Suggest measures to improve water storage and irrigation system to make its judicious use under depleting scenario.
Approach · directive: “suggest”
What it asks · Suggest supply-side measures (storage, recharge) and demand-side measures (efficient irrigation, cropping choices, pricing, institutions) for a shrinking water supply.
It asks 2 things — answer each
- Suggest measures to improve water storage under a depleting scenario (supply side)
- Suggest measures to improve the irrigation system for judicious use of water (demand side)
Open with · NITI Aayog's Composite Water Management Index (2018) warned that nearly 600 million Indians face high to extreme water stress and that India ranks 120th of 122 countries on water quality; judicious use means storing more of the monsoon where it falls and drawing more crop from every drop.
Cover
- Storage: desilt tanks and ponds, check dams, farm ponds and percolation tanks; Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain in every district.
- Recharge: Atal Bhujal Yojana, Rs 6,000 crore, village water budgets in 80 water-stressed districts and 8,565 gram panchayats of seven States.
- Big storage and reuse: finish pending projects and command-area works under PMKSY's AIBP; treated sewage for irrigation as AMRUT 2.0 aims; Mihir Shah Committee's National Water Commission.
- Efficient irrigation: drip and sprinkler under Per Drop More Crop, the Rs 5,000 crore Micro Irrigation Fund with NABARD, laser levelling, canal lining.
- Demand management: crops that follow water (millets, pulses, oilseeds with MSP), rational power tariffs, volumetric canal charges, water user associations, groundwater regulation, sensors and crop-water budgets.
Close with · Treating water as a shared, finite commons, stored locally, recharged by communities and priced for its value, is how India can meet SDG 6 (water and sanitation for all) while keeping its farms productive in a drier century.
Add value (verified)
- PMKSY, approved in July 2015, states its own aims: assured irrigation over more area, less wastage of water and better water use efficiency.Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY), backgrounder, PIB Research Unit (24 December 2021) ↗“It is being implemented to expand cultivated area with assured irrigation, reduce wastage of water and improve water use efficiency.”
- NITI Aayog's Composite Water Management Index (June 2018): nearly 600 million people face high to extreme water stress; India ranks 120th of 122 countries on water quality (Ministry of Jal Shakti, Rajya Sabha reply, December 2019).PIB, Ministry of Jal Shakti, 9 December 2019: NITI Aayog Report on Water Crisis ↗“The report titled “Composite Water Management Index”, published by NITI Aayog in June 2018, mentions that India is undergoing the worst water crisis in its history and nearly 600 million people are facing high to extreme water stress. The report further mentions that India is placed at 120 th amongst 122 countries in the water quality index, with nearly 70% of water being contaminated.”
- Atal Bhujal Yojana: a Rs 6,000 crore Central Sector Scheme for community-led groundwater management in 80 water-stressed districts and 8,565 gram panchayats of seven States.PIB, Ministry of Jal Shakti, March 2022: Ground Water Depletion (Parliament reply) ↗“is implementing Atal Bhujal Yojana (Atal Jal), a Rs.6,000 crore Central Sector Scheme, for sustainable management of ground water resources with community participation. Atal Jal is being implemented in 80 water stressed districts and 8,565 Gram Panchayats of seven States viz. Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.”
- Mihir Shah Committee (2016): restructure and unify the CWC and CGWB into a National Water Commission for collective management of surface and ground water.PRS Legislative Research: Report Summary, Restructuring the Central Water Commission and the Central Ground Water Board (Chair: Mihir Shah), 2016 ↗“The Committee recommended that the CWC and CGWB should be restructured and unified to form a new National Water Commission (NWC). It reasoned that a unified body will help in the collective management of ground and surface water.”
- Micro Irrigation Fund: a Rs 5,000 crore corpus with NABARD to help States expand micro-irrigation coverage.PMKSY portal, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare: Micro Irrigation Fund ↗“Micro Irrigation Fund with corpus of Rs. 5000 crore has been created with NABARD to facilitate the States in mobilizing the resources for expanding coverage of Micro Irrigation by taking up special and innovative projects”
- AMRUT 2.0 aims at water-secure cities through recycle and reuse of treated sewage; Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain 2022 was launched in all districts on 29 March 2022 with the theme 'Catch the Rain, where it falls, when it falls'.PIB, Ministry of Jal Shakti, April 2022: Averting Water Crisis (Parliament reply) ↗“AMRUT 2.0 focuses on making cities water secure through recycle/reuse of treated sewage, rejuvenation of water bodies and water conservation. Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain (JSA:CTR) - 2022 has been launched by Hon’ble President on 29.03.2022 in all districts (rural as well as urban areas) of the country with the main theme “Catch the Rain, where it falls, when it falls”.”
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2020, GS Paper III — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 3 Oct 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer· 360words · Minimalist IAS
NITI Aayog's Composite Water Management Index (2018) warned that nearly 600 million Indians face high to extreme water stress and that India ranks 120th of 122 countries on water quality. With farms the largest users, judicious use means storing more of the monsoon where it falls and drawing more crop from every drop.
Measures to improve water storage
- Revive local storage: desilt tanks and ponds, build check dams, farm ponds and percolation tanks through watershed works; Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain (2022) runs in every district on the theme 'catch the rain, where it falls, when it falls'.
- Recharge aquifers: managed aquifer recharge and village water budgets under Atal Bhujal Yojana, a Rs 6,000 crore scheme in 80 water-stressed districts and 8,565 gram panchayats of seven States.
- Use big storage fully: finish pending projects and command-area works under PMKSY's AIBP so that created capacity is actually used; desilt reservoirs; run dams for multiple uses.
- Reuse: treated sewage for peri-urban irrigation, as AMRUT 2.0 aims through recycle and reuse of treated water.
- One water, one institution: the Mihir Shah Committee (2016), per PRS India's summary, proposed merging the CWC and CGWB into a National Water Commission to manage surface and groundwater together.
Measures for a judicious irrigation system
- Efficient application: drip and sprinkler under Per Drop More Crop (PMKSY), backed by the Rs 5,000 crore Micro Irrigation Fund with NABARD; laser levelling and canal lining to cut losses.
- Crops that follow water: move paddy and sugarcane out of dry regions towards millets, pulses and oilseeds, with MSP and procurement to make the switch pay.
- Price and institutions: rational power tariffs and feeder separation, volumetric canal charges, water user associations and regulated groundwater extraction.
- Information: soil-moisture sensors, satellite advisories and village crop-water budgets so that irrigation follows need, not habit.
Judicious water use: Store (tanks, check dams); Recharge (Atal Bhujal); Apply efficiently (drip, sprinkler); Choose crops (millets, pulses); Price and govern (WUAs, tariffs)
Treating water as a shared, finite commons, stored locally, recharged by communities and priced for its value, is how India can meet SDG 6 (water and sanitation for all) while keeping its farms productive in a drier century.
Prepared by Minimalist IAS to the answer standard of Shivam Singh (mentor, 7 years) · facts checked against official sources (how we verify) · updated 3 Oct 2026. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.
