Pariksha SaathiPIB backgrounder on 'Catch the Rain': over 1.55 crore artificial recharge and storage structures built under Jal Sanchay Jan Bhagidari
A PIB backgrounder of 26 October 2026 describes Catch the Rain, a nationwide campaign for rainwater harvesting, groundwater recharge and the restoration of water bodies, whose guiding theme at its launch on 22 March 2021 was "Catch the Rain, Where It Falls, When It Falls". Jal Sanchay Jan Bhagidari (JSJB) 1.0 ran from 1 April 2024 to 31 May 2025 on the principles of Community, CSR and Cost (the 3Cs), and JSJB 2.0, launched on 1 June 2025, focused on over-exploited and critical districts. Over 1.55 crore artificial recharge and storage structures have been built under JSJB, and an impact evaluation study of JSJB 1.0, which evaluated 23 lakh structures, estimated that they had resulted in 2.43 billion cubic metres of groundwater recharge. The 2026 initiative, launched on 1 June 2026, integrated JSJB with the Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain campaign.
Drafted with AI assistance from the official PIB release linked above and checked against it by a second AI pass. Not line-edited by a human.
Learning context
The Prime Minister launched the 'Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain' campaign on World Water Day, 22 March 2021, by video conference. On the same occasion a Memorandum of Agreement was signed between the Union Minister of Jal Shakti and the Chief Ministers of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh to implement the Ken-Betwa Link Project, the first project of the National Perspective Plan for interlinking of rivers.
Check yourself: which river-linking project's agreement was signed on the day 'Catch the Rain' was launched, and between which states?
The Ken-Betwa Link Project, between Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh (with the Union Jal Shakti Minister).
Revision task: from this release, note the campaign's 2021 guiding theme, the 3Cs, the dates of JSJB 1.0 and 2.0, and the recharge structures and groundwater figures; from the note, the date Catch the Rain was launched and the river-linking project signed that day.
Test yourself
Jal Sanchay Jan Bhagidari 1.0, described in PIB's 'Catch the Rain' backgrounder of 26 October 2026, followed which '3Cs' principles?
Show the answer
Answer: Community, CSR and Cost
JSJB 1.0, implemented from 1 April 2024 to 31 May 2025, followed the principles of Community, CSR and Cost - the 3Cs - and promoted low-cost recharge and storage structures.
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