Universities Connect event ‘Namami Gange’, presided over by the Union Minister for Jal Shakti, Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, where an agreement was signed with 49 universities to foster awareness among youth on water conservation in general and river rejuvenation in particular, held recently. The MoU aims to bring student community to the forefront of the mass movement for creating a sustainable ecosystem of our rivers. Apart from seeking active public participation, the event will also be historical towards creating knowledge-based short-term programmes, training sessions, and fostering more research on the water sector. Through the NMCG initiative, many higher educational institutions pledged their support towards the cause of river rejuvenation and water conservation and create holistic platforms for younger generations to become conscious participants towards a sustainable ecosystem. The theme of the event was ‘Igniting Young Minds, Rejuvenating Rivers’. Addressing the gathering, Union Minister for Jal Shakti, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat asserted, “Water is not just an important factor or commodity but no life can be imagined without water and that makes effective water management absolutely essential.” He stated that ensuring cleanliness and purity of River Ganga with the rejuvenation of rivers are the prime objectives of the Namami Gange Mission. Water is a crucial factor to sustain life. India’s cultural history saw water as the holiest source that sustains life in all forms, and over time that culture has eroded. We as a society have immense responsibility to revive that culture.
The Union Minister pointed out certain impacting factors on the development of children including parents, who, in the Indian tradition, used to talk about various aspects of life including nature, culture, country, duties etc. Teachers, he said, also play an important role in creating an impact on the children and, therefore, it becomes, imperative for the teachers to inculcate respect towards natural resources as per our traditional wisdom and practices through educational frameworks. The Union Minister said, likewise, celebrities, media, judiciary and other members of the civil society must come together and start discussing and debating issues related to our natural resources, especially water, to make India a water wise country. He suggested organising debates and other competitions in the universities to spread awareness on importance of water conservation and river rejuvenation and urged the leading educators to strive to make their campuses green and water efficient. Shedding light on the fact that agriculture sector uses the bulk of India’s water resources, he said that demand side management is the need-of-the-hour. “The world is appreciating us and India has invested more than 240 billion dollars in the water sector but the challenge in front of us is also enormous and we must all play our part in contributing to conserve water and increase water use efficiency,” he said, adding, “We are not the owners of our natural resources but only custodians and it is everyone’s duty to return to the future generation as we inherited from our forefathers.” He reiterated the importance of the 5Ps espoused by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make such programmes successful including political will, public spending, partnership public participation and persuasion. He said that today nearly 50 universities are signing the MoU and it is not just 50 people joining hands but thousands who would eventually become part of this movement.
Delivering the keynote address, G Asok Kumar said that everyone knows the importance of water and what we are looking for with various collaborations is to spread the net far and wide to catch as many ambassadors of water and rivers as we can. “Water sector was not given the attention it deserves and viewed as just a water resource. This has changed with the vision of the Prime Minister, who has given a clarion call to make Jal Andolan a Jan Andolan,” DG, NMCG said, adding, “It is the younger generations that will be bearing the brunt of the water scarcity and therefore it is most necessary to ignite them to start respecting water, which was ingrained in our traditional values. We have to bring back the respect towards water and rivers, which is there in our Puranas and our traditional wisdom.”
