All that was discussed in the House through the day

53,396 water bodies are not in use

There are 5,16,303 water bodies in the rural areas of India that are being used for minor irrigation, out of which, 53,396 are not in use for various reasons such as non availability of water, less and erratic rainfall, siltation, salinity etc according to the Fifth Minor Irrigation Census conducted by the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti.

Acute malnutrition in India

Prevalence of severe acute malnutrition among Indian children is 4.9 per cent, which indicates further reduction when compared to the levels reported by NFHS-4 as 7.4 per cent, according to the report of the Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey conducted by UNICEF during 2016-18, Union Minister of Women and Child Development, Smriti Irani, told the Rajya Sabha.

3,965 fluoride-affected habitations in Rajasthan

3,965 habitations in 33 districts of Rajasthan are fluoride-affected, the Jal Shakti ministry told the Lok Sabha. Four out of these 33 districts have recorded an increase in the fluoride-affected habitations since April 2015 namely Dausa, Pratapgarh, Sirohi and Udaipur.

Implementation of Forest Rights Act

19,64,048 titles were provided against 42,37,853 claims made, according to the data on the status of implementation of Forest Rights Act, 2006, the Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs, Jual Oram told the Rajya Sabha.

Pollution of groundwater

3.22 per cent of India’s rural habitations, with 3.73 per cent of the population, have drinking water sources that are plagued by quality issues, as reported by the states / union territories on November 27, 2019, Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat told the Lok Sabha. He added that 12,457 rural habitations in India were contaminated due to arsenic.

*Original article online at https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/governance/as-told-to-parliament-november-29-2019-53-396-water-bodies-in-india-are-not-in-use-68043

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