India 2018

Water Resources 521
It is a permanent forum of twelve members with the provision that half of its
members would retire after every two years and would be replaced by the
ministers from states/union territories from similar regions in the country. Thus,
a member shall have a tenure of four years except for six members from the
initial constitution who would have a tenure of only two years.
National Mission for Clean Ganga
"Namami Gange" programme integrates the efforts to clean and protect the
river Ganga in a comprehensive manner with a budget outlay of ` 20,000 crores
for next 5 years. In order to speed up progress, the Centre has decided to take
over 100 per cent funding of various activities/ projects and plans to provide
for operation and maintenance of the assets for a minimum 10 year period. A
PPP/SPV approach is being proposed to be adopted for controlling pollution
hotspots. In an attempt to bolster enforcement of pollution, the Centre also plans
to establish a Ganga Task Force, a Territorial Army Unit.
Jal Kranti Abhiyan
Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation
celebrated Jal Kranti Abhiyan during the year 2015-16 to consolidate water
conservation and management in the country through a holistic approach
involving all stakeholders, making it a mass movement. The objectives of Jal
Kranti Abhiyan include: strengthening grass root involvement of all stakeholders
including Panchayati Raj Institutions and local bodies in the water security and
development schemes (e.g. Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM);
encouraging the adoption/utilization of traditional knowledge in water
resources conservation and its management; and enhancing livelihood security
through water security in rural areas.
Water Resources Potential
The average annual water availability of the country is assessed as 1869 billion
cubic meters (BCM). Of this, total utilizable water resource is assessed as 1123
BCM out of which 690 BCM is surface water and 433 BCM replenish able ground
water resources.
Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme
The Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme (AIBP) was launched in 1996-
97 to provide central assistance to major/medium irrigation projects in the
country, with the objective to accelerate implementation of such projects which
were beyond resource capability of the states or were in advanced stage of
completion. Since its inception, 297 irrigation / multi purpose projects have
been included for funding under AIBP. Out of this 143 projects have been
completed and 5 projects were foreclosed. An irrigation potential of 24.39 lakh
ha was created through the completed projects.
Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana
During 2015-16, Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) was
launched with an aim to enhance physical access of water on farm and expand