Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana: The Cabinet Committee on

Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by Prime Minister Modi on July 1,

2015 had given approval to the launch of the scheme with the duel
aim of ‘Har Khet Ko Pani’ and improving water use efficiency ‘More
crop per drop’ in a focused manner. According to the press release of
the CCEA on July 2, 2015 the PMKSY was formulated by
amalgamating the then-running schemes like Accelerated Irrigation
Benefit Programme (AIBP) of the Ministry of Water Resources, River
Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Integrated Watershed
Management Programme (IWMP) of Department of Land Resources
(DoLR) and the On Farm Water Management (OFWM) of Department
of Agriculture and Cooperation (DAC). The scheme has been divided
into 99 prioritized projects with different timelines. Total expected
expenditure in the complete project is estimated to be 77595 crore
rupees with Central share of 31342 crore rupees. Total irrigation
potential utilisation after completion of the entire project is expected
to be 76.03 lakh hectares. Many projects which were at standstill
such as Gosikhurd (2.5 lakh ha.) Maharashtra, were streamlined and
put on track for timely completion.
The major objective of the PMKSY has been to achieve convergence
of investments in irrigation at the field level, expand cultivable area
under assured irrigation, improve on-farm water use efficiency to
reduce wastage of water, enhance the adoption of precision-
irrigation and other water saving technologies, enhance recharge of
aquifers and introduce sustainable water conservation practices by
exploring the feasibility of reusing treated municipal-based water for
peri-urban agriculture and attract greater private investment in
precision irrigation system. The scheme also aims at bringing
concerned ministries, departments, agencies, research and financial
institutions engaged in recycling of water, under a common platform,
so that a comprehensive and holistic view of the entire “water cycle”
is taken into account and proper water budgeting is done for all
sectors namely, household, agriculture and industries. The
programme is supervised and monitored at the national level by an
Inter-Ministerial National Steering Committee (NSC) under the
Chairmanship of the Prime Minister with Union Ministers of all
concerned Ministries. Accordingly, on August 6, 2015 a National
Executive Committee (NEC) was constituted under the Chairmanship
of the Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog to oversee programme
implementation, allocation of resources, interministerial
coordination, monitoring and performance assessment, addressing
administrative issues, etc. At the state level the scheme is
administered by a State Level Sanctioning Committee (SLSC) chaired
by the Chief Secretary of the respective states. The details of the
project under PMKSY, as per a 2017 Water Resources Ministry
release, are as under3 : Apart from this, to encourage stakeholders
like water user associations, institutions, corporate sector,
individuals, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), gram
panchayats, urban local bodies to adopt innovative practices of
groundwater augmentation like creating awareness through people’s
participation, rainwater harvesting and artificial recharge, promoting
water use efficiency, recycling and reuse of water, the government in
2007 launched the Groundwater Augmentation Awards and National
Water Award.