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An impact assessment by the Quality Council of India (QCI) found Atal Bhujal Yojana — a pilot, community-led groundwater management scheme run 1 April 2020 to 15 October 2025 across 8,203 water-stressed Gram Panchayats in 229 blocks/80 districts of 7 States — improved community awareness, women's participation and willingness to conserve groundwater.
180 of the 229 covered blocks showed improved groundwater levels in the 2023-25 assessment; over 1.28 lakh Gram Panchayat-level trainings were conducted, with a minimum 33% women's participation mandated in decision-making.
Atal Bhujal Yojana was implemented in Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh (NOT Chhattisgarh); the government has called it a replicable pilot model for other States.
Conducted the Overall Impact Assessment Study of Atal Bhujal Yojana through field surveys and community interactions
Nodal department under Ministry of Jal Shakti implementing Atal Bhujal Yojana
Atal Bhujal Yojana's core innovation is making Gram Panchayats themselves the planning unit: each GP prepares an annual, participatory 'Water Budget' (how much groundwater is available vs used) and a 'Water Security Plan', supported by public disclosure of groundwater data, piezometer/rain-gauge monitoring and NGOs acting as District Implementation Partners — a demand-side, bottom-up model distinct from typical supply-side (infrastructure-only) water schemes.
Simple Analogy: Instead of the government simply building recharge structures top-down, each village is trained to track its own water 'income and expenditure' and plan around it
GS Paper 3 > Environment > Water Resource Management
Moderate — groundwater/water security schemes are a steady GS3 environment theme
A participatory, GP-level document under Atal Bhujal Yojana mapping local groundwater availability and use, updated annually