Mawkyrdep village under Umroi constituency of Ri-Bhoi district was yesterday awarded the third prize for Best Village Panchayat in the country in terms of water management and water conservation.
Vice President of India, Jagdeep Dhankhar conferred the 4th National Water Awards yesterday at an award distribution ceremony held at Plenary Hall, Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.
The Award for the Best Village Panchayat was conferred on Jagannadhapuram Village Panchayat, Bhadradri Kothagudem district of Telangana. The second prize was won jointly by Kadavur Village Panchayat, Karur district of Tamil Nadu and Manickal Village Panchayat, Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala while the third prize was won jointly by Kadegaon Village Panchayat, Jalna district of Maharashtra and Mawkyrdep Village Panchayat, Bhoi Rymbong Block, Ri Bhoi district of Meghalaya.
The Department of Water Resources, River Development, and Ganga Rejuvenation of Ministry of Jal Shakti has announced a total of 41 winners, including joint winners, for the 4th National Water Awards, 2022, covering eleven categories.
Each award winner was conferred with a citation and a trophy as well as cash prizes in certain categories.
The Award for the Best State was conferred on Madhya Pradesh, the second prize went to Odisha while the third prize was won jointly by Andhra Pradesh and Bihar. The award for the Best District was conferred on Ganjam District of Odisha while the second prize was bagged by Namakkal District of Tamil Nadu and third prize by Adilabad District of Telangana.
The Award for the Best Urban Local Body was conferred on Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh, the second prize went to Indore Municipal Corporation, Indore, Madhya Pradesh while the third prize was bagged jointly by Surat Municipal Corporation, Surat, Gujarat and Malkapur Municipal Council, Karad, Satara, Maharashtra.
The Award for the Best Media will be conferred on Advance Water Digest Private Limited Gurugram, Haryana, the second prize was given jointly to Centre For Environment And Sustainable Development, Srinagar, Jammu And Kashmir and Regional News Unit, All India Radio, Guwahati, Assam while the third prize was given to Network Eighteen, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Uttar Pradesh.
The Award for the Best School was conferred on Jamiyatpura Primary School, Mehsana, Gujarat, the second prize went to KGBV School, Chagalamarri, Nandyal, Andhra Pradesh while the third prize was given to Government Senior Secondary School (GSSS), Baori, Jodhpur, Rajasthan.
As part of the ongoing nationwide drive to realise the Central government’s vision of a ‘Jal Samridh Bharat’ or ‘Water Prosperous India’, the National Water Awards focus on encouraging the good work and efforts made by various individuals and organisations. It seeks to create awareness among people about the importance of water and motivate them to adopt best water use practices.
The event provides an opportunity to all people and organizations to forge a strong partnership and further strengthen public participation in water resource conservation and management activities.
The Ministry of Jal Shakti started a comprehensive campaign to spread awareness about water management and water conservation on a national level.
With the objective of encouraging various stakeholders towards adopting a holistic approach towards water resources management in the country, it was considered necessary to set up an integrated National Water Award. Accordingly, the 1st National Water Awards were launched in 2018 by Department of Water Resources, River Development, and Ganga Rejuvenation of the Ministry of Jal Shakti.
The 2nd and 3rd National Water Awards were given for the years 2019 and 2020. The awards were not given in 2021 due to the Covid pandemic.