Tight-fisted on water

The meagre increase in budgetary allocation for Jal Shakti is a surprise

Only a marginal increase in the budgetary allocation for the water resources sector came as a surprise, given that some recent moves of the government displayed a strong resolve to mitigate the country’s water woes. Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself pleaded in his “Mann ki Baat” address, just days ahead of the Budget, to make water conservation a mass movement on the lines of the Swachh Bharat cleanliness campaign. But the meagre increase in budgetary allocation for such a vital task makes it doubtful whether the government intends to walk the talk. Though Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has indicated that