Water being a State subject, it is for the State Governments concerned to take cognizance of encroachment on different ponds in the State, and to take up programmes and schemes for protection and restoration of its water bodies against encroachment.

However, in order to supplement the efforts of the State Governments, Government of India has taken a number of important initiatives for enumeration, conservation and development of water bodies, details of which are as below:

In 2019, Jal Shakti Abhiyan was launched by the Government. This was followed in 2021, by “Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch The Rain” (JSA:CTR) campaign. Focused interventions under these annual campaigns taken up by the Government of India and the State Governments, inter-alia, include renovation of traditional and other water bodies/ tanks, enumeration, geo-tagging and making inventory of all water bodies, and removal of encroachments of tanks/lakes, and de-silting of tanks.

As per the 5^th Minor Irrigation Census conducted by Ministry of Jal Shakti with reference year 2013-14, there are 5,16,303 water bodies in the rural areas of the country which are being used for minor irrigation, out of which 53,396 are not in use for various reasons such as non-availability of water, siltation, salinity, etc.

Government of India has launched the first Census of water bodies in convergence with the Sixth round of Minor Irrigation Census (reference year 2017-18), under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme – “Irrigation Census”. The objective of the Census of Water bodies is to develop a national database for all water bodies in the country.

Ministry of Jal Shakti is providing financial assistance to the identified schemes under Repair, Renovation and Restoration (RRR) of Water Bodies and Surface Minor Irrigation component of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY)-Har Khet Ko Pani (HKKP). Since XII plan onwards, financial assistance has been provided for RRR of 2,228 water bodies in the country, out of which 51 water bodies belong to Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Against the total outlay of Rs. 1,914.86 crore for these water bodies, central assistance of Rs. 469.69 crore has been released to various states upto March, 2021. Further, 1549 water bodies have been completed upto March, 2021, as reported by States. Target irrigation potential restoration of these schemes is 1.89 lakh hectare, out of which 1.31 lakh hectare is reported to be restored till March, 2021.

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS) has provisions for public works relating to natural resource management, water conservation and water harvesting structures to augment and improve ground water like underground dykes, earthen dams, stop dams, check dams and roof top rain water harvesting structures in public buildings.

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

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