Welcome Speech of Mr R S Lodha, President, FICCI

Hon’ble Shri K C Pantji,
Shri Sompal
Prof M S Swaminanthan,
Shri K C Shroff,
Distinguished Speakers, Senior Government Officials and Friends,

It is my great pleasure to extend a very warm and cordial welcome to you all this morning for this significant Seminar.

During the five decades since independence, India has been able to make tremendous progress in the field of water resources development and management, especially in the irrigation sector.

However, it should also be mentioned that with the rapidly growing population, urbanisation and industrialisation, finite water resources are now getting stressed and depleted with declining per capita availability and deteriorating quality.

The pressure on our water and land resources is continuously increasing. The demand for water in future would undoubtedly increase sharply and the gap between demand and supply will desperately widen, causing alarming situation. Recent estimates reveal, demand for water (gross) would virtually double from 520 billion cubic metre (bcm) in 1997 to 1027 bcm. in 2025. The amount of water available per person in India has fallen from 3450 cubic metre to less than half, 1250 cubic metre and is expected to fall to 760 cubic metre by 2050. It is shocking to know that 200 million people of India do not yet have access to safe and clean water.

We would, therefore, have to accelerate our efforts to develop the untapped water potential, especially rain and ground water, within a reasonable time frame.

It is estimated that out the total precipitation including snowfall of around 4000 BCM, the availability from surface water and replenishable ground water is around 1869 BCM. Thus it is possible to harness 690 BCM of surface water and 432 BCM of ground water.

We also have to focus our efforts on improving the efficiency of the present irrigation management system in all possible manner and transfer water from surplus river basins to deficit basins. Thus, urgent coordinated and concerted attention and strategy for water conservation and management is needed from all quarters.

The public investment in irrigation, however, has fallen significantly over the successive plan periods. This is largely due to resource constraints faced by governments both at the Central and the State level.

At the same time, there is a large gap of about 9 million hectares between the irrigation potential created and utilised. Greater attention is also needed to accelerate our irrigation potential and to fully utilize the potential created.

Ground water, needless it to mention, is a vital resource for agriculture, domestic water supply and industry. However, in many States, there has been over exploitation of ground water resources. In States like Punjab, the ground water table has declined by 20 to 30 ft and in certain districts the rate of depletion has been 1.3 to 1.6ft. per year.

We can address the problem of declining ground water levels through rainwater harvesting and scientific watershed development. Small community based programmes for local rainwater harvesting and watershed management are known to have significantly improved water availability not only for domestic needs but also for irrigation in remote areas where irrigation water is difficult to be supplied. The practices need to be encouraged and propagated in different parts of the country especially in drought prone and water scarce areas. These are cheap and environment friendly practices and therefore must be accorded high priority. The water harvesting schemes taken up by the local people have been very successful in the Alwar region of Rajasthan and Kutch region of Gujarat. We could hear more about it from Shri Rajender Singh, Magsaysay Award winner.

Besides this, since under ground aquifers are very extensive, the water available during monsoon period can be fully utilized for recharging the aquifers without much engineering and expenditure. However, in on order to make water conservation and recharge successful, it is essential that following actions are taken immediately so that proper guidelines are set for its implementation.

code for practice for all structures, check dams, cement plugs, recharge pits and shafts

Fortunately, the New Water policy crafted by the government does provide us with a road map for moving in the right direction and has dealt with all these issues in detail. I am sure, the Planning Commission and the Ministry of Water Resources would be making all efforts for the best implementation of this policy.

Before I conclude, I would like to mention that FICCI is deeply committed to the task of rejuvenating Indian agriculture and exploring all possible measures to harness rain and ground water resources. We believe that only through agriculture and water development, India can achieve the desired 8 per cent growth in the overall GDP. We feel that “Jal Swaraj: Harnessing Water” is very significant for equitable distribution of income, maximizing the income of farmers, generating more employment and sharply reducing poverty. This would remain a crucial thrust area for us in the days to come. We truly value our partnership with the Ministry of Water Resources, to achieve this objective. Ladies and Gentlemen, I reiterate FICCI’s commitment to this task and assure you that FICCI and it’s team from the private sector would do all they can to add real value to this partnership.

Thank You.