Lok Sabha Question No. 1958 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-09-22
Subject: Shortage of Ground Water
Ministry: JAL SHAKTI
Asked by: John Barla, Nayab Singh, Sangamlal Kadedin Gupta, Ravi Kishan Shukla

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF JAL SHAKTI, DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT & GANGA REJUVENATION

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. †1958

ANSWERED ON 22.09.2020

## SHORTAGE OF GROUND W ATER

| †1958.   | SHRI JOHN BARLA       | SHRI NAYAB SINGH   |
|----------|-----------------------|--------------------|
|          | SHRI SANGAM LAL GUPTA | SHRI RAVI KISHAN   |

Will the Minister of JAL SHAKTI be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Government has taken any measures to deal with the problem of shortage of g in the country and if so, the details thereof;

(b) whe ther it is a fact that there is acute shortage of ground water in some areas of Utt Bengal, Haryana in comparison to other States of the country; and

(c) if so, the details of the preparations made by the Government to deal with this probl em in the country especially in the aforesaid States?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR JAL SHAKTI & SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EMPOWERMENT (SHRI RATTAN LAL KATARIA )

(a) & (c)Water being a State subject, initiatives on water management including conservation harvesting in the Country is primarily States' responsibility. Further, to supplement the efforts of the S Governments, Government of India provides technic al and financial assistance to encourage sustai development and efficient management of water resources through various schemes and programm

Further, a number of States have done notable work in the field 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.

of

Government of India launched Jal Shakti Abhiyan (JSA), a time bound campaign with a mode  approach  intended  to  improve  water  availability  including  ground  water  conditions  i stressed blocks of 256 dis tricts in India. In this regard, teams of officers from Central Govern -with technical officers from Ministry of Jal Shakti were deputed to visit water stressed work in close collaboration with district level officials to undertak e sui able in erventions.

In addition, Government of India is implementing Atal Bhujal Yojana (Atal Jal), a Rs. Central  Sector  Scheme,  for  sustainable  management  of  ground  water  resources  with  co participation. Atal Jal is being implement ed in 78 water stressed districts of Seven States viz. Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

As per information received from Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs , the Model Building Bye Laws,  2016,  has  been  issued  for  guidance  of  the  States/UTs  which  has  a  chapter  on  'Rainwater Harvesting'. The  provisions  of  this  chapter  are  applicable  to  all  the  buildings.  33  State adopted the rainwater harvesting provisions. The implementat ion of the rainwater harvesting policy com within the purview of the State Government/Urban Local Body / Urban Development Authority.

In order to regulate the Over -exploitation and consequent depletion of ground water, the Mi has circulated a Mode l Bill to all the States/UTs to enable them to enact suitable ground wate for regulation of its development, which includes provision of rain water harvesting. So far have adopted and implemented the ground water legislation on the lines of Model Bill.

Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) is implementing National Aquifer Mapping a Management program (NAQUIM), which envisages mapping of aquifers (water bearing formations), characterization and development of Aquifer Manageme nt Plans to facilitate sustainable management Ground Water Resources.

Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) is implementing National Aquifer Mapping a Management program (NAQUIM), which envisages mapping of aquifers (water bearing formations), characterization and development of Aquifer Management Plans contributing to preparation/fin Water Management Plans to facilitate sustainable groundwater management.

National  Water  Mission  (NWM)  under  this  Ministry  has  initiated  'Catch  the Rain'  campaign  to motivate all the stake - holders for water conservation through rain water harvesting.

Further steps taken by the Central Government for sustainable management of water res available at the following URL

http://mowr.gov.in/sites /default/files/Steps\_to\_control\_water\_depletion\_Jun2019.pdf .

(b) Dynamic Ground Water Resources of the country are being periodically assessed jointly Ground Water Board (CGWB) and State Governments. As per the 2017 assessment, the details o over exploited assessment units (where annual ground water extraction is more than annual extractable water  resource)  in  the  country  are  given  at Annexure .  Further,  the  number  (and  percentage)  of  ov -exploited assessment units in Uttar Pradesh, W est Bengal and Harya na are 91 (11 %), 0 (0%) and 78 (61%) respectively against the national average of around 17 %.

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## ANNEXURE

## Annexure referred to in reply to part (b) of Unstarred Question No. †1958 to be answered in Lok Sabha on 22.09.2020 regarding ' SHORTAGE OF GROUND W ATER'.

## List of Over - Exploited Assessment Units in India (2017)

| S. No.   | States / Union Territories   | Total number of assessment units   | Over-Exploited Assessment   | Over-Exploited Assessment   |
|----------|------------------------------|------------------------------------|-----------------------------|-----------------------------|
| S. No.   | States / Union Territories   | Total number of assessment units   |                             | %                           |
|          | States                       |                                    |                             |                             |
| 1        | Andhra Pradesh               | 670                                | 45                          | 7                           |
| 2        | Arunachal Pradesh            | 11                                 | 0                           | 0                           |
| 3        | Assam                        | 28                                 | 0                           | 0                           |
| 4        | Bihar                        | 534                                | 12                          | 2                           |
| 5        | Chhattisgarh                 | 146                                | 0                           | 0                           |
| 6        | Delhi                        | 34                                 | 22                          | 65                          |
| 7        | Goa                          | 12                                 | 0                           | 0                           |
| 8        | Gujarat                      | 248                                | 25                          | 10                          |
| 9        | Haryana                      | 128                                | 78                          | 61                          |
| 10       | Himachal Pradesh             | 8                                  | 4                           | 50                          |
| 11       | Jammu & Kashmir              | 22                                 | 0                           | 0                           |
| 12       | Jharkhand                    | 260                                | 3                           | 1                           |
| 13       | Karnataka                    | 176                                | 45                          | 26                          |
| 14       | Kerala                       | 152                                | 1                           | 1                           |
| 15       | Madhya Pradesh               | 313                                | 22                          | 7                           |
| 16       | Maharashtra                  | 353                                | 11                          | 3                           |
| 17       | Manipur                      | 9                                  | 0                           | 0                           |
| 18       | Meghalaya                    | 11                                 | 0                           | 0                           |
| 19       | Mizoram                      | 26                                 | 0                           | 0                           |
| 20       | Nagaland                     | 11                                 | 0                           | 0                           |
| 21       | Odisha                       | 314                                | 0                           | 0                           |
| 22       | Punjab                       | 138                                | 109                         | 79                          |
| 23       | Rajasthan                    | 295                                | 185                         | 63                          |
| 24       | Sikkim                       | 4                                  | 0                           | 0                           |
| 25       | Tamil Nadu                   | 1166                               | 462                         | 40                          |
| 26       | Telangana                    | 584                                | 70                          | 12                          |
| 27       | Tripura                      | 59                                 | 0                           | 0                           |
| 28       | Uttar Pradesh                | 830                                | 91                          | 11                          |
| 29       | Uttarakhand                  | 18                                 | 0                           | 0                           |
| 30       | West Bengal                  | 268                                | 0                           | 0                           |
|          | Total States                 | 6828                               | 1185                        | 17                          |
|          | Union Territories            |                                    |                             |                             |
| 1        | Andaman & Nicobar            | 36                                 | 0                           | 0                           |
| 2        | Chandigarh                   | 1                                  | 0                           | 0                           |
| 3        | Dadra & Nagar Haveli         | 1                                  | 0                           | 0                           |
| 4        | Daman & Diu                  | 2                                  | 0                           | 0                           |
| 5        | Lakshadweep                  | 9                                  | 0                           | 0                           |
| 6        | Puducherry                   | 4                                  | 1                           | 25                          |
|          | Total UTs                    | 53                                 | 1                           | 2                           |
|          | Grand Total                  | 6881                               | 1186                        | 17                          |

*****