Discuss India’s groundwater stress, the role of Jal Shakti Abhiyan and the case for demand-side management in agriculture.
Subtopic: Agriculture · Irrigation
How to structure your answer
Introduction: Central Ground Water Board Assessment 2024 reports 14.21% of blocks 'over-exploited'; Punjab, Haryana, Western UP and Rajasthan worst; agriculture consumes ~85% of groundwater.
Body: 1) Drivers — flat power tariff (free in 11 states), MSP-paddy lock-in, weak metering. 2) Schemes — Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain (2021), Atal Bhujal Yojana (₹6,000 crore, World Bank co-financed). 3) Behavioural — Crop diversification, DSR (direct-seeded rice).
Way forward: Implement Mihir Shah Committee recommendations; expand Paani Bachao Paise Kamao (Punjab pilot); link MSP to water-use efficiency; mandatory metering under Atal Bhujal Phase-II.
Written within the word limit
207 words · target 250 words · 14 min
Introduction:
CGWB's Dynamic Ground Water Resources of India 2024 places 14% of assessment units (1,006 of 6,746) in the over-exploited category, with extraction exceeding annual recharge — concentrated in Punjab, Haryana, western UP, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. India is the world's largest groundwater user, drawing 250 cubic km annually (24% of global, World Bank 2023).
Drivers of stress: 84% of irrigation water is groundwater, sustaining 60% of irrigated agriculture. Free or flat-tariff power in 12 states encourages over-pumping; sugarcane and paddy consume 60% of irrigation water on 24% of cropped area. Erratic monsoon (IMD LPA-deficit in 7 of last 12 years) aggravates stress.
Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Launched July 2019, JSA: Catch the Rain ran across 256 water-stressed districts; JSA-2024 covered 740 districts with 1.5 crore conservation works — recharge shafts, check dams, pond rejuvenation. Atal Bhujal Yojana (December 2019, ₹6,000 crore, World Bank) operates community-led Water Security Plans in 8,213 GPs across 7 states. Jal Jeevan Mission (₹3.6 lakh crore) delivers FHTC to 15.4 crore rural households.
Demand-side management: Crop diversification away from paddy under NMEO-Oilseeds, MSP for pulses and millets (IYM 2023), drip irrigation under PMKSY-PDMC, and electricity-DBT (Punjab MGSY pilot). Telangana's Krishi Cycle and Maharashtra's Pani Foundation anchor state-level interventions.
Way forward:
The Ministry of Jal Shakti should notify the Groundwater Regulation and Conservation Bill by FY27, scale Atal Bhujal to 20,000 GPs, and link MSP procurement with crop-water-budget compliance under e-NAM.
What an examiner expects to see
- 14.21% blocks over-exploited (CGWB 2024)
- Agriculture 85% of groundwater
- Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain (2021)
- Atal Bhujal Yojana — ₹6,000 crore, 7 states
- Mihir Shah Committee 2016
- Paani Bachao Paise Kamao — Punjab pilot
Concrete cases, schemes and judgments
- Paddy DSR Punjab
- Telangana free borewell scheme
- Bundelkhand water crisis
- Maharashtra Jalyukt Shivar Abhiyan