On the Birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi launched Atal Bhujal Yojana (ATAL JAL) in an event held in New Delhi on December 25, 2019.
To incentivise gram panchayats to perform better in water management, Prime Minister said that a provision has been made in the Atal Jal Yojana, in which better performing gram panchayats, will be given more allocation. He said that in 70 years, only 3 crore out of 18 crore rural households have access to piped water supply. Now our Government has set the target to deliver clean drinking water to 15 crore homes in the next five years through pipes.
Atal Bhujal Yojana (ATAL JAL)
- ATAL JAL has been designed with the principal objective of strengthening the institutional framework for participatory groundwater management and bringing about behavioral changes at the community level for sustainable groundwater resource management in seven States, viz. Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
- Implementation of the scheme is expected to benefit nearly 8350 Gram Panchayats in 78 districts in these States.
- ATAL JAL will promote panchayat led ground water management and behavioural change with primary focus on demand side management
- Out of the total outlay of Rs. 6000 crore to be implemented over a period of 5 years (2020-21 to 2024-25), 50% shall be in the form of World Bank loan, and be repaid by the Central Government.
- The remaining 50% 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.
