Catch the Rain

1. At a Glance

• Catch the Rain (CTR) is a nationwide campaign for rainwater harvesting, groundwater recharge and restoring water bodies. It is run as Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain (JSA: CTR), with the guiding theme "Catch the Rain, Where It Falls, When It Falls" [1].
• It is a convergence campaign. It has no budget of its own and draws on central schemes, Finance Commission grants, CAMPA, state schemes and CSR funds [1][2].
• Since 2024, a community-driven track has run alongside it: Jal Sanchay Jan Bhagidari (JSJB), built on the 3Cs: Community, CSR, Cost [1]. In 2026 the two tracks merged as JSJB: CTR [1].
• Why it matters: it links GS-III (water resources, irrigation, climate resilience) with GS-II (Jan Bhagidari, PRIs, convergence governance). Prelims can test its dates, themes, figures and the schemes it draws on.

2. Why in the News

• 26 Oct 2026: PIB released "Catch the Rain Campaign at a Glance", summarising JSA: CTR, JSJB 1.0, JSJB 2.0 and JSJB: CTR 2026 [1].
• 1 Jun 2026: JSJB: Catch the Rain was launched, folding JSJB into the JSA: CTR campaign [1].
• An Impact Evaluation Study of JSJB 1.0 estimated 2.43 billion cubic metres (BCM) of groundwater recharge from 23 lakh structures [1].
• Nov 2025: exemplary JSJB 1.0 work was recognised at the 6th National Water Awards [1].

3. Background & Evolution

• Rationale: water scarcity and stress on groundwater. The aim is to capture monsoon rain where it falls, through community ownership [1][2].
• Predecessor: Jal Shakti Abhiyan 2019 covered 1,592 water-stressed blocks in 256 districts [1]. The Ministry of Jal Shakti has run JSA every year since 2019 [2].
• Milestones in order:
• 2019: JSA (first edition) in water-stressed blocks [1].
• 22 Mar 2021 (World Water Day): JSA: CTR launched, "Catch the Rain, Where It Falls, When It Falls" [1].
• 2022: "Expanding Water Conservation Activities", covering traditional water bodies, wetlands, river rejuvenation and spring-sheds [1].
• 2023: "Source Sustainability for Drinking Water", focused on 150 water-stressed districts [1].
• 2024: "Nari Shakti se Jal Shakti", women-led conservation. JSA: CTR 2024 was the 5th in the JSA series and covered all districts, rural and urban [1][2].
• 1 Apr 2024 – 31 May 2025: JSJB 1.0 implementation period [1].
• 6 Sep 2024: PM Narendra Modi launched JSJB in Surat, Gujarat, with about 24,800 rainwater harvesting structures in the state [2].
• 1 Jun 2025: JSJB 2.0 launched, focused on over-exploited and critical districts [1].

• 1 Jun 2026: JSJB: CTR launched, merging JSJB with JSA: CTR [1].

• Origin of JSJB: it builds on the Gujarat Government's "Jal Sanchay" initiative. The Ministry of Jal Shakti and the state launched it together [2].

4. Core Static Facts

Linked CGWB facts (static):

• The Master Plan for Artificial Recharge to Groundwater 2020 plans about 1.42 crore structures to harness 185 BCM of monsoon rainfall [2].
• NAQUIM (National Aquifer Mapping) is complete over about 25 lakh sq km of mappable area [2].

5. Multi-Dimensional Analysis

Environmental

• It aims to raise groundwater recharge and retain monsoon water by desilting ponds and reservoirs [1].
• Afforestation in water-retention areas links forest cover with hydrology. CAMPA funds are part of the convergence [1].
• It is framed as building climate resilience through sustainable water management [1].

Social / Gender

• The 2024 theme, "Nari Shakti se Jal Shakti", put women at the centre of water conservation [1].
• Women's contributions are recognised through the Swachh Sujal Shakti Samman [1].
• Stakeholders include women's groups, youth, educational institutions and civil society organisations [1].

Economic

• Low-cost, hyper-local structures are preferred over large capital works [1].
• Pooling funds across rural employment, irrigation (PMKSY) and FC grants avoids building a new spending line [1][2].
• PMKSY's goals tie in directly: on-farm water access and water-use efficiency [2].

Governance / Administrative

• It runs through PRIs and Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), so it depends on capacity at the grassroots [1].
• Geo-tagging, the portal and the app support transparency and public feedback [1].
• Watch for: double-counting across converging schemes. The headline figures do not line up neatly: 10 lakh structures constructed, 27 lakh reported, 1.55 crore cumulative [1][3].

Scientific / Technological

• Its scientific water conservation plans draw on CGWB's aquifer maps (NAQUIM) and the 2020 Master Plan [1][2].
• Recharge is estimated from rainfall data (2.43 BCM). This is a modelled figure, not a measured one [1].

Federal

• Water is mainly a state subject, so the Centre acts as a facilitator and convenor. JSJB itself came from a Gujarat state model [2].

6. Recent Developments (last 12–18 months)

• 1 Jun 2025: JSJB 2.0 launched, targeting over-exploited and critical districts with hyper-local work [1].
• Nov 2025: 6th National Water Awards recognised exemplary JSJB 1.0 work [1].
• 1 Jun – 31 Dec 2025: the rainfall window used by the JSJB 1.0 impact study (2.43 BCM) [1].
• 1 Jun 2026: JSJB: CTR launched as one merged campaign, with VB-G RAM G in the convergence list [1].
• 26 Oct 2026: PIB published its "at a glance" explainer [1].

7. Prelims Hooks

• JSA: CTR launched on 22 March 2021, World Water Day [1].
• Theme: "Catch the Rain, Where It Falls, When It Falls" [1].
• JSA 2019 covered 1,592 blocks in 256 districts [1].
• JSA: CTR 2023 focused on 150 water-stressed districts under "Source Sustainability for Drinking Water" [1].
• The 2024 theme was "Nari Shakti se Jal Shakti" [1].
• JSA: CTR 2024 was the 5th JSA and covered all districts, rural and urban [2].
• JSJB launched on 6 Sep 2024 in Surat, Gujarat, by PM Modi [2].
• JSJB's guiding principles are the 3Cs: Community, CSR, Cost [1].
• JSJB 1.0 period: 1 Apr 2024 – 31 May 2025 [1].
• JSJB 2.0 launched 1 Jun 2025, aimed at over-exploited and critical districts [1].
• JSJB 1.0 impact study: 2.43 BCM of groundwater recharge [1].
• Total JSJB structures: over 1.55 crore [1].
• Jal Shakti Kendras are district-level knowledge hubs [1].
• CGWB's Master Plan 2020 targets 1.42 crore structures and 185 BCM [2].
• Women's water work is honoured through the Swachh Sujal Shakti Samman [1].

8. Why Digging More Pits Cannot Fix a Pumping Problem

• The recharge gain is small next to what India pumps out
• The JSJB 1.0 study estimates 2.43 BCM of recharge [1].
• India pumps out about 245.64 BCM of groundwater every year [4].

• So the campaign's best-known result adds back only about 1% of one year's pumping.

• Crop choices and cheap power push farmers to over-pump

• The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Water Resources (2023) found that paddy and sugarcane get a higher MSP (minimum support price, the price at which government buys a crop). Both crops need a lot of water [5].
• Free or subsidised electricity for irrigation lets farmers run pumps for almost nothing, which adds to the problem [5].

• Catch the Rain only adds water back. It does nothing about these reasons for pumping too much.

• The worst areas are past the point where recharge can catch up

• In Delhi, Haryana and Punjab, the stage of groundwater extraction is above 100% [6]. Stage of groundwater extraction means how much of the yearly recharge is pumped out. Above 100% means more water is taken out each year than goes back in.
• In these places, more recharge structures slow the fall in the water table. They cannot reverse it unless pumping is also cut.

9. What the Big Numbers Do Not Prove

• Counting structures is not the same as measuring water
• The campaign reports outputs: 27 lakh works, 1.55 crore structures [1][3].

• The only outcome figure, 2.43 BCM, is worked out from rainfall data. Nobody measured it in wells [1].

• The national trend is improving, but slowly, and the campaign cannot claim all the credit

• Over-exploited units: 751 of 6,746 (11.1%) in 2024 [7], and 730 of 6,762 (10.80%) in 2025 [8]. An over-exploited unit is a block or area where more water is pumped out than is recharged.

• Over the same years, Atal Bhujal, MGNREGS works, PMKSY and good or bad monsoons all affect these numbers. The data cannot show how much of the gain came from Catch the Rain alone.

• Even a targeted scheme found results hard to get

• PRS reports that Atal Bhujal Yojana aimed to slow the fall of groundwater in 229 blocks. It succeeded in 47 [9].

• Atal Bhujal has its own budget and works at village level. Catch the Rain has neither, so its results are likely to be even harder to prove.

• How to use this in an answer

• Quote the 2.43 BCM figure, but call it an estimate.
• Then set it against the yearly extraction figure [4] and the share of over-exploited units [7].

10. Who Pays to Keep a Structure Working After It Is Built

• Without upkeep, a recharge pit stops working
• Recharge pits and ponds fill with silt (fine mud carried by rainwater). Silt blocks water from soaking into the ground.

• CAG's performance audit on groundwater (Report No. 9 of 2021) found poorly maintained rainwater recharge structures in several states [10].

• Convergence pays to build, not to maintain

• The campaign has no budget of its own. It uses money from other schemes [1].
• Those schemes pay to build new works. Once a structure is counted on the portal, no one is clearly paid to keep it working.

• The Standing Committee asked for more money for urban local bodies (city and town governments) to maintain water bodies [5].

• Drinking-water schemes do not use the campaign's work

• CAG's 2024 audit of Jal Jeevan Mission in Punjab checked 506 rural drinking-water schemes. It found that 88% of them depended on over-exploited groundwater [11].
• None of the villages it checked had planned rainwater harvesting to keep their water source alive, though JJM guidelines ask for it [11].
• So the 2023 theme, "Source Sustainability for Drinking Water", did not reach the drinking-water scheme in the same place.

11. Is a Campaign Enough Without Rules on Pumping?

• The strongest case for the campaign
• Water is mainly a state subject. That makes persuasion and community work the Centre's most practical tools.
• The structures are cheap and local. People own and use them.

• Across the campaign years, the share of over-exploited units has kept falling [7][8].

• What that case gets right

• Recharge is needed. Women's groups and gram panchayats (village councils) taking part is a real gain that a law alone could not bring.

• Where it falls short

• 19 states have passed groundwater laws. These are based on a model Bill from 1970, last revised in 2005 [5].
• The Standing Committee found these laws are hard to enforce because guidelines are missing [5].
• It also found poor coordination among the Ministries, state departments, pollution boards, CGWB and CGWA [5].

• A campaign that only adds water cannot make up for weak control over how much water is taken out.

• Fair conclusion: Catch the Rain is a useful half of the solution. It needs a demand-side half too: rules and incentives that cut pumping.

12. Who Should Do What Next

• Ministry of Jal Shakti: set up one body to coordinate groundwater
• The Standing Committee (2023) recommended a central body with CGWB, CGWA, the pollution boards and the states on it [5].

• It could join together the separate dashboards for JSA: CTR, JSJB and Atal Bhujal.

• Department of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare: help farmers move to crops that need less water

• The Committee asked this Department to promote crops and cropping patterns that use less water [5].

• In paddy-growing states, this matters more than any number of recharge pits.

• Extend Atal Bhujal's approach to all water-scarce states

• The Committee recommended taking Atal Bhujal Yojana beyond its seven pilot states [5].

• Atal Bhujal sets village water budgets, which cover how much water is used. JSJB only builds structures. The two fit together.

• CGWB and district Jal Shakti Kendras: measure recharge in observation wells

• Water levels in wells should be checked before and after the monsoon near JSJB clusters.

• This would replace rainfall-based estimates with real measurements [1].

• Panchayats and urban local bodies: set aside money for maintenance

• Finance Commission grants are already part of the convergence list [1].
• A fixed share could pay for desilting the structures already built [5][10].

13. Anchors for Answers

• Data: India pumps out 245.64 BCM of groundwater a year, against 446.90 BCM of yearly recharge. The national stage of extraction is 60.47% (2024) [4]
• Data: 751 of 6,746 assessment units (11.1%) were over-exploited in 2024 [7]. In 2025 it was 730 of 6,762 (10.80%) [8]
• Data: Delhi, Haryana and Punjab have a stage of groundwater extraction above 100% [6]
• Report/Committee: Standing Committee on Water Resources, "Groundwater: A Valuable but Diminishing Resource" (2023). It links MSP and free power to over-pumping and asks for a central coordinating body [5]
• Report/Committee: CAG Report No. 9 of 2021, Ground Water Management and Regulation. It found poorly maintained recharge structures [10]
• Report/Committee: CAG audit of JJM in Punjab (2024). 88% of 506 schemes depend on over-exploited groundwater, and none of the villages checked had planned rainwater harvesting [11]
• Law/Case: Model Groundwater Bill (1970, revised 2005). 19 states have passed laws based on it [5]
• Scheme: Atal Bhujal Yojana. It manages how much groundwater is used at village level. PRS reports that its target of slowing the fall in groundwater was met in 47 of 229 blocks [9]

14. Mains Relevance

• GS-III: water resources and conservation; irrigation; environmental conservation; disaster and climate resilience (drought).
• GS-II: government policies and interventions; the role of PRIs, ULBs, SHGs and civil society; centre–state cooperation.
• GS-I: distribution of water resources; traditional water-harvesting systems (baolis, stepwells).
• Sample question stems: 1. 'Catch the Rain, Where It Falls, When It Falls' shows a shift from supply-side water engineering to decentralised, community-led management. Critically examine. (250 words) 2. Convergence of schemes is the hallmark of Jal Shakti Abhiyan. Discuss its advantages and limits for measuring outcomes in groundwater recharge. (150 words) 3. How can reviving traditional water bodies and placing women at the centre of water conservation improve drinking-water source sustainability in India's over-exploited blocks? (250 words)

15. Related Topics to Study Next

• Atal Bhujal Yojana: groundwater management in 8,213 gram panchayats across 80 districts of 7 states, a "development to management" shift [2].
• Mission Amrit Sarovar: at least 75 Amrit Sarovars per district; a parallel effort on water bodies [2].
• PMKSY (HKKP, RRR, SMI, WDC): the main irrigation and watershed schemes in the convergence [2].
• AMRUT 2.0 and building bye-laws (MBBL 2016, URDPFI 2014): the urban rainwater harvesting framework [2].
• CGWB's NAQUIM and the Master Plan for Artificial Recharge 2020: the scientific basis for siting recharge structures [2].
• National Water Policy 2012 and the Bureau of Water Use Efficiency (set up 20.10.2022 under the National Water Mission): the policy and efficiency setting [2].
• National Water Awards / Swachh Sujal Shakti Samman: recognition mechanisms [1].
• First Water Bodies Census: baseline data on traditional water bodies (study from Ministry of Jal Shakti sources; not cited here).

16. NCERT Concepts to Revise

• Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain (Geography): The campaign itself: its themes, yearly editions and aims are the core of the note and likely Prelims facts.
• Groundwater (Geography): The campaign is about recharging aquifers, so you need to know how groundwater is stored, used and depleted.
• Over-exploited groundwater block (Geography): JSJB 2.0 targets these areas, and the note argues recharge cannot catch up where extraction exceeds 100%.
• Atal Bhujal Yojana (Geography): The note compares it with Catch the Rain as a scheme that manages how much groundwater is used.
• Dynamic Ground Water Resource Assessment (Geography): The extraction and over-exploited-unit figures used to judge the campaign come from this yearly assessment.
• Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (Geography): It is a main source of convergence funds, and its water-use efficiency goals tie in with the campaign.

17. Common Errors / Trap Areas

• Launch dates differ: JSA: CTR started on 22 Mar 2021 (World Water Day). JSA itself started in 2019. JSJB was launched on 6 Sep 2024, but its implementation period is counted from 1 Apr 2024 [1][2].
• Ministry: it is the Ministry of Jal Shakti, not MoEFCC or the Ministry of Rural Development, even though rural employment and CAMPA funds are used [2].
• District counts get mixed up: JSA 2019 had 256 districts / 1,592 blocks; 2023 had 150 districts; 2024 covered all districts [1][2].
• Structure numbers get mixed up:
• 10 lakh+ constructed and 27 lakh+ reported refer to JSJB 1.0.
• 23 lakh were evaluated in the impact study.
• 1.55 crore is the cumulative JSJB figure.

• 1.42 crore is the CGWB Master Plan target, not an achievement [1][2][3].

• Scheme lists differ by year: the 2024 documents list MGNREGS and AMRUT [2], while the 2026 release lists VB-G RAM G [1]. Use the latest notified list, and check what VB-G RAM G stands for in an official source; it is not expanded in the sources cited here.