Lok Sabha Question No. 5494 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-04-03
Subject: World Bank Assistance for the Projects under ABY
Ministry: JAL SHAKTI
Asked by: Smt. Bharti Pardhi, Shri Bajrang Manohar Sonwane, Shri Shrirang Appa Chandu Barne, Shri Kanwar Singh Tanwar

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF JAL SHAKTI

## DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT & GANGA REJUVENATION

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5494

ANSWERED ON 03.04.2025

## WORLD BANK ASSISTANCE FOR THE PROJECTS UNDER ABY

5494. SHRI KANWAR SINGH TANWAR

SHRI SHRIRANG APPA CHANDU BARNE

SMT. BHARTI PARDHI:

SHRI BAJRANG MANOHAR SONWANE

Will the Minister of JAL SHAKTI be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Government is implementing Atal Bhujal Yojana (ABY) with the assistance of World Bank after getting financial approval in December, 2019 from the World Bank;

(b)  if  so,  the  details  thereof  indicating  the  World  Bank  assistance  received  since  its  implementation  in  the country,  project  and  State-wise,  especially  in  Maharashtra,  Madhya  Pradesh  and  Amroha  Parliamentary Constituency of Uttar Pradesh;

(c) the details of the districts across the country where several blocks have been classified as dark zones due to depleting groundwater levels, State-wise, particularly in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh; and (d) the details of the schemes implemented by the Government for water conservation and recharge in these blocks along with the result achieved in this regard?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR JAL SHAKTI

( SHRI RAJ BHUSHAN CHOUDHARY )

(a) & (b) Government of India is implementing Atal Bhujal Yojana, a Central Sector Scheme with a total outlay  of  Rs.6000  crore,  out  of  which  Rs.3,000  crore  is  loan  from  the  World  Bank  and  Rs.3,000  crore  is matching  contribution  from  the  Government  of  India.  The  scheme  is  being  implemented  in  8,203  water stressed  Gram  Panchayats  ( GPs )  of  229  administrative  Blocks/  Talukas  in  80  districts  of  7  States,  viz., Haryana, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh for a period of 6 years  from  01.04.2020,  with  an  aim  to  arrest  decline  in  ground  water  level  by  adopting  community  led participatory groundwater management approach.

An  amount  of  Rs.2,658.16  crore  has  been  received  from  the  World  Bank  under  the  Atal  Bhujal Yojana. An amount of Rs.3,861.68 crore has been released to the participating States under the scheme, which includes the share of Government of India as well as the World Bank, out of which Rs.643.82 crore, Rs.211.75 crore and Rs.264.83 crore have been released to the states of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh

respectively.  This  scheme  is  not  being  implemented  in  the  Amroha  Parliamentary  Constituency  of  Uttar Pradesh.

(c) Assessment of Dynamic Ground Water Resources of each State/UT is being annually carried out jointly by Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) and concerned State Nodal/Ground Water Departments. As per the latest  Assessment of 2024, 706 districts in the country have been assessed, out of which, 102 districts have been categorized as 'Over-Exploited' where the Stage of Ground Water Extraction (SoE) is more than 100%. Out of these, the states  of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh have six and five districts respectively under Over-Exploited  category,  whereas  Maharashtra  does  not  have  any.  List  of  such  districts  is  provided  in Annexure.

(d) Water being a State subject, the responsibility of addressing the ground water related issues lies primarily with the concerned State Governments. However, the Central Government facilitates the efforts of the State Governments by way of technical and financial assistance through its various schemes and projects.  In this direction, the important steps taken by the Ministry of Jal Shakti and other central ministries for improvement of ground water resources of the country, including for the state of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, are given below:-

- i. The  Government  is  implementing  Jal  Shakti  Abhiyan  (JSA)  in  the  country  since  2019  which  is  a mission  mode  and  time  bound  programme  for  harvesting  the  rainfall  and  taking  up  water conservation activities. Currently, JSA 2025 has been launched in the country, with a special focus on Over-exploited,  Critical  and  Semi-critical  districts  (OCS  districts).  JSA  is  an  umbrella  campaign under  which  various  ground  water  recharge  and  conservation  related  works  are  being  taken  up  in convergence with various central and state schemes. As per the data available on JSA dashboard, so far  a  total  of  1.58  lakh,  8.45  lakh  and  15.7  lakh  water  conservation  and  ground  water  recharge structures have been respectively constructed in the states of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh under the Abhiyan.
- ii. CGWB has taken up National Aquifer Mapping and Management Programme (NAQUIM) with an aim to delineate aquifer disposition and their characterization. Entire mappable area of the country of around 25 lakh sq. km. has been mapped under the scheme and management plans have been shared with  the  respective  State/District  administrations  for  implementation,  including  for  the  states  of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
- iii. Master Plan for Artificial Recharge to Groundwater- 2020 has been prepared by the CGWB for the entire country and shared with States/UTs providing a broad outline for construction of around 1.42 crore  rain  water  harvesting  and  artificial  recharge  structures  in  the  country  to  harness  185  BCM (Billion cubic meter) of water.

- iv. Department of Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare (DA & FW), GoI, is implementing Per Drop More Crop Scheme in the country since 2015-16, which focuses on enhancing water use efficiency at farm level through Micro Irrigation and better on-farm water management practices to optimize the use of available water resources.
- v. Mission Amrit Sarovar was launched by the Government of India, which aimed at developing and rejuvenating at least 75 water bodies in each district of the country for the purpose of increasing water storage and boosting ground water recharge. As an outcome nearly 69,000 Amrit Sarovars have been constructed/rejuvenated in the country with 3055, 5839 and 16630 sarovars in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh respectively.

As a result of all these cumulative efforts, between the period from 2020 to 2024 annual ground water recharge in the country has increased from 436.15 Billion Cubic Meters (BCM) to 446.90 BCM, whereas, total annual  ground  water  extraction  for  all  purposes  has  remained  stable  from  244.92  BCM  to  245.64  BCM. Further,  the  percentage  of  'Safe'  Assessment  has  increased  from  63.6%  to  73.4  %  while  that  of  'Over Exploited' Assessment units has declined from 16 % to 11.13% between 2020 to 2024.

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## ANNEXURE

ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (c) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5494 TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 03.04.2025 REGARDING 'WORLD BANK ASSISTANCE FOR THE PROJECTS UNDER ABY'.

Over-Exploited Districts in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh (as per Ground Water Resource Assessment-2024)

|   S. No. | Name of State   | Name of District   |
|----------|-----------------|--------------------|
|        1 | Madhya Pradesh  | Indore             |
|        2 | Madhya Pradesh  | Mandsaur           |
|        3 | Madhya Pradesh  | Neemuch            |
|        4 | Madhya Pradesh  | Ratlam             |
|        5 | Madhya Pradesh  | Shajapur           |
|        6 | Madhya Pradesh  | Ujjain             |
|        7 | Uttar Pradesh   | Agra               |
|        8 | Uttar Pradesh   | Firozabad          |
|        9 | Uttar Pradesh   | G.B.Nagar          |
|       10 | Uttar Pradesh   | Ghaziabad          |
|       11 | Uttar Pradesh   | Shamli             |

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