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Prime Minister Narendra Modi has outlined his vision of ensuring access to piped drinking water to every Indian household by 2024. A new Jal Shakti ministry has been created to undertake this ambitious task. In his Mann ki Baat, the PM has appealed to all Indians to create awareness on water conservation and share knowledge of traditional water conservation. The Jal Shakti Scheme for enhancing conservation in water starved areas has been launched in 255 districts.
Water will determine India's ability to achieve high economic growth, ensure environmental sustainability and improve quality of life for citizens. India is home to 17% of the world's population but has only 4% of the world's fresh water resources. At present, 75% of Indian households do not have access to drinking water and close to 90% of rural households have no access to piped water.
India today is also the world's largest groundwater extractor, pumping out nearly 25% of the global groundwater usage annually. Five of the world's 20 largest cities under water stress are in India, with Delhi being second in the list. Over 20 million wells pumped water, with free power supply provided by state governments.
Rice and sugarcane, both water guzzling crops, have expanded in water scarce states consuming vast amount of irrigation water per hectare. Punjab is using three times more water to produce a kg of rice compared to Bihar, and more than twice compared to West Bengal. Almost 80% of water for irrigating paddy fields in Punjab is groundwater. India today exports more than 10 trillion litre of virtual water through export of basmati rice.