Question
Q58.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?
A. 1 only
B. 2 and 3 only
C. 2 only
D. 1 and 3 Only
Answer: B
Detailed Explanation
Explanation:
· Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) was constituted under sub-section (3) of Section 3 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 for the purposes of regulation and control of ground water development and management in the country.
· The Authority is engaged in various activities related to regulation of ground water development to ensure its long-term sustainability.
· To effectively regulate the groundwater extraction, the Centre, following the NGT’s directions, has divided areas with declining water tables in three categories:
o Overexploited – Areas in which groundwater extraction rate is more than the groundwater recharge rate
o Critical – Areas where groundwater extraction rate is 90-100% of the recharge
o Semi-critical – Areas with an extraction rate of 70-100% of groundwater recharge
· These categories are together called the OCS areas.
· Of the 6,584 groundwater units in India, 1,034 are ‘overexploited’; 253 are ‘critical’; and 681 are ‘semi-critical’ – making up 1,968 OCS units in all.
· Around 80,000 industrial units run in these OCS areas.
· Most of them are in the Delhi-NCR region.
· At 39 million hectares (67% of its total irrigation), India has the world’s largest groundwater well equipped irrigation system (China with 19 mha is second, USA with 17 mha is third).
· India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh are, respectively, the first, fourth and sixth largest users of groundwater globally.
· India pumps more than the US and China combined – the second and third-largest users, respectively.
