Consider the following statements:
- 36% of India’s districts are classified as ‘overexploited’ or ‘critical’ by the Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA).
- CGWA was formed under the Environment (Protection) Act.
- India has the largest area under groundwater irrigation in the world.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct.
[UPSC Civil Services Exam – 2020 Prelims]
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 2 only
(d) 1 and 3 only
Answer: (b)
Explanation:
- According to the report of Niti Aayog, out of the 5723 assessment units jointly assessed by State Ground Water Departments and CGWB in the country, 71% are safe, 10% are semi-critical, 4% are critical, and 15% are overexploited. Therefore, statement 1 is not correct.
- Statement 2 is correct as the Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) was indeed constituted under Section 3(3) of the Environment (Protection) Act, (1986), and it regulates the extraction of groundwater through guidelines that are updated regularly.
- Statement 3 is also correct, as India has the world’s largest groundwater well-equipped irrigation system covering 39 million hectares, which is about 67% of its total irrigation area.
