Jharkhand State PCS

• 24 Jan 2023

Water Conservation Plan

Why In News?

On January 21, 2023, Jharkhand Agriculture Minister Badal Patralekh launched the 'Water Conservation Scheme' with an outlay of Rs 467.32 crore to benefit the drought-hit farmers of the state.

Key points

• Under the 'Water Conservation Scheme', 2,133 ponds will be renovated and 2,795 percolation tanks will be constructed in all blocks of 24 districts of the state, an official release said.
• Agriculture Minister Badal Patralekh also laid the foundation stone for renovation work of 71 ponds and 184 percolation tanks on the occasion.
• It is known that a percolation tank is an artificially created surface water body to recharge groundwater storage.
• The agriculture minister said the state government has received 31.33 lakh applications from drought-hit farmers and 8.5 lakh of them have been given financial assistance so far.
• He said the state government's effort is to provide Rs 1,200 crore as relief to 30 lakh drought-hit farmers soon.
• It may be noted that the JMM-led government had on October 29 last year declared 226 of the state's 260 blocks as drought-affected areas and decided to provide a cash relief of Rs 3,500 to each farmer family affected by the rain deficit.