Focus: GS II- Government policies and Interventions
Why in News?
Recently, The third meeting of the National Level Steering Committee (NLSC) of the Atal Bhujal Yojana was held at New Delhi
About Atal Bhujal Yojana:
- The Atal Bhujal Yojana (ABHY) is a central sector scheme worth Rs.6,000 crore for sustainable management of groundwater with community participation.
- It envisages people’s participation through the formation of ‘Water User Associations’, water budgeting, preparation & implementation of Gram-panchayat-wise water security plans, etc.
- It is being implemented by the Ministry of Jal Shakti
- The scheme is being funded by the Government of India and the World Bank on 50:50 basis.
- The identified over-exploited and water-stressed areas for the implementation of the scheme are Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh.
- The States have been selected according to the degree of groundwater exploitation and degradation, established legal and regulatory instruments, institutional readiness, and experience in implementing initiatives related to groundwater management.
Significance of the scheme
- Ground water contributes to nearly 65% of total irrigated area of the country
- Groundwater contributes to nearly 85% of the rural drinking water supply.
- Increasing demands of growing population, urbanization and industrialization, deteriorating quality, intensive and unregulated pumping are a major threat to the Ground Water resources.
- 81.67% of rural households are yet to have household water tap connections.
Aims of the scheme:
- To facilitate the Jal Jeevan Mission’s (JJM) aim provide Functional Household Tap Connection (FHTC) to every rural household by 2024.
- To improve ground water management through community participation in identified priority areas in Seven States.
- To promote panchayat led ground water management and behavioural change with primary focus on demand side management.
Implementation of the scheme:
- The scheme is to be implemented in the identified priority areas of the 7 states of Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
- The scheme is to be implemented over a period of 5 years (2020-21 to 2024-25).
