The Jal Shakti Ministry has been allocated Rs 86,189 crore in the Union Budget 2022-23, an increase of 24 per cent from Rs 69,052 crore given in 2021-22.
In the Union Budget, presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday, the Drinking Water and Sanitation Department under the ministry has been allocated Rs 67,221 crore, while 18,967.88 crore has been earmarked for the Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation.Sitharaman said, Rs 60,000 crore has been allocated to provide tap water connections to 3.8 crore households in 2022-23 under the Jal Jeevan Mission.In 2021-22, Rs 50,000 crore was allocated for the Jal Jeevan Mission.
Launched in 2019, the Jal Jeevan Mission, a flagship programme of the Modi government, aims to provide tap water connections to rural households by 2024. So far, tap water connections have been given to 8.7 crore rural households.In total, the budget for central sector schemes saw a rise from Rs 2,456 crore to Rs 5,220 crore in 2022-23.The fund allocation to centrally-sponsored schemes was increased from 5,688.49 crore to 12,605.12 crore.
An amount of Rs 1,400 crore has been set aside for the project of interlinking of rivers.The finance minister, in her budget speech, said the implementation of Ken-Betwa rivers linking at an estimated cost of Rs 44,605 crore will be taken up and the draft detailed project report of five river links, namely Damanganga-Pinjal, Par-Tapi-Narmada, Godavari-Krishna, Krishna-Pennar, and Pennar-Cauvery have been finalized.The total allocation under Water Resources Management that includes schemes like Atal Bhujal Yojna and Ground Water Management and Regulation, also increased from Rs 729 crore in 2021-22 to Rs 2,112 crore in 2022-23.
Deep Ocean Mission gets massive push in Budget
India’s deep ocean mission that seeks to explore vast marine living and non-living resources has received a massive boost in the Union Budget with Finance Minister Nirmala Sithraman allocating Rs 650 crore for the initiative.
The overall allocation to the Earth Sciences Ministry has increased to Rs 2653.51 crore in 2022-23 from the revised estimates of Rs 2369.54 crore in the previous budget. The Budget Estimates of this year includes Rs 450 crore on capital expenditure.Sitharaman has allocated Rs 650 crore for the Deep Ocean Mission in the Budget for 2022-23 as against Rs 150 crore allocated in the revised estimates the previous year.The Union Cabinet had approved the Deep Ocean Mission in June last year. The mission was announced in the Union Budget last year.The government also seeks to launch manned mission to ocean floors up to a depth of six km and has put in motion plans to develop deep-sea vehicles for the purpose.The allocation for meteorology has increased from Rs 469.75 crore in the previous budget to Rs 514.03 crore for 2022-23.The Deep Ocean Mission includes development of technologies for deep sea mining, manned submersible, and underwater robotics; development of ocean climate change advisory services and technological innovations for exploration and conservation of deep-sea biodiversity.The allocation to O-SMART has increased to Rs 460 crore in 2022-23 as against the revised estimates of Rs 394 crore in the previous budget.
