Expert Committee on Augmenting Water Table

No expert committee/task force has been created by the Ministry for review/suggestions on augmenting the water table, however, an ‘Inter Ministerial Committee’ under the Chairmanship of Secretary (WR, RD & GR) has been constituted to take forward the subject of ‘Water Conservation Related Activities for Optimum Utilization of Monsoon Rainfall’ which meets from time to time to discuss the issue of water conservation. The Committee includes officers from different States/UTs also.  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 at the following URL: http://jalshakti-dowr.gov.in/sites/default/files/Steps_to_control_water_depletion_Feb2021.pdf.

In addition, a number of States have done notable work in the field of water conservation/harvesting. 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, ‘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  including  in  Punjab,  Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. 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. Further, Ministry launched ‘JSA-II-Catch the Rain’ on 21 December 2020 for awareness generation among people.

To have scientific inputs about the status of groundwater aquifers, CGWB is implementing a nationwide programme of “National Aquifer Mapping and Management (NAQUIM)” for mapping of aquifers (Water bearing formations), their characterization and development of aquifer management plans to facilitate sustainable development of ground water resources. Aquifer maps and management plans are shared with the respective State Government agencies for taking up suitable demand side and supply side interventions. So far, around 15.57 lakh sq. km. area has been covered under NAQUIM against the total mappable area of 24.8 Lakh Sq KM in the country. Balance areas are targeted to be completed by March 2023.

Central Government supports construction of water harvesting and conservation works primarily through Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana – Watershed Development Component (PMKSY-WDC). The expenditure on water related works under MGNREGA during the last three years is given at Annexure I. Further, State-wise details of water harvesting structures created under PMKSY-WDC is given at Annexure II.

Annexure-I

Annexure referred to in reply to part (b) & (c) of Unstarred Question No. 3770 to be answered in Lok Sabha on 18.03.2021 regarding “Expert Committee on Augmenting Water Table”.

 

CONSERVATION & WATER HARVESTING WORKS TAKEN UP IN LAST THREE YEARS AND CURRENT YEAR UNDER MAHATMA AGANDHI NREGA- (as on 15th March 2021) Annexure
S No.	State	2020-21					2019-20					2018-19					2017-18
		COMPLETED		ONGOING			COMPLETED		ONGOING			COMPLETED		ONGOING			COMPLETED		ONGOING
		No. of works	Exp. in lakh	No. of works	Exp. in lakh		No. of works	Exp. in lakh	No. of works	Exp. in lakh		No. of works	Exp. in lakh	No. of works	Exp. in lakh		No. of works	Exp. in lakh	No. of works	Exp. in lakh
1	ANDAMAN AND NICOBAR	8	16.68	70	29.07		10	9.33	71	23.22		9	17.72	65	5.18		6	36.22	69	14.28
2	ANDHRA PRADESH	37669	56695.83	36353	48209.93		20930	58528.01	38608	8661.11		27109	71354.19	33511	4725.75		11933	44888.25	34040	765.97
3	ARUNACHAL PRADESH	23	616.9	179	1170.69		86	456.55	95	124.65		31	807.74	38	126.55		105	412.76	25	3.18
4	ASSAM	1519	1343.34	21291	31330.52		2903	3827.84	10838	6599.07		2606	5039.56	8484	4059.52		2059	4744.91	6550	1570.76
5	BIHAR	18469	11666.09	72703	34421.63		5135	13202.94	48446	8760.91		5515	12437.61	15437	6094.46		6664	13905.81	12595	1852.3
6	CHHATTISGARH	19341	24574.3	36467	67632.19		16746	47913.95	36674	21686.59		20732	49753.06	23836	6857.9		19532	44200.29	26134	1942.95
7	DADRA & NAGAR HAVELI	0	0	2	0		0	0	2	0		0	0	2	0		0	0	2	0
8	DAMAN & DIU	0	0	0	0		0	0	0	0		0	0	0	0		0	0	0	0
9	GOA	15	17.51	55	31.58		17	14.05	21	2.3		0	0	12	0		2	0.79	11	0
10	GUJARAT	9366	12418.16	13230	16390.15		11450	18343.6	13622	4286.75		7836	16567.14	14240	2493.95		7875	9067.09	7546	300.28
11	HARYANA	647	1613.48	2136	4894.36		1059	2810.65	1734	1964.64		769	4594.97	1066	832.92		738	4585.41	963	228.54
12	HIMACHAL PRADESH	4539	1289.77	10092	4247.86		5253	4293.1	11212	1662		9533	8583.75	10400	648.41		6306	6117.8	11216	81.11
13	JAMMU AND KASHMIR	3306	1481.44	19159	6001.6		2444	1533.08	15693	2607.94		1858	1308.6	9991	1992.79		3091	3561.89	7986	1499.99
14	JHARKHAND	16449	5664.07	31947	11326.86		11408	6822.61	15132	2242.1		14296	7743.49	15724	1392.74		49663	13162.84	24403	601.17
15	KARNATAKA	23098	25927.65	90171	101156.31		19762	58116.53	50989	53971.3		17426	39049.38	34785	19067.72		20809	34988.76	26809	6123.67
16	KERALA	25491	17508.59	72561	99172.12		25301	53991.1	49505	31077.68		20813	68287.47	40259	21888.66		28942	50597.94	19317	1637.63
17	LADAKH	3	2.18	265	78.65		48	46.98	213	132.01		36	47.46	193	35.98		79	50.01	89	57.94
18	LAKSHADWEEP	0	0	37	0.11		0	0	36	1.84		1	0.13	38	2.21		0	1.79	39	0.12
19	MADHYA PRADESH	58635	129535.36	102510	200002.74		21683	118302.4	75461	34715.99		19074	84049.43	53222	13821.65		19693	45568.86	30039	3742.25
20	MAHARASHTRA	5127	5685.48	18004	14830.81		13346	12323.33	19260	6868.46		19232	23959.89	28225	7920.98		15358	22099.23	37174	6132.51
21	MANIPUR	1425	9047.67	3196	7194.68		1449	4620.68	2514	1021.12		707	2524.52	730	499.97		223	742.15	209	13.99
22	MEGHALAYA	1992	5645.86	8663	15283.9		1535	9618.71	6959	9253.13		745	4094.46	1597	1325.05		926	7306.85	741	309.58
23	MIZORAM	682	2061.23	96	246.66		1256	3477.28	126	54.58		1515	3770.73	60	1.5		822	1423.71	258	0
24	NAGALAND	93	1358.07	695	1747.66		234	2960.08	320	542.58		263	1570.01	168	218.45		447	6458.37	67	278.85
25	ODISHA	6616	8773.19	41854	64134.03		6848	10261.92	22890	9555.87		2260	10585.95	10941	4569.07		5528	13660.27	8834	1923.23
26	PUDUCHERRY	75	590.4	21	177.86		46	468.01	36	29.58		42	339.13	26	1.02		37	273.48	26	0
27	PUNJAB	408	407.06	1735	1109.04		482	704.87	1066	375.68		254	700.61	550	218.47		240	607.48	333	89.76
28	RAJASTHAN	10633	26252.33	64825	290327.29		10085	61281.67	48027	107743.74		8922	61124.2	38080	52180.01		10925	57864.41	25584	19401.28
29	SIKKIM	635	197.42	1272	602.86		385	580	1148	262.34		223	326.85	463	81.42		152	585.92	270	55.5
30	TAMIL NADU	55936	176080.62	82050	264853.82		61083	265989.05	74638	45937.93		25445	195543.81	68174	23162.39		10184	52246.74	12459	129.59
31	TELANGANA	47351	22898.62	73638	52404.39		65931	20740.54	60962	24098.37		32120	36264.27	96237	17905.54		76194	46433.94	76369	10854.81
32	TRIPURA	4649	3546.26	6779	9929.9		5936	12832.73	4404	349.41		4820	9295.39	3215	109.07		7256	7124.59	2005	73.26
33	UTTAR PRADESH	29685	31281.58	96071	104358.75		22269	44140.24	61733	30248		29924	56602.47	38185	17772.9		32413	52009.38	28651	3637.42
34	UTTARAKHAND	8357	3236.66	16009	8032.5		5547	5744.62	11096	1705.05		5890	5404.1	6311	638.45		6437	5632.51	4882	110.9
35	WEST BENGAL	17485	6776.91	72825	66207.75		21016	22449.88	60705	27345.57		36911	26736.05	50726	15489.51		37066	61518.07	64864	6382.4
	Total	409727	594210.71	996961	1527538.3		361683	866406.33	744236	443911.5		316917	808484.14	604991	226140.19		381705	611878.52	470559	69815.22

 

Annexure–II