Atal Bhujal Yojana : A crusade to conserve groundwater

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday launched a scheme to conserve groundwater in seven states facing acute water shortage and urged farmers to opt for less water-intensive crops.

Modi said the scheme named Atal Bhujal Yojana will benefit Maharashtra, Haryana, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat.

"Groundwater situation is very worrisome in 8,300 gram panchayats of 78 districts in these seven states," said the Prime Minister. He said in the rest of the country, the problem often was of floods.

The move to conserve ground water comes in the wake of concerns among policy makers about a water crisis affecting lives and livelihoods in several parts of the country.

Federal policy thinktank NITI Aayog had in a report last June flagged that about 600 million people faced high to extreme water stress and about 200,000 people die every year because of inadequate access to safe water, a crisis that would only get worse.

NITI Aayog projected that by 2030, India's water demand will be twice the available supply.

"Atal Jal Yojna and the Jal Jeevan Mission guidelines are big steps in realizing the goal of supplying (tap) water to every household by 2024," Modi said, adding that the government has paid attention to water recycling and people participation in conservation.

Groundwater levels are depleting fast, he said. Earlier, the complaint in Punjab was of high ground water level hurting crops but 20 years later, the complaint is about depleted ground water levels, Modi said.

Crops like sugarcane, Modi said, needed a lot of water and places where such crops are grown have noticed a depletion of groundwater table.

"To improve this, we need to make farmers aware of conservation of rainwater and of choosing alternative crops for cultivation and move towards micro-irrigation," he said.

He also urged every village to prepare a water action plan, water fund and make use of the funds through different related state and central schemes.

Modi said villages with low groundwater level should prepare water budget and farmers should be encouraged to grow crops accordingly.