Maharashtra Water Resources Minister Girish Dattatrey Mahajan has said the government is looking at ways to ensure sugarcane cultivators do not use additional water, especially since supply is limited in certain regions.
Speaking at a roundtable conference organised by the Swades Foundation, the senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said cane growers are using four times the water consumed by other crops, and in a State where drought is a year-long phenomenon, the government cannot permit this. Sugarcane growers will have to start using drip irrigation technologies or change their cropping pattern in the larger interest, he said. “In a region like Marathwada where the rainfall is insufficient, sugarcane as a crop uses four times as much water, leaving water only for six months in the farm. We have strictly told them (cane growers) to use drip irrigation technology,” he said on Tuesday.
424 water schemes
The meeting was held to discuss learnings from the Swades Foundation’s holistic model of rural transformation, under which it has constructed 424 water schemes consisting of either springs, wells or borewells. The scheme has impacted over 32,000 households and 150 schools through drinking water and over 2,100 acres of land through irrigation in rural Maharastra in the past five years.
“Water is at the core of our unique 360 degree model of holistic rural development. We always start with water, without which no other intervention can really succeed. We appreciate and welcome the government’s initiative in this direction and believe that their focus on providing clean drinking water is a radical move towards a sustainably growing India,” said Ronnie Screwvala, its founder.
The Central government is extensively working for water conservation and has allocated ₹3.5 lakh crore through the Jal Shakti Abhiyan for rural areas. Mr. Mahajan said corporates and non governmental organisations must join hands for water conservation and create a partnership on the lines of Jal Shakti. “It is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream to provide clean drinking water to every household and we must together work towards fulfilling it.”
Empowering rural India
The Swades Foundation, started by Ronnie and Zarina Screwvala, has worked in seven blocks of Raigad district, covering 388 gram panchayats. The foundation has set its mission to empower 1 million rural Indians every five years. It is also a partner in the Chief Minister’s Village Social Transformation scheme.
“The biggest learning for us has been to use water as a unifier of communities, which have not come together for years in rural areas. Swades’ rich learning include ensuring community participation in the form of well-trained water committees that manage the water system, thus ensuring sustainability of the scheme,” said Ms. Screwvala.
