National Water Mission

G. Asok Kumar is currently working as Additional Secretary & Mission Director at National Water Mission, MoWR, RD & GR.

A 1991 batch IAS officer belonging to the Telangana Cadre, G. Asok Kumar, had earlier served at the Centre as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Civil Aviation where he set-up the Aircraft Accidents Investigation Bureau and played a key role in reviving the then-ailing airline industry. A winner of the Telangana Excellence Award in 2018 and Jalmitra Award in 2002, he has initiated/completed many infrastructure projects like the Outer Ring Road, Krishna Phase-2 Drinking Water Pipeline, Godavari Drinking Water Pipeline Project, etc. in Hyderabad. As Principal Secretary BC Welfare Deptt., he was instrumental in starting 119 English Medium Residential Schools in all the Assembly segments on 12th June 2017. He has also worked in the sectors of Medical and health, Information Technology, Tribal welfare and sports.

Asok Kumar G has made a significant and diverse contribution to the Water and Sanitation Sector. Presently he is the Mission Director, National Water Mission (NWM) and till recently held additional charge of the post of Executive Director (Projects) in the National Mission to Clean Ganga (NMCG) also.

As Mission Director, NWM he initiated a series of lectures titled “Water Talks” which is held in the third Friday of every month, starting from World Water day, March 22, 2019. In these “Water Talks” eminent personalities/ activists from the theoretical and practical field of water conservation, water management and water technology share their insights and experiences. Under his, the National Water Mission Awards were presented for the first time on 25th September 2019. The awards, in 10 categories, carry total prize money of Rs 45 lakhs. As ED (Projects), NMCG, he was in charge of the implementation of project works estimated over Rs 20,000 Crores related to the cleaning of Ganga river in its 11 basin states.

Perhaps the most significant achievement of this winner of “Jal Mitra” award from the Government of Andhra Pradesh and the first TEX (Telangana Excellence) Award by the Government of Telangana for Outstanding work done in Public Administration,

“Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch The Rain” Campaign

1. “Catch the Rain”campaign with tag line“Catch the rain, where it falls, when it falls”, initiated by National Water Mission (NWM) is to nudge the state and all stakeholders to create appropriate Rain Water Harvesting Structures (RWHS),suitable to the climatic conditions and sub-soil strata, to ensure storage of rainwaterwith people’s active participation, as rains falling in the 4-5 months of monsoon are the only source of water for most parts of the country.
2. There is a need to conserve this water to (1) replenish the groundwater, improve the water table and soil moisture, (2) meet the water demands till the next rains after 8 months (3) reduce flooding, particularly urban flooding.
3. Hon’ble Prime Minister mentioned the campaign in his “Mann Ki Baat” on 28.2.2021 and
   launched it as a nationwide campaign on 22.3.2021, World Water day, virtually addressing all District Magistrates(700+) and all Sarpanchs (2.5 lakh+) of the country. Special Gram Sabhas were held on the day to discuss water conservation related topics and participants took Jal Shapaths. PM wrote a letter a dated 24-3-2021 to ALL Sarpanchs seeking their active participation and a letter dated 25-3-2021 to ALL Chief Ministers seeking their co-operation in the campaign.
4. Cabinet Secretary held meeting on 10.3.2021 with Secretaries of Ministries concerned in GoI and on 18.3.3021 with Chief Secretaries of states giving directions to participate in the campaign.
5. Under the campaign, all State Governments were asked to direct all concerned to build RWHS to tap rainwater from roof-tops and open-grounds of all government, semi-government and corporate offices. Chief Secretaries of states were requested to direct district authorities to enumerate all water bodies, verifying with old revenue records to prepare the geo-tagged inventory of all water bodies in the district and remove encroachments if any. All Collectors were requested to prepare a detailed scientific plan for water conservation from the village level; start “Jal Shakti Kendras” to act as integrated water-knowledge-centres at district level and to give technical guidance on RWHS. The campaign also includes drives to ensure maintenance of existing Water Harvesting Structures (WHS) like check dams, ponds, lakes etc and creation of new WHS where needed; removal of encroachments & de-silting of water bodies to increase their storage capacity; removal of obstructions in the channels which bring water to them; repairs to step-wells and traditional RWHS; use of defunct bore-wells to recharge aquifers; restoration of wetlands and rejuvenation of rivers etc; awareness building drives & workshops to sensitize & involve people, school children & other stakeholders for their active participation.
6. Earlier, along with Nehru Yuva Kendra Sanghatan (NYKS), NWM had launched an awareness generation campaign on 21-12-2020 to cover ALL districts in the country. 12.24 lakh people participated in the “Jal Shapath” on 1.Jan.2021. 700 NYKS District Coordinators in all states were given online training from 22 Jan to 6 Feb2021. Over 2.27Crore people have participated in this campaign, as on 31-3-2021, as per the NYKS reports.
7. NWM had also taken following actions to build the momentum and get the campaign going:
   (i) Seeking their support in “Catch the Rain” campaign, DO letters were sent from
   (1) Sri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Minister for Jal Shakti to Ministers of Defence; Home
   Affairs and Education; and to all Chief Ministers and Governors of states.
   (2)Dr Rajiv Kumar, VC, NITI AYOG to Chief Secretaries of states; Directors of all IIMs/IITs
   (3)Additional Secretary &Mission Director, National Water Mission to:
   (a) Chief Secretaries of all States/UTs; Secretaries of the Ministries of Defence; HRD; Heavy Industries; Department of Defence Production; Chiefs of Defence forces; Chairman, Railway Board; DRMs, Chairman, Airport Authority of India; Director Generals of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF); DG and EinC of MES requesting them to direct their officers concernedto take steps to make appropriate RWHS in their institution premises before onset of monsoon.
   (b) Directors of all IITs & IIMs Vice Chancellors of government and private universities;
   Commissioner, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangatan requesting to take steps to ensure RWHS in the premises of the universities and educational institutions under them.
   (c)all District Magistrates/ District Collectors/ Deputy Commissioners on 11.05.2020,
   9.10.2020, 9.12.2020 and 15.03.2021 requesting to take steps to ensure appropriate rain water harvesting and artificial recharge measures before the onset of the monsoons.
   (ii) Over 150 Webinars have been held: eg. With NGOs; top managements of some industries; FICCI and its associates to involve them; with selected 4-5 DMs/Municipal Commissioners & 1 NGO on every Saturdays, since 8.8.2020 to “get feedback from the field and to motivate them”. Have covered over 75 DMs/MCs and 25 NGOs in 2020-21.
   (iii) Got endorsements from dignitaries like Vice President of India; VC, NITI Ayog;CEO, NITI Ayog; celebrities like Sri Ravishankarji, Sadguruji, Sonam Wangchuck; Mohanlal, Gopi Chand etc; water activists like Dr Anil Joshi, Dr Rajender Singh, Mr Mahesh Sharma etc for the campaign. Together, we should strive to “Catch The Rain”, where it falls, when it falls to make Jal Andolan a Jan Andolan.
8. During the campaign more than 41 lakhs water-related structures were either constructed or repaired, more than 38 Crores of nursery/ saplings were planted and more than Rs 58000 crores were utilized for the activities completed with the funds of MGNREGS.