Question : Atal Bhujal Yojana

(a) whether the Government has launched the Atal Bhujal Yojana to strengthen the institutional framework for participatory ground water management and bringing about behavioural changes for sustainable ground water resource management in seven States and if so, the details thereof;
(b) whether the Government has allocated the budget for the said Yojana and if so, the details thereof;
(c) whether the financial assistance has been sought from the World Bank for the said Yojana and if so, the details thereof; and
(d) the details of other important initiatives being taken by the Government in this regard?

THE MINISTER OF JAL SHAKTI

(SHRI GAJENDRA SINGH SHEKHAWAT)

(a) to (d) A statement is laid on the table of the House.

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STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTs (a) TO (d) OF STARRED QUESTION NO.-*65 TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 06.02.2020 REGARDING “ATAL BHUJAL YOJANA” ASKED BY DR. SUKANTA MAJUMDAR & SANGEETA KUMARI SINGH DEO, M.P.

(a) to (c) Yes Sir, Government of India has approved Atal Bhujal Yojana (Atal Jal), a Rs.6000 Crore Central Sector Scheme, for sustainable management of ground water resources with community participation.

The scheme is being implemented with the financial assistance of World Bank with a sharing pattern of 50:50 between Government of India and World Bank.

Atal Jal shall be implemented in 8353 Gram Panchayats spread over 193 identified blocks in 78 districts of Seven States viz. Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh during the period 2020-21 to 2024-25. Tentative allocations to States are given at Annexure-I.

(d) Government of India launched Jal Shakti Abhiyan, 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.

Water being a State subject, initiatives on water management including participatory groundwater management 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 at the following URL:
http://mowr.gov.in/sites/default/files/Steps_to_control_water_depletion_Jun2019.pdf.

Further, a number of States have done notable work in the field of water management/conservation. Of these, mention can be made of ‘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 among others.


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ANNEXURE-I

Annexure referred to in reply to parts (a) to (c) of Starred Question No. *65 to be answered in Lok Sabha on 06.02.2020 regarding “Atal Bhujal Yojana”.

State-wise tentative allocations
S.No. State Tentative Allocation
(Rs. in Crore)
1 Haryana 723.19
2 Gujarat 756.76
3 Karnataka 1201.52
4 Maharashtra 925.77
5 Rajasthan 1189.65
6 Uttar Pradesh 729.24
7 Madhya Pradesh 314.54






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