Atal Bhujal Yojana, a pilot initiative for community-led groundwater management, was implemented across 8,203 priority water-stressed Gram Panchayats in seven States, including 549 in Uttar Pradesh. The programme has demonstrated notable improvements through participatory planning, adoption of efficient water-use practices, community monitoring and the creation of recharge structures.

Key activities undertaken include public disclosure of groundwater data across all participating Gram Panchayats, preparation and annual updation of community-led Water Budgets and Water Security Plans, and the installation of piezometers, digital water-level recorders and rain gauges. Nearly 1.28 thousand training sessions were conducted at village, block, district and State levels, while around 70,000 wells were monitored with data publicly shared. Mapping of more than 99,000 existing water-conservation structures and construction or renovation of over 83,800 supply-side works have further strengthened groundwater recharge. About 0.97 million hectares across the seven States have adopted efficient water-use measures such as drip irrigation, sprinklers, mulching and crop diversification.

State-wise details are available in Annexure I, with district-level information for Uttar Pradesh provided in Annexure II. Performance-based funding was allocated to States under the programme, and convergence with ongoing schemes has been central to implementation. As reported by the Uttar Pradesh State Project Monitoring Unit, Rs 2753.5 million has been mobilised through convergence for activities recommended in Water Security Plans.

Water budgeting and Water Security Plans—core components of Atal Bhujal Yojana—have been completed and updated annually for all 549 participating Gram Panchayats in Uttar Pradesh. According to periodic assessments between 2023 and 2025, 344 of these Gram Panchayats have shown improvement in groundwater levels, while 205 are yet to meet the benchmark. Details of improved Gram Panchayats are listed in Annexure V.