Union Minister of Rural Development Giriraj Singh will launch the ‘Jaldoot app’ on 27 September

Tags: National Science and Technology

The Union Minister for Rural Development Giriraj Singh will launch the ministry’s developed “Jaldoot App” in New Delhi on 27 September 2022.

The App will be used to capture the water level of selected wells in a village.

The Jaldoot app will enable Gram Rojgar Sahayak (GRS) to measure the water level of selected wells twice a year (pre-monsoon and post-monsoon). These will be representative of the ground water level in that village.

The app will facilitate panchayats with robust data, which can be further used for better planning of works. The ground water data could be utilised as part of the Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP) and Mahatma Gandhi NREGA planning exercises.

Depletion in Groundwater Levels

Ground water levels in various parts of the Country are declining because of continuous withdrawal due to reasons such as increased demand of fresh water for various uses, vagaries of rainfall, increase in population, industrialization and urbanization etc.

As per the assessment of Dynamic Ground Water Resources (2017) carried out by the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) in collaboration with States/UTs, out of the total 6,881 assessment units (Block/ Taluks/ Mandals/ watersheds/ Firkas) in the country, 1,186 units in 17 States/UTs have been categorized as ‘over-exploited’ where ‘Annual Ground Water Extraction’ is more than ‘Annual Extractable Ground Water Resource’.

Government scheme for rejuvenation of Groundwater 

Water is a state subject in India. However the central government has launched a few   schemes to recharge the groundwater in India.

Atal Bhujal Yojana 

The Government of India has launched a Rs. 6000 crore Central sector scheme, Atal Bhujal Yojana (Atal Jal) with the assistance of with World Bank assistance. 

The programme was launched on 1 April 2020 for a period of five years.

It aims for sustainable management of ground water resources with community participation in 8562 water stressed Gram Panchayats (GPs) of seven States, viz. Haryana, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. 

Jal Shakti Abhiyan 

Government of India launched Jal Shakti Abhiyan in 2019 in 256 water stressed districts in the country which continued during 2021 also to improve water availability including ground water conditions in these areas. 

Further, the “Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain” campaign for the year 2022 have been launched by the President of India. 

The JSA-2022 shall continue till 30 Nov 2022. 

The campaign has given special emphasis on creation of recharge structures, rejuvenation of traditional water bodies, intensive afforestation etc.