India's Participatory Groundwater Management Programme

REPORT

Learnings from the Atal Bhujal Yojana Implementation in Rajasthan

09 December, 2023 | Sustainable Water

Ekansha Khanduja, Kartikey Chaturvedi, Aditya Vikram Jain, and Nitin Bassi

Suggested Citation: Khanduja, Ekansha, Kartikey Chaturvedi, Aditya Vikram Jain, and Nitin Bassi. 2023. India’s Participatory Groundwater Management Programme: Learnings from the Atal Bhujal Yojana Implementation in Rajasthan. New Delhi: Council on Energy, Environment and Water.

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Overview

This study, in collaboration with the Ministry of Jal Shakti of the government of India (GoI), assesses Atal Bhujal Yojana, a central sector scheme of India, for the state of Rajasthan, one of the seven Indian states where the scheme is being implemented. Launched in 2019, Atal Bhujal Yojana aims to mainstream community participation and inter-ministerial convergence in groundwater management.

India relies majorly on groundwater for meeting its drinking water and agricultural production demands, leading to its emergence as the largest abstractor of groundwater in the world. However, sustainability is threatened. The invisible and dynamic nature of groundwater, coupled with the anthropological and natural threats, made the need for community participation in the management of this resource crucial.

Based on desk review and fieldwork in eight out of 16 implementation districts of Rajasthan, the study has captured the perspective of implementers at state, district, and panchayat levels within the groundwater department, line departments, and civil society space and beneficiaries. It aims to gather insights into the knowledge of the various respondents on the scheme and its various components, and the enabling and hindering factors in implementing/ accessing the scheme. These insights are then assimilated to provide a strength, weakness, opportunity, and threat analysis of the scheme; and recommendations to strengthen the implementation.

Key highlights

The scheme has the potential to attain 13 SDGs and 30 targets under them.
A national interdepartmental steering committee (NISC) and a similar body at the state level have been formed to provide oversight and guidance for the programme, and have representation from ministries of agriculture and farmers' welfare; rural development; power; and new and renewable energy.
Convergence between line departments and community participation has been embedded in the financial structure of the scheme, through disbursement-linked indicators (DLIs).
Institutional strengthening and capacity building: 100 per cent of the village water and sanitation committees (VWSCs) were aware of the scheme's objectives.
DLI 1 – Public disclosure of groundwater data/information and reports: More than 50 per cent of line departments think the additional data can be used to better plan their respective annual work plans (AWPs).
DLI 2 – Preparation of community-led water security plans (WSPs): All 17 gram-panchayats chosen for the study had WSPs for the financial years (FY) 2021–22 and 2022–23 and were in the process of updating the same for 2023–24.
DLI 3 – Public financing of approved WSPs through the convergence of ongoing/new schemes: Rajasthan claimed about INR 10,270 lakh or USD 12.3 million for 725 GPs, and they received INR 7,342 lakh or USD 8.8 million (71.5 per cent of the demand) in 2022–23. (1 USD = 83.22 INR as of 26/09/2023
DLI 4 – Adoption of practices for efficient water use: The WSPs submitted in March 2023 for 15 surveyed GPs across five districts (except Jaisalmer) propose to bring about 24,481 ha of additional area under efficient water use by the fiscal year 2024-25.
DLI 5 – Improvement in the rate of decline of groundwater levels: It will take some time before outcomes related to DLI 5 are visible. However, despite an increase in the extraction rate in the Chittorgarh district, the declining trend of pre-monsoon groundwater levels has been reversed, indicating that, at least in Chittorgarh, the ABY is making a positive impact on the groundwater situation.

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Ekansha Khanduja

Programme Associate

[email protected]

"It is extremely important for sustainable management of groundwater to look at the resource outside of ministerial siloes, and mainstream community participation. The Atal Bhujal Yojana is a well-formed step in both these directions."

Executive summary

Groundwater constitutes about 99 per cent of readily accessible freshwater (United Nation 2022). This invaluable resource plays a crucial role in satisfying the water demands of billions of stakeholders worldwide, spanning rural and urban areas and the industrial and irrigation sectors. As the more easily accessible surface water resources are being over-appropriated and their availability adversely impacted by climate change, reliance on groundwater has increased significantly.

In India, groundwater has played a major role in sustaining the nation’s economy, preserving its environment, and improving standards of living. However, the past few decades have seen an increase in groundwater extraction, with some regions extracting more than the annual replenishment rate. Moreover, this accelerated rise in groundwater extraction has largely been unplanned and unmanaged. Although in the past some efforts were taken to promote the sustainable management of groundwater resources, in the absence of proper statutory backing to regulate groundwater use in agriculture at the national and state level, its governance remains a challenge. In this context, in 2019–20, the Government of India (GoI) launched the Atal Bhujal Yojana (ABY), a central sector scheme, to arrest the decline in groundwater levels and improve the governance of groundwater resources through effective community participation, especially in units (usually blocks) that are over-exploited (stage of groundwater development more than 100 per cent). The scheme has an outlay of INR 6,000 crore (USD 840 million ) (DoWR,RD&GR 2023a) of which 50 per cent is a loan from the World Bank and the rest is from the GoI, given as grant-in-aid to the implementing states. From 2020–21, the scheme is being implemented in selected water-stressed areas in seven states: Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh, for a period till 2024-25. The scheme has potential to achieve the targets under many Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) including 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 15, 16 and 17 (refer Figure ES1).

In this report, we present an assessment of the scheme through desk review and field visits. We examine its implementation status, key drivers of success (strengths), implementation challenges (weaknesses), opportunities for improvement, and outside threats affecting the scheme’s sustainability. Further, we provide actionable recommendations to improve governance and implementation in the next phase based on the rapid but extensive field research conducted in selected districts of Rajasthan. We also present learnings for other countries to enable community-based participatory groundwater management. This study was undertaken at the behest of the National Program Management Unit (NPMU) of the ABY, under the aegis of the Ministry of Jal Shakti (MoJS), GoI.

Figure ES1 Potential SDG goals and targets that can be achieved through the Atal Bhujal Yojana

Source: Authors’ analysis

Methodology

We conducted this study using an eclectic methodological approach and deployed qualitative and quantitative tools. It consisted of two phases (Figure 3). Phase I consisted of an exposure visit to Jaipur (where the State Program Management Unit (SPMU) office is located) and the neighbouring district (Dausa) to understand the conditions on ground. The learnings from Phase I were used to develop separate set of questionnaires to gauge stakeholders’ responses on implementation of the scheme. These questionnaires were administered in districts selected for phase II, i.e., Ajmer, Hanumangarh, Karauli, Jaisalmer, Kota, and Chittorgarh.

The fieldwork for both phases was conducted by a team of three researchers during the months of August and September 2023. In phase II, 17 members from District Program Management Units (DPMUs), 24 members from the District Implementing Partners (DIPs), and 25 GP members were interviewed. Focussed-group discussions (FGDs) were conducted with 17 village water and sanitation committees (VWSCs) in six districts. In addition, 29 respondents from seven line departments in the selected districts were interviewed. The data cleaning and analysis were undertaken using Microsoft Excel. The responses from each stakeholder were analysed and categorised to match the respective disbursement-linked indicators (DLIs). The analysis was synergised with the Quality Council of India (QCI) methodology for DLI verification. The results and findings have been reported only for districts covered in phase II.

Results and findings on Atal Bhujal Yojana implementation in Rajasthan

Institutional strengthening and capacity building: We found that 100 per cent of the village water and sanitation committees (VWSCs) were aware of the objectives of the scheme; more than 94 per cent were aware of a rain gauge; more than 88 per cent were aware of a water quality testing kit (WQTK); and more than 64 per cent knew what a piezometer was. However, their capacity to use monitoring instruments was low.
DLI 1 – Public disclosure of groundwater data/information and reports: It was found that 88 per cent of the respondents knew what a rain gauge was and that they were present in the GP. However, data collection in certain GPs is a challenge because of difficulty in accessing the rain gauge. Further, most of the respondents were aware of piezometers, and more than 50 per cent knew where they were installed. Also, around 70 per cent of the respondents were aware of WQTKs and knew how to use them. Some farmers used the existing information on the groundwater level and its quality monitored for wells near their respective fields and shared this knowledge with fellow farmers. More than 50 per cent of line departments think that the additional data can be used for better planning of their respective annual work plans (AWPs).
DLI 2 – Preparation of community-led water security plans (WSPs): The second round of verification of DLIs by the QCI in 2022 led to the approval of about 82 per cent of the WSPs received from Rajasthan, because they were deemed adequate if the plans were made by GPs in consultation with the community. All the GPs chosen in this study had WSPs for the financial years (FY) 2021–22 and 2022–23 and were in the process of updating the same for 2023–24. While most of the stakeholders were aware of the AWP, VWSC, and WSP, beneficiaries are gradually developing in-depth knowledge about the WSP. The role of DIPs in ensuring this is crucial.
DLI 3 – Public financing of approved WSPs through convergence of ongoing/new schemes: According to the QCI’s sixth round of verification, Rajasthan claimed about INR 10,270 lakh or USD 12.3 million for 725 GPs, and they received INR 7,342 lakh or USD 8.8 million (71.5 per cent of the demand) in 2022–23. (1 USD = 83.22 INR as of 26/09/2023).
DLI 4 – Adoption of practices for efficient water use: Around 41 per cent of VWSC members acknowledged that cropping patterns could change as a result of technological advances, such as the availability of better-quality seeds and adoption of micro-irrigation systems in the groundwater irrigated areas through convergence with other departments such as agriculture. Though, between 2021 and 2023, no major gains were made on crop shifting front, the state is making progress on the adoption of demand-side interventions such as micro-irrigation and other water-saving methods. Based on the QCI’s sixth round of verification, an area of about 12,256 ha was brought under efficient water use practices, promoted through the ABY; 99 per cent of this was through the adoption of drip, sprinkler, and pipeline-based irrigation. The WSPs submitted in March 2023 for 15 surveyed GPs across five districts (except Jaisalmer) proposes to bring about 24,481 ha of additional area under efficient water use by the fiscal year 2024-25.
DLI 5 – Improvement in the rate of decline of groundwater levels: The scheme is being implemented in over-exploited blocks where the groundwater resource development exceeds 100 per cent. Therefore, it will take some time before outcomes related to DLI 5 are visible. Nevertheless, the trend of declining groundwater levels during pre-monsoon periods was reversed in some districts. This includes GPs in Kota and Chittorgarh (Figure 7 in the main text). The former has also witnessed a reversal in the trend of groundwater extraction at the district level, but in the latter, extraction has increased. This indicates that at least in Chittorgarh the ABY is making a positive impact in terms of improving the groundwater situation.

The SWOT analysis

A strength, weakness, opportunity, and threat (SWOT) analysis was carried out to help address the challenges identified, so that a bigger impact can be made in the future. This is presented in Figure ES2.

Figure ES2 A SWOT analysis of the Atal Bhujal Yojana implementation in Rajasthan

Source: Authors’ analysis

Recommendations

Make DIPs more impactful: The DIP tendering process should be outsourced to accredited third-party agencies, similar to the hiring of key DPMU experts through the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) Consultancy Services (NABCONS) or through empanelment of implementation support agencies as under Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM). This change will boost motivation among the DIPs, improve retention rates, streamline human resource (HR) procedures, expedite conflict resolution, foster proactive HR policies, ensure equitable pay for DIP experts across districts, and thereby better implementation of the scheme. Additionally, block-level offices should be established for DIPs to enhance logistics and operational efficiency. Currently, DIPs are stationed at the district level, often far from their organisational offices, resulting in logistical challenges.
Include water budgeting in the GP development plan (GPDP): Panchayats have been mandated to formulate an annual GPDP in a participatory manner. This includes work under 36 line departments for subjects included in Article 243G of the Eleventh Schedule of the Constitution (Ministry of Panchayati Raj 2023). Seven of the 29 subjects included in this schedule have direct bearings on the state of water resources, including groundwater. An inter-ministerial sub-committee for better coordination on water resources has been formed as an outcome of the first ‘All India Annual State Ministers Conference on Water 2023’. Thus, there is a strong enabling environment to make water budget part of the GPDP which will result in better convergence with other line departments right at the planning phase.
Explore providing incentives directly to GPs: Anecdotal evidence from the field suggests that providing incentives to GPs can motivate them to implement projects identified through convergence and, thus, contribute to their success. The ABY guideline has a provision for this if there is a felt need. However, the incentive allotment criteria should consider the stage of groundwater development and the amount of work required for water demand management with community engagement by the GP.
Ensure timely release of funds by the line departments and subsidy to beneficiaries: There is low clarity on the criteria followed by the state line departments in allocating funds to their district offices for various interventions. Thus, one of the reasons for the low uptake of interventions under the ABY was delays in the release of subsidies from the respective line departments. Such delays discourage farmers from availing benefits under the ABY as, often, the upfront costs of interventions are high.
Strengthen the verification system for ‘proper’ installation of rain gauges: It was observed in some of the GPs that we visited, rain gauges were not placed in the appropriate location. For instance, they were installed in places where they could not be accessed easily. Therefore, the tendering process should strengthen the existing system of verification and reporting of the installation of rain gauges.

Lessons for other countries

Atal Bhujal Yojana (ABY) offers essential lessons for other countries to enable communitybased, participatory groundwater management and achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs). They are presented in Table ES1.

Table ES1 Stage, form, results, and enablers of participation at the gram panchayat (GP) level

Source: Authors’ analysis

FAQs

What is the Atal Bhujal Yojana?

Atal Bhujal Yojana is a central scheme launched by the GoI in 2019, with the aim to improve sustainable groundwater management through convergence among various ongoing schemes, and with the active involvement of local communities and stakeholders. It is being implemented in selected areas in seven states - Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan from 2020-21 to 2024-25, with a total financial outlay of INR 6,000 crore.
How can we make groundwater sustainable?

The usage of groundwater can be made sustainable by understanding and acknowledging the interlinkages of the resource with other resources and factors in all our decisions on groundwater. This includes the need for resources for drinking water, agriculture, animal husbandry, industry, energy, power, and other ecosystem services; the influence of and on climate change in the present, near future, and distant future; and its interaction with social, cultural and economic realities of people. By factoring these interlinkages, we can use the resource in the present in such a way that it leaves enough for the needs of future generations.
How can groundwater management help achieve sustainable development goals?

According to the United Nations University's Institute for Water, Environment and Health, water is key to sustainable development. Groundwater, which is about 99% of the available freshwater resource on Earth, can support attaining 53 SDG targets under 13 SDG goals.
How can the community be involved in groundwater management?

There are many ways of engaging the community in the management of groundwater, depending on the interest of the community and the legal and policy provisions prevailing in the geography. For example, the community could be engaged in deciding groundwater allocation at the local level, monitoring its quality and quantity, making and implementing management plans and demand reduction measures, negotiating with other actors in regard to the use and governance of the resource, protecting the resource, and negotiating or settling disputes regarding resource allocation or usage.