Consider the following statements:
- 1.36% of India's districts are classified as “overexploited” or “critical” by the Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA).
- 2.CGWA was formed under the Environment (Protection) Act.
- 3.India has the largest area under groundwater irrigation in the world.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (b) 2 and 3 only
Why not the tempting option · UPSC's key is (b). Statement 1 looks plausible because 256 of India's roughly 720 districts (about 36%) were chosen as 'water stressed' for Jal Shakti Abhiyan in 2019, but those are districts holding at least one stressed block, picked by the Ministry for a campaign; the official 'overexploited' and 'critical' labels are given to blocks, not districts, by the Central Ground Water Board, not the Authority, and cover about 22% of blocks. In the exam, check the unit (block or district) and the body (CGWB assesses, CGWA regulates) before accepting a statistic.
Statements 2 and 3 are correct. CGWA was constituted in January 1997 under Section 3(3) of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, and India, the world's largest user of groundwater, has the largest groundwater-irrigated area. Statement 1 fails on every count: groundwater status is assessed for blocks (assessment units), not districts; the assessing body is the Central Ground Water Board, not the Authority; and the stressed share is nowhere near 36%.
- ✗ 1. The Central Ground Water Board, with the states, classifies assessment units — blocks, mandals, talukas — not districts, and the CGWA is a regulator, not the assessing body. In the 2017 assessment about 17% of units were overexploited and 5% critical, roughly 22% in all. The 36% figure resembles the 256 'water stressed' districts (of about 720) chosen for Jal Shakti Abhiyan in 2019 — districts holding at least one stressed block, a different count made by a different body.
- ✓ 2. On the direction of the Supreme Court, CGWA was constituted in January 1997 under sub-section (3) of Section 3 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, to regulate groundwater development.
- ✓ 3. Groundwater provides about 60 per cent of India's irrigation water and over 80 per cent of its domestic supply, making India the world's largest user of groundwater. The area irrigated from it has grown to more than 35 million hectares — the largest groundwater-irrigated area of any country.
Remember · CGWA: set up January 1997 under Section 3(3), Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. India is the world's largest groundwater user; overexploited/critical labels apply to blocks (by CGWB), not districts.
Sources
- Central Ground Water Board, Ground Water Regulation ↗ “Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) constituted in January 1997 under sub-section (3) of Section 3 of the Environment Protection Act, 1986 as per direction of Hon’ble Supreme Court of India”
- PIB, Ministry of Finance: World Bank project to improve groundwater management (Atal Bhujal Yojana signing) ↗ “Groundwater currently provides approximately 60 percent of irrigation water. Over 80 percent of the rural and urban domestic water supplies in India are served by groundwater making India the world’s largest user of groundwater.”
- World Bank Group Independent Evaluation Group blog: CGWB status of groundwater blocks ↗ · reference work “The Central Groundwater Board of India estimates that about 17% of groundwater blocks are overexploited”
- PIB, Ministry of Jal Shakti: Jal Shakti Abhiyan (21 Jul 2022) ↗ “Jal Shakti Abhiyan -I (JSA-I) was launched in 2019 in 1592 blocks in 256 water stressed districts of the country”
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). ·