PM Narendra Modi's 'catch the rain' pitch to address water woes

He said Union Jal Shakti Ministry is also launching "Catch the rain" campaign and its main theme is "catch the rain, where it falls, when it falls"

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday made a strong pitch for water conservation, urging people to ‘Catch the Rain’ to boost water availability across the country.

Modi, in his monthly ‘Mann ki Baat’ radio address, asked listeners to clean up water bodies and prepare them to harvest the monsoon even as he recounted age-old water conservation practices from across the country, with a special mention of poll-bound Tamil Nadu.

Read | Regret not learning 'world's oldest language' Tamil: PM Narendra Modi

“This is the best time to think about water conservation in the summer months ahead,” he said adding that the Jal Shakti Ministry would launch a ‘Catch the Rain’ campaign to harvest rainwater.

“Catch the rain, where it falls, when it falls,” he said unveiling the theme of the campaign.

Read | Gujarat farmer, woman guide find mention in PM's radio show

“We shall get existing rainwater 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,” the prime minister said.

The Prime Minister highlighted water conservation practices across the country from Uttarakhand to parched areas of Bundelkhand and made a special mention of Tamil Nadu, where elections are due in April.

Read | Atmanirbhar Bharat is a national spirit: PM Modi

“There was a time when in villages, people would collectively look after wells and ponds. Now one such effort is underway at Thiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu. These people are rejuvenating public wells in their vicinity that had been lying unused for years,” said Modi.

Modi also cited the example of Murugesan from Madurai who makes ropes from banana waste and expressed regret over not learning the beautiful language Tamil.

Read | PM hails 1st dedicated commercial launch of PSLV-C51/Amazonia-1 Mission

“One of my shortcomings was that I could not make much effort to learn Tamil, the oldest language in the world; I could not make myself learn Tamil,” Modi said in response to a question from a listener.

“It is such a beautiful language, which is popular all over the world. Many people have told me a lot about the quality of Tamil literature and the depth of the poems written in it,” the prime minister said.