Gujarat was recently designated a ‘Har Ghar Jal’ state, which indicates that all homes in the state now have access to fresh tap water. As part of the ‘Jal Jeevan Mission,’ the project has been completed in phases throughout the years. According to state officials, all 91,73,378 houses in the state now have access to tap water.
On August 15, 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the ‘Jal Jeevan Mission’ from the ramparts of Red Fort. The ‘Har Ghar Jal’ initiative is a component of the mission, which seeks to deliver sufficient quantities of quality water to every rural family in India by 2024.
मेरे लिए दो गुजरात हैं एक मोदीजी के मुख्यमंत्री बनने से पहले का और दूसरा बनने के बाद का!
— Gajendra Singh Shekhawat (@gssjodhpur) November 8, 2022
कभी दादी – नानी की आंखें पानी न पाकर छलक जाती थीं, आज भरपूर पानी देख खुशी से छलक उठती हैं। #HarGharJal #SoSaysGSS pic.twitter.com/5EuKLLrRFM
The campaign attempts to free sisters and mothers from household water-fetching activities. The project provides residents in the country’s rural areas with comfort and dignity. As Gujarat’s journey is significant learning for all states, here is the account of how a drought-prone dry state became self-sufficient thanks to outstanding leadership and decision-making.
Gujarat prior to 2001
Gujarat only possesses 6.39% of India’s land area and 2.28% of its water resources. Again, intra-state distributional imbalances place restrictions on this. The state experienced periodic droughts as a result of its substantial coefficient of variation across time and location and average annual rainfall of 80 cm.
Prior to 2001, Gujarat’s human and cow populations were seriously at risk due to a severe drinking water deficit. In order to provide drinking water temporarily, governments were compelled to spend billions of rupees on road tankers and, in certain cases, special water trains. The State, which had a social culture that was typically peaceful and cordial, even had “water riots” because of severe water shortages that were made worse by insufficient management of water resources.
Additionally, due to the water crisis, residents of Gujarat’s drought-prone Saurashtra and Kutch (Western and South Western Gujarat) moved to the state’s Central and South areas. This human migration was usually followed by the movement of cow herds, and it led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people on economic, social, and cultural levels.
Gujarat saw 12 major droughts between 1980 and 2001, according to statistics from the India Meteorological Department from 2015. The average depth of the groundwater between 1975 and 1980 in the districts of Gujarat and Kutch was 30 metres. But by 2001–2002, it had dropped to 150–250 m. The groundwater level was dropping at a pace of 3-5 metres per year. The Saurashtra region, in particular Kachchh, was on the brink of turning into a desert in around two decades if the situation was not quickly addressed.
Narendra Modi becomes chief minister of Gujarat in 2001
The story of how a state like this came to be a national model for managing water resources began in 2001 when Modi was appointed Chief Minister. From his expertise as a social worker, Modi understood that the age-old issue in Gujarat could not be resolved by conventional approaches. It was necessary to implement a scientific strategy that made use of modern technology, astute planning, and assured delivery in a staggered manner.
Shortly after taking office, Modi instructed his team to improve existing canal systems rather than just rely on Narmada water, and he insisted on participatory management of drinking water and agriculture. He broke the administrative stranglehold on projects while including NGOs and water beneficiaries from the start. Most critically, Modi allocated money to build the infrastructure needed to distribute water while serving as chief minister because he understood how important it was to the social transformation he envisioned.
Birth of BISAG
The Gujarat government created the state-level Bhaskaracharya Institute for Space Applications and Geoinformatics (BISAG) to aid in the supply of services and solutions for the deployment of map-based GeoSpatial Information Systems. The BISAG, a specialised institute that used satellite remote-sensing technologies and GIS-based maps to aid expedite the Gujarat infrastructure development model, was founded in 2003 as a result of the scientific attitude, with an emphasis on the use of technology. When the concept was mastered, it was applied to the water issue.
The data on existing water bodies, dams, ponds, rivers, and canals in Gujarat state were compiled using high-resolution Indian Remote Sensing satellite data. A system was developed to visualise the data along with other crucial information, such as the road and rail network, administrative boundaries, slope, type of soil, land use, geology, landform, forest details, sanctuary and national park, etc., after the creation of the current data. A GIS-based platform was developed using the data to visualise the datasets.
Satellite images allowed for a better understanding of the landscape. By overlaying various civilian use datasets, such as administrative details, watershed and forest area details, kind of land and survey number details of landholdings, the data was further refined and important information was obtained. Finally, this data was used at ground level to execute projects.
Micro-level check dams
Check dams are a traditional way of replenishing groundwater, particularly in dry locations. Gujarat had about 6,000 such check dams when Modi became CM in 2002. One of the many reasons why this incredibly effective method of conserving and using water wasn’t expanded was a lack of understanding about where to build the dams to be more effective, as well as local political priorities. Space technology based on BISAG arrived to help.
Due to this, the total number of check dams increased from just under 6,000 to over 100,000 in only a few years, reaching 166,062 by mid-2016 with a storage capacity of more than 28,408 million cubic feet (mcf). Check dams were put in place, which greatly boosted the water supply.
Macro-level projects
At the macro level, three significant initiatives transformed the landscape of Gujarat, particularly in the Saurashtra, Kachchh, and North Gujarat areas. The Narmada Main Canal, the Sujalam Sufalam Yojana, and the SAUNI Yojana are the three projects. Satellite-based planning and execution were also used in the deployment of these three major initiatives.
The first one is the Narmada Main Canal. The Narmada canal is the world’s longest irrigation canal, reaching 458 kilometres in length and transporting 40,000 cusecs of water. The system of branch canals, sub-canals, and distributaries, moreover, is what has made the Narmada canal such a transformational undertaking. PM Modi launched the Kachchh branch canal from this Narmada Main canal, which helps provide water to the most distant parts of Kachchh.
Secondly, there is the Sujalam Sufalam Yojana. Although it also covers districts from other regions, the main goal of this initiative is to irrigate the areas of North Gujarat. Due to the deepening of lakes, check-dams, rivers, and reservoirs, which started in 2018 after a weak monsoon, the state’s water storage capacity has increased by 23,000 lakh cubic feet to date. It is a 332 km canal network that aids in bringing floodwaters from the Narmada and other rivers to the parched area of North Gujarat and supplies irrigation to around 2.2 million hectares of arable land.
The only region still in need of a solution was the Saurashtra region, as the Narmada Main Canal had already provided water to the Kachchh region and Sujalam Sufalam had resolved the water issue in North Gujarat. The SAUNI Yojana (Saurashtra Narmada Avtaran Irrigation Yojana), which means literally “reincarnation of the Narmada River in the region,” was thus introduced. In order to transmit the extra Narmada waters to more than 115 main reservoirs and irrigate more than 1 million acres of land, a 1,126-km network of four-link pipes was designed and constructed.
The organisational structure of water resource management was also altered by Narendra Modi, who replaced the umbrella organisation with functional divisions. The Gujarat Water Supply and Sewerage Board retained responsibility for constructing and regulating water supply and sewerage systems.
In order to give village-level institutions the competence to manage and maintain their own water supply infrastructure, the Water and Sanitation Management Organization (WASMO) was founded. Sardar Sarovar Nigam Limited was created as an independent organisation responsible for completing the project. To transport Narmada waters, Gujarat Water Infrastructure Limited was charged with developing bulk water pipe networks.
The work done by the Gujarat state government under Modi gave the state a new life, which could have turned into a desert if the issue of scarcity of water was not addressed. PM Narendra Modi can undoubtedly take credit for developing an effective water management policy as the chief minister of Gujarat.
