Page 130 - Sugam Sarita

1. Initiatives taken by the World Bank to provide
potable water:

The World Bank is assisting the government’s national groundwater
programme, the Atal Bhujal Yojana, in its efforts to enhance

groundwater management. This is the world’s biggest community-
led groundwater management initiative, with 9000 panchayats in
seven Indian states participating.

In the agricultural province of Punjab, where excessive tubewell

irrigation is driving the water table to plummet, the Bank assisted the
state government in piloting an innovative groundwater conservation
project. The “Paani Bachao, Paisa Kamao” (Save Water, Earn Money)

initiative encourages farmers to decrease their use of groundwater.
Around 300 engaged farmers were offered economic incentives to
conserve power used for irrigation, resulting in water savings ranging
from 6 to 25% without a negative impact on productivity.

The World Bank has backed the government’s efforts to supply safe
drinking water to rural populations during the previous decade. Over
20 million individuals have benefited from a variety of programmes
totaling $1.2 billion in funding.

Villages in the alpine state of Uttarakhand were without water because
the high Himalayan topography made it difficult to install and
maintain the necessary infrastructure. Many residents, particularly
women, had to trek more than 1.6 kilometres to get pure water for
household purposes.

The World Bank-financed Uttarakhand Rural Water Supply and
Sanitation Project assisted around 1.57 million people in the state
between 2006 and 2015 by developing sustainable rural supply of

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