Bharat tap initiative
[GS Paper 2 – Govt. Policies and Interventions]
Context – The Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs & Petroleum and Natural Gas, launched the BHARAT TAP initiative at the ‘Plumbex India’ exhibition.
NAREDCO (National Real Estate Development Council) MAHI’s ‘Nirmal Jal Prayas’ initiative was also launched on the occasion which will work for saving 500 crore liters of water per year.
Key Highlights
- The Bharat tap Initiative will provide:
- Low flow
- Sanitary ware at scale
- Reduction in the water consumption directly from the source
- The initiative is expected to lead to a renewed focus on water conservation efforts.
- The exhibition was aimed at products and services related to the plumbing, water, and sanitation industry.
Other Initiatives for Water Conservation under GoI
- Swachh Bharat Abhiyan
- Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Transformation
- AMRUT 2.0
- Atal Bhujal Yojana
- Jal Kranti Abhiyan
- Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act
- NITI Aayog’s Composite Water Management Index
- Jal Shakti Abhiyan
- Jal Jeevan Mission
Water Stress in India
Depletion of water resources due to overuse and decline in water supplies due to climate change is pushing India closer to the tipping point of water scarcity. Apart from these, several government policies especially pertaining to Agriculture (minimum support price), also resulted in over-exploitation of water.
These factors make India a water-stressed economy. In this context, for sustainable utilization of the stressed water resource, there is a need for follow-through action under the framework of cooperative federalism and citizen activism.
Reasons behind Water Scarcity in India
- In the last four decades, about 85% of the total addition to irrigation has come from groundwater. This is clearly unsustainable resulting in steep depletion of the groundwater table.
- Groundwater is used to cultivate water-intensive crops like paddy and sugarcane (promoted by Green revolution) in rain deficit states like Punjab and Maharashtra respectively.
- There’s a large, growing gap between irrigation potential created and that actually utilized, simply due to lax maintenance.
- Available Water data is often unreliable, and is collected using outdated techniques and methodologies.
- India is urbanizing rapidly. This implies heightened water demand from households, industry and agriculture. Concretization also reduces the ground-water replenishment.
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