Convergence of schemes is the hallmark of Jal Shakti Abhiyan. Discuss its advantages and limits for measuring outcomes in groundwater recharge.

Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain began on World Water Day 2021. It has no budget of its own. Instead it draws on VB-G RAM G, PMKSY (Per Drop More Crop and repair of water bodies), CAMPA, Finance Commission grants, state schemes and CSR funds [1]. Pooling these funds lets the campaign work at scale. It also makes it hard to tell what the campaign itself achieved.

Advantages of convergence

• Scale without a new spending line: JSJB reports over 1.55 crore recharge and storage structures [1].
• Whole-of-Government approach: district Jal Shakti Kendras give technical advice. CGWB's aquifer maps (NAQUIM) and the Master Plan 2020 guide where structures are placed [2].
• Common monitoring: geo-tagging, the JSJB portal and app, and dashboards bring the data together in one place [1][3].
• Federal fit: water is mainly a state subject, so the Centre acts as a convenor. JSJB itself grew out of Gujarat's Jal Sanchay model [2].

Limits for measuring outcomes

• Attribution and double-counting: one pond may be counted under VB-G RAM G, PMKSY and JSA at the same time. The headline figures do not match: 27.4 lakh works reported under JSJB 1.0 [3] against 1.55 crore cumulative [1].
• Outputs, not outcomes: the only outcome figure, 2.43 BCM of recharge, is modelled from rainfall data, not measured in wells [1]. Even taken at face value, it is about 1% of India's 245.64 BCM yearly extraction [4].
• Other factors cloud the picture: monsoons and parallel schemes also move water levels. Atal Bhujal, which has its own budget, slowed groundwater decline in only 47 of 229 target blocks [5].
• No one pays for upkeep: the pooled schemes fund construction, not maintenance. CAG found poorly maintained recharge structures [6].
• Split accountability: a Parliamentary Committee found poor coordination among ministries, CGWB, CGWA and the states [7].

Way forward

• A central coordinating body, as the Standing Committee recommended [7], with one dashboard covering JSA, JSJB and Atal Bhujal.
• CGWB checks of observation-well levels before and after the monsoon near JSJB clusters.
• A fixed share of Finance Commission grants set aside for desilting and maintenance.

Convergence has turned Catch the Rain into a mass movement. It now needs to measure outcomes as well as it counts outputs. Third-party, well-based checks and clear ownership of each structure would turn construction numbers into recharge that can be verified. That would help India meet SDG 6.4 on water-use efficiency.