I have been associated with water sector in different capacities. Secretary in charge of the water resource department more typically irrigation department when I was working in a state . Harnessing the river water for development of the irrigation projects so that farmers can get water. When I came to the Environment Ministry and Water Resource Ministry it was more

conservation because rivers fast drying up. When we talk about rivers we have to see how much we can take and how much can we leave which is essential for the  river. To start with one has to understand river and river is not just water which you have to harness,  it has sediments, it has life within itself, its aquatic life. It has flora, fauna and river also has a kind of cultural personality. Every river is important and every river has a kind of own identity.

River also has some associated community with it, riverine communities so I think. River is water and it’s ecosystem . Right from mountain Forest, River , wetlands , springs, floodplains, they are all part of the river. So on the water day when the theme is “accelerating change” , we have to play our part in accelerating change and facing the challenges in the water security. In most simple terms, the challenge in water sector is of “too much, too little or too dirty”. Either you have got a huge flood coming. Some areas keep on getting flooded and people keep on suffering, Some area do not get water to even drink properly and even if there is water, it's not clean, it's dirty. So I think that's the water security challenge and you have to work on all of them to meet that challenge . , One has to think holistically. That's what while working on Ganga rejuvenation we tried to bring about holistic changes.

Rivers are fundamental to us and mean much more than just a resource. Since the establishment of NMCG in 2011 and the launch of Namami Gange in 2014, significant efforts have been made.

Continued in part two