India, Dec. 4 -- The Government of India has issued a release:
Water being a State subject, sustainable development and management of water and groundwater resources is primarily the responsibility of the State Governments. However, the Central Government facilitates the efforts of the State Governments by way of technical and financial assistance through its various schemes and projects.
The major steps taken by the Government in this direction, including in the states of Bihar and Maharashtra, are provided below:
Currently, JSA 2025 is underway in the country with special focus on over-exploited and critical districts. As per the available information, under JSA, completion of around 1.21 cr lakh water conservation and artificial recharge works has been coordinated through convergence in the country in the last 4 years, with around 4.65 lakh structures in Bihar and 1.84 lakh structures in Maharashtra (3,395 in Nandurbar, 2,001 in Solapur and 6,232 in Sangli), which have played a key role in enhancing the sustainability of ground water resources in these states.
Master Plan for Artificial Recharge to Groundwater- 2020 has been prepared by CGWB in consultation with States/UTs which is a macro level plan indicating various rain water harvesting and artificial recharge structures for the different terrain conditions of the country. The plan aims to construct approximately 1.42 crore such structures across India, potentially harnessing about 185 billion Cubic Meters (BCM) of rainwater.
Here it may be appreciated that the Master plan is only recommendatory in nature and does not involve any kind of binding commitment on the central or the state governments. The purpose of the Master plan is to serve as a technical guidance note only and the extent of its execution will depend upon the administrative and practical requirements prevailing in each state. However, to have a demonstrative effect, states were requested to identify one district in each state for priority implementation of Master plan. Accordingly, Gaya district in Bihar and Nagpur district in Maharashtra were selected and respectively 691 and 1,344 structures were constructed as per Master plan recommendation.
Both Atal Bhujal Yojana and Jal Shakti Abhiyan have community led sustainable management of ground water resources as their core theme. Extensive training and capacity building at grassroots level, enhancing community's role in local water governance through sustained ground level participation, ownership and coordination etc. are some of the core ideas and objectives shared by them. However, whereas Atal Bhujal Yojana was a pilot scheme implemented in priority water stressed Gram Panchayats across 7 States, Jal Shakti Abhiyan is an annual umbrella campaign spearheaded by the Ministry of Jal Shakti wherein water harvesting/conservation and artificial recharge activities are taken up for completion in mission mode through convergence.
Furthermore, impact assessment of activities under Atal Bhujal Yojana has already been conducted in all seven participating states, including Maharashtra, through the third-party government verification agency, i.e., the Quality Council of India (QCI). Bihar was not covered under the scheme. It is observed that the scheme has played a major role in enhancing community knowledge on water related issues, prompting behaviour change. Moreover, the extent of people's participation and gender inclusivity has also been appreciated.
On the expenditure side, an amount of Rs.3602.68 cr has been allocated till date for taking up institutional strengthening and incentivizing water conservation activities under Atal Bhujal Yojana.
The information was provided by THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR JAL SHAKTI SHRI RAJ BHUSHAN CHOUDHARY in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.
Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.
