Atul Bhujal Yojana Launched: Things To Know

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the 'Atal Bhujal Yojana,' a water management scheme, on the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Atal Jal Yojana or the guidelines related to the Jal Jeevan Mission, are big steps in proving the resolve to deliver water to every household in the country by 2024, said Modi at the inaugural event.

As per the central government's released statement, the Atal Bhujal Yojana:

• Is designed with the principal objective of strengthening the institutional framework for participatory groundwater management and bringing about behavioural changes at the community level for sustainable groundwater resource management in the states of Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
• The scheme is expected to benefit nearly 8,350-gram panchayats in 78 districts in these states.
• Atal Bhujal Yojana will promote panchayat led groundwater management and behavioural change with a primary focus on demand-side management.
• To incentivise gram panchayats to perform better in water management, a provision has been made in the scheme to give more allocation to high performing gram panchayats.
• A total outlay of Rs 6,000 crore will be made to be implemented over a period of 5 years (2020-21 to 2024-25). Of this, 50 percent shall be in the form of World Bank loan, and be repaid by the central government while the remaining 50 percent shall be through Central Assistance from regular budgetary support. The entire World Bank's loan component and Central Assistance shall be passed on to the States as Grants.
• The Union and State Governments are estimated to spend Rs 3.5 lakh crore on water-related schemes in the next 5 years.