PIB TrackerOdisha turns rain awareness into recharge
Following the Prime Minister's Mann Ki Baat call to conserve every drop, Odisha intensified its Catch the Rain campaign — 968 awareness activities across districts alongside rainwater harvesting, groundwater recharge and restoration of traditional water bodies.
What happened
- Odisha intensified Catch the Rain 2026 after the PM's 135th Mann Ki Baat (28 June).
- 968 IEC activities — street plays, folk performances, community engagement — were held across districts.
- Khordha led with 230 activities, then Angul (124) and Mayurbhanj (60).
- Work spans rainwater harvesting, groundwater recharge and restoring traditional water bodies.
- It joins Nandyal (AP) and Rajnandgaon (Chhattisgarh) as campaign models.
For Prelims
- Catch the Rain: the Jal Shakti Abhiyan campaign — 'Catch the Rain, Where it Falls, When it Falls'.
- Trigger: the PM's 135th Mann Ki Baat (28 June 2026) call to conserve every drop.
- Odisha's effort: 968 IEC activities — Khordha 230, Angul 124, Mayurbhanj 60, Ganjam 20.
- IEC: Information, Education and Communication — the behaviour-change arm of public campaigns.
- Interventions: rainwater harvesting, groundwater recharge and restoring traditional water bodies.
- Jan Bhagidari: people's participation — the campaign's delivery method alongside departmental convergence.
For UPSC: A water-governance item. Use it for demand-side water management and groundwater recharge, behaviour-change communication in public campaigns, and how national campaigns become local action through convergence and people's participation.
What it is NOT: This is a state-level awareness-and-recharge campaign under Jal Shakti Abhiyan — not a piped-water-supply scheme like the Jal Jeevan Mission.
For Mains
Syllabus: GS3.14 · GS3.4 · Linkage L1
Anchor
From street play to recharge pit — awareness turned into water in the ground.
Substantiation (data)
968 IEC activities across Odisha's districts (Khordha 230, Angul 124), alongside harvesting, recharge and water-body restoration under Catch the Rain 2026.
Exemplification
Folk performances and community programmes as the delivery vehicle for behaviour change on groundwater.
Problematisation
Awareness counts are an input, not an outcome — the test is measurable water-table recovery and asset maintenance.
Way-forward
Track recharge outcomes and water levels, sustain asset maintenance, and integrate campaigns with district water budgeting.
Position
Community water conservation works when awareness is paired with assets and measurement.
Deploys into: Conservation + water/agriculture (GS3.14, GS3.4) · rainwater harvesting and groundwater recharge, behaviour-change campaigns and participatory water governance.
Ministry of Jal Shakti · 2026-08-01 · PRID 2292906 · PIB source ↗