural produce, and 35 per cent of economic output of India.
Mr Shekhawat said on the occasion that water conservation is a major issue which has caused a lot of concern in the country and the need of the hour is to look at ways to even conserve ocean and sea water.
“The government will work on looking for solutions to desalinate water, make treated water available for industries and work on recharging groundwater,” he noted.
The report noted that scientific management of water is increasingly recognised as being vital to India’s growth and ecosystem sustainability. “The government is being proactive about water management and has created the ministry of jal shakti to consolidate interrelated functions pertaining to water management,” the report read.
According to the report, the CWMI is an important tool to assess and improve the performance of states and Union Territories in efficient management of water resources.
NITI Aayog first launched and conceptualized the CWMI in 2018 as a tool to instill the sense ofcooperative and competitive federalism among the states.