Water being a State subject, initiatives on water management including preventing the depletion of groundwater reserves in the Country is primarily States’ responsibility.  However, important measures taken by the Central Government for conservation, management of ground water and effective implementation of rain water harvesting in the country are available at the following URL:http://jalshakti-dowr.gov.in/sites/default/files/Steps_to_control_water_depletion_Feb2021.pdf. Some of the important initiatives in this regard are also given in Annexure.

In addition, a number of States have done notable work in the field of water conservation/harvesting. Some of them can be mentioned as ‘Mukhyamantri Jal Swavlamban Abhiyan’ in Rajasthan, ‘Jalyukt Shibar’ in Maharashtra, ‘Sujalam Sufalam Abhiyan’ in Gujarat, ‘Mission Kakatiya’ in Telangana, Neeru Chettu’ in Andhra Pradesh, Jal Jeevan Hariyali in Bihar, ‘Jal Hi Jeevan’ in Haryana, Kudimaramath scheme in Tamil Nadu etc.

  National Aquifer Mapping and Management Programme (NAQUIM) is being implemented as a part of the Ground Water Management and Regulation scheme with the objectives to delineate and characterize the aquifers and develop plans for ground water management. Out of about 32  lakh Sq Km area of the country, a mappable area of around 25.00 lakh Sq Km has been identified by the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) to be covered under this programme, out of which around 18.00 Lakh Sq Km of area has already been covered.

  Further, the activities under NAQUIM are continuing in nature and are progressing as per the targets.  

  This Information was given by the Minister of State for Jal Shakti, Shri Bishweswar Tudu in a written  reply in Rajya Sabha today.

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ANNEXURE 

Important initiatives on management of groundwater resources 

  Government of India launched Jal Shakti Abhiyan (JSA) in 2019, a time bound campaign with a mission mode approach intended to improve water availability including ground water conditions in the water stressed blocks of 256 districts in India. In this regard, teams of officers from Central Government along-with technical officers from Ministry of Jal Shakti were deputed to visit water stressed districts and to work in close collaboration with district level officials to undertake suitable interventions.

  In addition, Ministry of Jal Shakti has taken up the “Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain” (JSA:CTR) with the theme “Catch the Rain - Where it Falls When it Falls” to cover all the blocks of all districts (rural as well as urban areas) across the country during 22nd March 2021 to 30th November 2021. The campaign was launched by the Hon’ble Prime Minister on 22 March 2021.

  Ministry of Jal Shakti, Department of Water Resources, RD & GR (DoWR, RD & GR) is implementing Atal Bhujal Yojana (Atal Jal), a Rs.6,000.00 crore Central Sector Scheme, for sustainable management of ground water resources with community participation. Atal Jal is being implemented in 81 water stressed districts and 8774 Gram Panchayats of seven States viz. Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

  Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) in consultation with States/UTs has prepared ‘Master Plan for Artificial Recharge to Groundwater - 2020’, which is an improvement of the earlier Master Plan – 2013. The Master Plan – 2020 is basically a macro level plan indicating various structures for the different terrain conditions of the country including estimated cost.  The Master Plan - 2020 envisages construction of about 1.42 crore Rain water harvesting and artificial recharge structures in the Country to harness 185 Billion Cubic Metre (BCM) of monsoon rainfall with an estimated cost of about Rs. 1.33 Lakh Crores.

  National Aquifer Mapping and Management program (NAQUIM) is being implemented by CGWB as part of Ground Water Management and Regulation (GWM & R) Scheme, a Central Sector scheme. NAQUIM envisages mapping of aquifers (water bearing formations), their characterization and development of Aquifer Management Plans to facilitate sustainable management of Ground Water Resources in the country. NAQUIM outputs are shared with States/UTs for suitable interventions.

  Central government generally supports artificial groundwater recharge/water harvesting works in the country through Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and Prime Minister Krishi Sinchayee Yojana - Watershed Development component (PMKSY-WDC), ‘Surface Minor Irrigation (SMI) and Repair, Renovation and Restoration (RRR) of Water Bodies schemes’ a component of PMKSY (launched in 2015-16).

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BY/AS

(Release ID: 1778887)