Atal Bhujal Yojana

Atal Bhujal Yojana

News: The National Level Steering Committee of the Atal Bhujal Yojana, chaired by the Secretary of the Department of Water Resources, has decided to continue the ABY for another two years beyond 2025, till 2027.

About:
 Atal Bhujal Yojana (ATAL JAL) is a Central Sector Scheme for facilitating sustainable ground water management with an outlay of INR 6000 crores. Out of this, INR 3,000 crores will be as loan from the World Bank and INR 3,000 crores as matching contribution from the Government of India (GoI).
 The major objective of the Scheme is to improve the management of groundwater resources in select water stressed areas in identified states viz. Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
 One of the key aspects of ATAL JAL is to bring in behavioral changes in the community, from the prevailing attitude of consumption to conservation & smart water management. Communities at the Gram panchayat level are being assisted in collecting water related data and then preparing water budget and Water Security Plans (WSPs).

Focus areas of scheme:
 The scheme aims to bring all line departments working in the area of water at one platform so that the resources can be effectively utilized in implementing the WSPs.
 The scheme also emphasizes on such interventions which reduces the demand of water in irrigation and bringing 4.5 lakh Hectare irrigated area under efficient water techniques such as drip/sprinkler, irrigation through pipeline, mulching, crop diversification, etc.
 The scheme is being implemented in the challenge method wherein states performing well can be released more incentive fund. These performances are being measured through pre-defined targets called Disbursement Linked Indicators and forms the basis of incentive disbursement to States.
Source – PIB