While 40 per cent of the world’s people are being affected by water scarcity, as many as 700 million could be displaced by 2030 in search for water if the issue is not addressed.

By Rakesh Raman

Top Bollywood actor and social activist Aamir Khan is inviting people to join him as Jalmitra (water friend or volunteer) in his Paani Foundation.

According to the Foundation, Jalmitra is a people’s movement to fight drought. The Foundation is a not-for-profit organization set up in 2016 by the team of the TV series Satyamev Jayate to fight drought in rural Maharashtra.

It aims to harness the power of communication to mobilize, motivate, and train people in the mission to eradicate drought. “Water scarcity is largely a man-made condition, and we believe that only people’s efforts can solve the crisis,” the Foundation states.

Water Scarcity

Recently, a panel of 11 Heads of State and a Special Advisor released a report: Making Every Drop Count: An Agenda for Water Action.

It calls for a fundamental shift in the way the world manages water so that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly Goal 6 on ensuring availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all, can be achieved.

According to the report, 40 per cent of the world’s people are being affected by water scarcity. If not addressed, as many as 700 million could be displaced by 2030 in search for water.

More than two billion people are compelled to drink unsafe water and more than 4.5 billion do not have safely managed sanitation services.

The report says women and girls suffer disproportionately when water and sanitation are lacking, affecting health and often restricting work and education opportunities.

Some 80 per cent of wastewater is discharged untreated into the environment and water-related disasters account for 90 per cent of the 1,000 most devastating natural disasters since 1990.

“It is my deep belief that water is a matter of life and death,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres commented upon receiving the report, noting that 60 per cent of human body is water.

In order to address the water scarcity issue, Aamir Khan is inviting volunteers to help him in this cause. He has offered an online volunteer form on Paani Foundation website.

Come be a part of the movement.
love.
a https://t.co/n21Rd9g4J5#Jalmitra #shramadaan pic.twitter.com/YJ77Dw1OgI

— Aamir Khan (@aamir_khan) April 9, 2018

“Come be a part of the movement. love. a,” Aamir Khan tweeted.

You can fill in the form to work with Aamir Khan.

By Rakesh Raman, who is a national award-winning journalist and social activist. He is the founder of the humanitarian organization RMN Foundation which is working in diverse areas to help the disadvantaged and distressed people in the society.