Ground water levels in various parts of the Country are declining because of continuous withdrawal due to reasons such as increased demand of fresh water for various uses, vagaries of rainfall, increase in population, industrialization and urbanization etc.

As per the assessment of Dynamic Ground Water Resources (2017) carried out by the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) in collaboration with States/UTs, out of the total 6,881 assessment units (Block/ Taluks/ Mandals/ watersheds/ Firkas) in the country, 1,186 units in 17 States/UTs have been categorized as ‘over-exploited’ where ‘Annual Ground Water Extraction’ is more than ‘Annual Extractable Ground Water Resource’.

Water being a State subject, initiatives on water management including conservation and water harvesting in the Country is primarily States’ responsibility.  However, the 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.

A number of States have done notable work in the field of water management/conservation. Of these, mention can be made of ‘Mukhya Mantri Jal Swavlamban Abhiyan’ in Rajasthan, ‘Sujalam Sufalam Abhiyan’ in Gujarat, ‘Mission Kakatiya’ in Telangana, 'Neeru Chettu’ in Andhra Pradesh, ‘Paani Bachao, Paisa Kamao’ in Punjab and ‘Jal Hi Jeevan’ in Haryana among others.

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 alongwith 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. Further, Ministry launched ‘JSA-II-Catch the Rain’ on 21 December 2020 for awareness generation among people.

Government of India is implementing Atal Bhujal Yojana (Atal Jal), a Rs.6,000 crore Central Sector Scheme, for sustainable management of ground water resources with community participation. Atal Jal is being implemented in 80 water stressed districts of seven States viz. Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

Water supply is a State subject and Government of India supplements the efforts of the States by providing financial and technical assistance.

Government of India, in partnership with States, is implementing Jal Jeevan Mission-Har Ghar Jal (JJM) since August, 2019, which aims at providing potable water through tap water connection to every rural household of the country, by 2024. Prior to JJM, to provide potable drinking water in all rural habitations, financial and technical assistance were provided to States/ UTs under erstwhile centrally sponsored programme National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) which has now been restructured and subsumed into ‘Jal Jeevan Mission’ (JJM). The total estimated outlay of the mission is Rs.3.60 lakh crore, out of which central share is Rs. 2.08 lakh crore.

In addition, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, through “Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT)”, supplements the efforts of the States/Union Territories (UTs) in providing water supply, sewerage and septage management, storm water drainage etc in 500 cities/towns across India. AMRUT was launched on 25 June 2015 and has been extended upto March 2021. Under AMRUT, out of total approved plan size of Rs.77,640 crore, Rs.39,010 crore (around 50%) has been allocated to the water supply sector.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Jal Shakti & Social Justice and Empowerment, Shri. Rattan Lal Kataria in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.

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