Water management to be prime focus if NDA is re-elected: PM Modi

In his last election rally on Friday, PM Narendra Modi gave an indication as to what his priority will be in his second term if his party is elected back to power.

In his second term, his prime focus will be water management. In Madhya Pradesh's Khargone yesterday, PM Modi said, "Fifty years ago, Lohia told Jawaharlal Nehru that the most important issues facing women were water and sanitation... I am fulfilling Lohia's wish. After constructing toilets and giving dignity to women, I will focus my next term on ensuring clean drinking water."

BJP's manifesto has promised the setting up of a unified Ministry of Water to end the water woes of the country.

The Centre issued a drought advisory to Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Tamil Nadu, asking them to use water judiciously in the coming weeks as water storage in dams dropped to a critical level.

With almost all of rural India depending on monsoon rain for agriculture and domestic purpose, there is a desperate need for water management.

If Modi gets a second term and manages to achieve this, in addition to augmenting Swachh Bharat, Ujwala Yojana and Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, he would have secured the confidence of at least 50 per cent of the electorate - women voters.

Currently, management of water resources is fragmented between six or seven ministries, a centralised system would plug loopholes and even put the river clean up missions in the country on track.

Ganga clean up action was Modi's commitment to his constituency and electorate but in the past five years, things have not moved in the pace that he had envisioned.

Hundreds of crores of rupees set-aside for the Namami Gange plan lie unspent. Almost 400 million people's lives depend on Ganga water. If Modi can actually get a team to focus on cleaning up the river, manage it in such a manner that the water is piped into every home in the region in the next two to three years, it would mean a sure shot electoral victory as well as a huge improvement in the lives of millions.

It is estimated that 200,000 Indians die every year due to inadequate access to safe water.