Nitish Kumar's Jal-Jeevan-Hariyali Abhiyan: A Visionary Campaign to Combat Climate Change

Jal-Jeevan-Hariyali Abhiyan has been a part of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's dream project. Its special purpose has been to spread seriousness and awareness towards the environment in the world. The Chief Minister's campaign to make every possible effort to deal with the increasing challenges of the environment and to make people aware about the environment has been commendable. Along with making the state a green state, his herculean efforts to ensure the availability of ground water and the restoration of natural water sources have become an example for the whole world. The whole country is struggling with severe heat and rising temperatures today. There is not a single day when the battle for life does not start from the morning itself. In almost all the states, people are in a very bad condition due to the rising temperature. Staying at home as soon as the morning arrives is also becoming difficult. The situation is quite challenging for work. The situation is the same in the districts of Mithila and Seemanchal including Patna, Muzaffarpur, Bhagalpur, Darbhanga, Gaya, Aurangabad, East Champaran, Saran, Gopalganj. The temperature is around 35-36 degrees in the morning itself. As the day progresses, the mercury remains around 46 and 47 degrees Celsius. The situation is going to remain the same for the next ten days. Even though the state government has declared a holiday for schools. Work is being done according to the advisory of the Disaster Management Department, but the actual situation remains frightening. In this situation, the efforts of the Chief Minister are being remembered seriously. In Bihar, the Chief Minister has made serious efforts towards increasing the green cover. After the division of Bihar from Jharkhand, the green cover was worrying, which was only around 9 percent, which has been brought to the target of 15 percent today with serious efforts. The Chief Minister has resolved to make it 17 percent. Similarly, Bhagreeth's effort to renovate natural water sources has also been effective in this direction. The Chief Minister also started the Jal-Jeevan-Hariyali Yatra for the success of the Jal-Jeevan-Hariyali Abhiyan. This campaign was started by the Chief Minister in the year 2019 and 11 components were included in it. After the decline in groundwater level in many districts, the concern of drinking water is increasing among the people. Lack of rainfall is also being seen continuously in the country. In the last thirty years, the annual rainfall in the state has decreased from 1027 mm to 900 mm. In this situation, one can guess the real state of concern of the farm and the farmer. On top of that, the productivity of farmers' crops is getting affected due to rising temperatures. The contribution of the agriculture sector in the gross domestic product of Bihar is important, in this situation the concern for Bihar is also widespread.

Objective of Jal-Jeevan-Hariyali Abhiyan...

The main objective of Jal-Jeevan-Hariyali Abhiyan is to effectively deal with the challenges posed by climate change, maintain ecological balance, ensure adequate water availability, promote forest cover, emphasize on the use of renewable energy and energy conservation, and give a new shape to agriculture and related activities in accordance with the changing ecological environment. As against the target of planting 24 crore saplings to increase the green cover in the state, 19 crore saplings have already been planted. Instructions have already been given to install solar plates for solar energy on all government buildings and to make arrangements for rainwater harvesting. Serious work is being done on this. The resolution of the Bihar government is that till there is happiness in life, till there is water-life-greenery... No state in the country has understood the seriousness of climate change or if they understood, they did not make serious efforts. The Chief Minister has been continuously saying from open platforms that what Bihar does today, all the states implement it later.

The path of development is passing through the destruction of nature...

The journey of development was started by cutting trees and destroying nature, but its serious consequences have started to emerge. The Chief Minister's Jal-Jeevan-Hariyali Abhiyan can be capable of dealing with ecological threats in many ways. This campaign has also brought some awareness among the people, but to get better results, it is necessary to implement it on a large scale. Today, when the country is facing serious consequences arising from climate change, people are remembering to plant trees. Bihar has always been showing the way to the country. The Chief Minister's vision is related to the creation of a strong, clean and healthy Bihar. If the comprehensiveness of the Jal-Jeevan-Hariyali Abhiyan and its important objectives are adopted properly, then we can prepare ourselves to deal with the challenges of climate change. The situation of Bihar has improved a lot compared to before with initiatives like planting trees on both sides of the roads, planting trees in the middle of state and national highways, making arrangements for rainwater harvesting in the construction of private houses or apartments and providing many discounts on installing solar plates. Every Bihari felt proud on the discussion of Bihar's meaningful initiative...

Every Bihari should be proud of the efforts of the Chief Minister which have been praised in the United Nations. It should also be the duty of every Bihari to support and cooperate in every way possible for this step of the Chief Minister. There may be some shortcomings in the efforts of the Chief Minister but there is no lack in his intentions. The important thing is that the administrative system should fulfill this responsibility and implement his decisions literally. In the coming times, along with planting more and more trees for the continuously increasing temperature, freeing the natural water sources from encroachment should be included in our priority. Experts say that if five hundred to thousand trees are planted at one place, then a decrease of three to four degrees Celsius is seen in the surrounding environment. In this way, the trend of converting half the area into green area has started in the newly built apartments in Bihar. Along with planting trees in the middle of many roads in Patna, big pots have been placed on Nehru paths. The tradition of celebrating Jal-Jeevan-Hariyali Diwas has been started so that awareness and information can be shared in all the departments related to it. The Department of Information and Public Relations is continuously promoting this campaign in public interest. The department is reaching out to crores of people every activity related to it through its social media page. Now the time has come that we should consider this subject as a part of our life. Today we have started using bottled water for drinking. We are using air conditioners to avoid the scorching heat and it will not be surprising if in the next few years we also start purchasing oxygen cylinders and companies start selling it in cans. We have made our world such that it is now returning its pain to us. If the country and the state have to be saved from this danger, then there is no better option than Jal-Jeevan-Hariyali Abhiyan.

The writer of this article Anand Kaushal is a Sr.TV Journalist and Media Strategist.