Upkeep of water bodies collective responsibility says Prime Minister

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Taking cue from the Magh Poornima festival, celebrated country-wide yesterday, Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, in today’s 74th edition of his Mann Ki Baat, urged everyone to conserve water and keep water bodies clean.</p>
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Making it amply clear that just as water resources belong to all for use, it is the collective responsibility of everyone. Stressing on this he said, “In most parts of India, rainfall begins in May-June. Can we right away start a 100-day campaign for the sake of cleaning up water sources around us and conserving rainwater?”</p>
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He went on to state keeping this thought in mind the Union Jal Shakti Ministry will be launching an initiative in a few days. The theme of this programme “Catch the rain, where it falls, when it falls” is self-explanatory. Highlighting the diverse assignments to be undertaken, Modi said, “We shall commit ourselves to the task right now…we shall get existing rain water harvesting systems repaired, clean up lakes and ponds in villages, remove impediments in the way of water flowing into water sources; thus we shall be able to conserve rainwater to the maximum.”</p>
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Stressing on the need for immediately getting into action mode for water conservation, the PM said, “for the conservation of water, we should begin efforts right away. A few days later, just on the 22nd of the month of March, it's World Water Day."</p>
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Citing example of how water conservation helps not just humans but other beings too, the Prime Minister talked about the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve. He said in a survey carried out by the authority there it was found that the number water birds increased by 175 per cent, with several of them being winter migrants from other parts of the world. “The most important reason for this is that here, there is better water conservation along with very little human interference,” averred the Prime Minister.</p>
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<strong>National Science Day</strong></p>
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The PM in his address also reminded his listeners about National Science Day being celebrated throughout the country. “The day is dedicated to the discovery of ‘Raman Effect’ by the great scientist of India, Dr C. V. Raman.” Pointing the importance of the discovery he said it had changed the direction of science in its entirety. He went on to add that there were many scientists from the country without whose contribution science would not have progressed as much, and said the way we know of other scientists of the world, in the same way we should also know about the scientists of India. “I definitely would want that our youth know, understand and read a lot about the history of science of India; about our scientists as well,” he observed.</p>
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Modi said that many times when one talks of science it is restricted to physics-chemistry or labs. “The spread of science is much more than that.” Stating that science is an important component of self-reliance he observed, “There is a lot of contribution of the power of science in the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Campaign’. We have to move science forward with the mantra of ‘Lab to Land’.”</p>