Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his monthly radio address Mann Ki Baat on Sunday, 26 July 2026, spotlighted the Catch the Rain campaign, underscoring its core message of effective water conservation and recognising efforts from five states across India.

Context

In his address, PM Modi highlighted water conservation work carried out in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Odisha. The Catch the Rain campaign, he noted, carries 'a simple message — to conserve water effectively.' The mention of these five states signals recognition of ground-level implementation during the ongoing monsoon season.

Mann Ki Baat has regularly served as a platform for the Prime Minister to draw public attention to citizen-led and state-led initiatives, encouraging other regions to replicate successful models of low-cost water harvesting.

Policy Backdrop

The Catch the Rain initiative was formally launched in 2021 as an annual pre-monsoon campaign under the broader Jal Shakti Abhiyan, which itself was introduced in 2019 to intensively target 1,592 water-stressed blocks across the country. The campaign promotes the creation of rainwater harvesting structures — check dams, recharge wells, and percolation tanks — before and during the monsoon to maximise groundwater replenishment.

Complementing these efforts, the Atal Bhujal Yojana, rolled out in 2020, focuses on improving groundwater management across seven states, several of which overlap with the states named in today's post. Together, these schemes form a layered central framework for water security.

Stakeholders and Impact

Madhya Pradesh has been recognised for large-scale watershed management and tank restoration, while Maharashtra has pursued extensive check-dam and percolation tank programmes targeting drought-prone districts. Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Odisha add geographic breadth to the campaign's reach, spanning peninsular and central India.

The primary beneficiaries are farmers, rural communities, and state irrigation departments that depend on stable groundwater levels for agriculture and drinking water. By publicly naming states that are performing well, the Centre creates a reputational incentive for others to accelerate their own conservation drives.

What's Next

Attention will now turn to state-level progress reports on structures built under the 2026 Catch the Rain drive and whether the forthcoming monsoon preparedness reviews translate into fresh funding allocations. The government's decade-long push toward decentralised water conservation — linking central scheme design with state execution and community participation — is expected to remain a policy priority as groundwater depletion and erratic monsoons continue to threaten agricultural stability across India.