Atal Bhujal Yojana (Atal Jal)

Quick facts 

• Purpose: To improve ground water management.
• Type: Central Sector Scheme
• Funding: 50% through World Bank loan and remaining through budgetary support
• Women empowerment: Mandatory participation of women

Objective

• Ground water management through community participation in identified priority areas in seven States.

Salient features

Goal: The goal of Atal Jal is to demonstrate community-led sustainable ground water management which can be taken to scale.  Coverage: Water stressed areas of 7 states (Refer to the Map). Incentives to States: States receive incentives under the scheme based on performance and achievements of predefined indicators. Grassroots level governance: Active participation of the communities. Gram Panchayat wise, Water Security Plans (WSPs) & their implementation. IEC activities: For sustainable ground water management. Institutional Strengthening and Capacity Building.  Nodal Implementing agency: Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) of the Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation. CGWB is the apex multi-disciplinary scientific organization under the Ministry of Jal Shakti.  It is entrusted with the responsibilities of providing scientific inputs for management, exploration, monitoring, assessment, augmentation and regulation of ground water resources of the country. Initiatives to improve the effectiveness of the scheme Standard Operating Procedures for data collection by the stakeholders,  Modifications in MIS to make it more user-friendly,  Regular reviews at various levels along with field visits by National Program Monitoring Unit (NPMU) officers etc.