Lok Sabha Question No. 3236 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-03-20
Subject: Depletion of Groundwater Level
Ministry: JAL SHAKTI
Asked by: Shri Balya Mama Suresh Gopinath Mhatre

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF JAL SHAKTI

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3236

ANSWERED ON 20.03.2025

## DEPLETION OF GROUNDWATER LEVEL

## †3236. SHRI BALYA MAMA SURESH GOPINATH MHATRE

Will the Minister of JAL SHAKTI be pleased to state:

(a) the measures taken/being taken by the Government to prevent the depletion of groundwater levels in the country;

(b) the success rate of the programmes being implemented for groundwater recharge;

- (c) the details and names of the districts which fall in the category of areas facing severe water crisis; and

(d) the steps taken/being taken by the Government for the water conservation in such States, State-wise?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR JAL SHAKTI

## ( SHRI RAJ BHUSHAN CHOUDHARY )

(a) & (b) 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,  several  important  steps  have  been  taken  by  the  Ministry  of  Jal  Shakti  and  other  central ministries for improvement of ground water resources of the country, with special focus on water stressed regions. Gist of various such schemes/projects along with outcomes which are a measure of their success 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 2024 is being implemented with special focus on 151 water stressed districts of the country. 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 JSA dashboard, in the past 4 years construction of more than 1.07 Cr water conservation structures have been completed in the country.
- ii. M/o  Jal  Shakti  is  implementing  Atal  Bhujal  Yojana,  which  is  a  community  led  scheme  for participatory ground water management focusing on demand side management of ground water. The Scheme is currently in operation in 80 districts in 7 States, which have been identified, among other factors, based on the degree of water stress being faced by them. Thus far, a total area of 6.7 lakh Ha has been brought under efficient irrigation practices in Atal Jal areas through convergence.
- iii. Master  Plan  for  Artificial  Recharge  to  Groundwater-  2020  has  been  prepared  by  the  Central Ground Water Board (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).

- 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. The scheme is of immense benefit to water stressed regions of the country with limited water available for irrigation purposes. From 2015-16 till December 2024, an area  of  94.36  lakh  ha  has  been  covered  under  micro  irrigation  in  the  country  through  PDMC scheme.
- 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.
- vi. M/o Jal Shakti is promoting conjunctive use of surface water and groundwater and to reduce overdependence on groundwater, surface water based Major and Medium irrigation projects have been taken up in the country under PMKSY-AIBP scheme in collaboration with States/UTs.
- vii. Ministry has circulated a Model Bill to all the States/UTs to enable them to enact suitable ground water  legislation  for  regulation  of  its  development,  which  also  includes  provision  of  rain  water harvesting. So far, 21 States/UTs including Karnataka have adopted and implemented the ground water legislation.

As a result of all these measures, the total annual ground water recharge in the country has increased from 432 Billion Cubic Meters(BCM) in 2017 to 446.9 BCM in 2024. Further, the Stage of Ground water Extraction  (SoE),  which  is  defined  as  a  ratio  of  total  annual  ground  water  extraction  for  all  uses  to  total annual extractable ground water, has reduced from 63% to 60.47% during the same period, indicating overall improvement in the ground water situation.

(c) Details of districts falling under Over-Exploited (OE) category, where SoE is above 100% is provided in Annexure .

(d) As detailed above, most of the Schemes and campaigns being implemented by the Union government have been devised to prioritize water stressed regions of the country. While selecting the districts/blocks for taking up the programmes, primacy is given to areas where ground water is declining. The same is true for budgetary allocations. Thus, though the schemes/programmes like JSA, PDMC, NAQUIM, Amrit Sarovar etc. are being implemented across the country, internally, suitable arrangements have been made to provide additional weightage to states and regions which require them the most.

In  addition  to  the  above  schemes  of  the  Union  government, a  number of States have done notable work in the field of water conservation and ground water management. Some of them can be mentioned as '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, 'Kudimaramath' scheme in Tamil Nadu etc.

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## ANNEXURE

## ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (c) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3236 TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 20.03.2025 REGARDING 'DEPLETION OF GROUNDWATER LEVEL'.

## Details of Districts which have Stage of Extraction >100 % (i.e. Over Exploited) as per Ground Water Resource Assessment-2024

|   S. No. | State                                    |   No. of Districts with Stage of Extraction >100% | Name of Districts with Stage of Extraction >100%                                                                                                                                                                                                                 |
|----------|------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|        1 | Gujarat                                  |                                                04 | Banaskantha, Gandhinagar, Mehsana, Patan                                                                                                                                                                                                                         |
|        2 | Haryana                                  |                                                16 | Ambala, Bhiwani, Charkhi Dadri, Faridabad, Fatehabad, Gurgaon, Jind, Kaithal, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Mahendragarh, Panipat, Rewari, Sirsa, Sonipat, Yamuna Nagar                                                                                                   |
|        3 | Karnataka                                |                                                05 | Bengaluru (Rural), Bengaluru (Urban), Chikkaballapura, Chitradurga, Kolara                                                                                                                                                                                       |
|        4 | Madhya Pradesh                           |                                                06 | Indore, Mandsaur, Neemuch, Ratlam, Shajapur, Ujjain                                                                                                                                                                                                              |
|        5 | Punjab                                   |                                                19 | Amritsar, Barnala, Bathinda, Faridkot, Fatehgarh Sahib, Firozpur, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Ludhiana, Malerkotla, Mansa, Moga, Patiala, SAS Nagar, SBS Nagar, Sangrur, Tarn Taran                                                            |
|        6 | Rajasthan                                |                                                29 | Ajmer, Alwar, Baran, Barmer, Bharatpur, Bhilwara, Bikaner, Bundi, Chittaurgarh, Churu, Dausa, Dhaulpur, Jaipur, Jaisalmer, Jalor, Jhalawar, Jhunjhunu, Jodhpur, Karauli, Kota, Nagaur, Pali, Pratapgarh, Rajsamand, Sawai Madhopur, Sikar, Sirohi, Tonk, Udaipur |
|        7 | Tamil Nadu                               |                                                09 | Chennai ,Dindigul , Mayiladuthurai , Namakkal , Perambalur , Salem , Thanjavur , Tirupathur , Vellore                                                                                                                                                            |
|        8 | Telangana                                |                                                01 | Hyderabad                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        |
|        9 | Uttar Pradesh                            |                                                05 | Agra, Firozabad, G.B.Nagar, Ghaziabad, Shamli                                                                                                                                                                                                                    |
|       10 | Dadra And Nagar Haveli And Daman And Diu |                                                03 | Dadra Nagar Haveli, Daman, Diu                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
|       11 | Delhi                                    |                                                05 | New Delhi, North, North East, Shahdara, South                                                                                                                                                                                                                    |

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