The Government of India and the World Bank today signed the US$ 175 million loan agreement for the National Hydrology Project on 18th April 2017. The project will strengthen the capacity of institutions to assess the water situation in their regions and reduce their vulnerability to recurring flood and droughts, saving hundreds of lives and livelihoods.

The project is expected to help forge an integrated approach to developing, managing, and regulating both surface and groundwater resources jointly at the basin and aquifer scale. It would also strengthen the institutional capacity for integrated water resources management at the center and in the states.

The loan agreement for the project was signed by Mr Raj Kumar, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, on behalf of the Government of India and Ms Genevieve Connors, Program Leader and Acting Country Director, on behalf of the World Bank.

This short course is designed to provide Indian hydrogeologists with required knowledge and skills for conducting groundwater flow modelling. Groundwater helped India for green revolution and achieved food security. However, large scale groundwater exploitation has resulted continuous groundwater level decline and depleted groundwater storage in many places. To proper manage the groundwater resource for long-term economic development and domestic water supply, Indian groundwater resources managers need to understand groundwater resources availability and limitations, and to use groundwater models for the allocation of resources and assess impacts.

This short course was organised for 25 hydrogeologists from the Ministry of Water Resources of India from March 14 to April 6, 2018.

River Basin Planning Workshop – 16 March 2018, Venue: Inspire Room, Le Meridian Hotel, New Delhi - The occasion was graced by H.E. Ms. Harinder Sidhu, Australian High Commissioner to India. JS (A&GW) and JS & FA, MoWR, RD & GR, represntatives from World Bank, Deltares, Central Agencies and States of Maharashtra, Chattisgarh and Telangana attended the workshop. There was presentation by States and Australian Expert David Harriss followed by group discussion and discussion on way forward.

Final one day basin-wide workshop for “Strategic Basin Planning for Ganga River Basin in India” was held on 20th march 2018, in the Hotel Shangrila, New Delhi. The event was inaugurated by Shri U P Singh, Secretary, MoWR, RD & GR and attended by JS (A&GW) and JS & FA, MoWR, RD & GR, representatives from CWC, CGWB, NIH, NMCG, IITM, CIFRI, Ganga Basin States of Bihar, Uttarakhnad, World Bank, Government of Netherlands, Australia, totalling more than 80 participants. The work carried out so far was explained by Experts of Delatres who have carried the Modelling of the Ganga Basin followed by group discussion on way forward.

• The first meeting of the National Level Steering Committee (NLSC) was held on 23 November 2017 under the chairmanship of the Secretary of the MoWR, RG & GR for providing strategic supervision, policy guidance and steering support for successful implementation of the project.
• The Consultancy Monitoring Committee (CMC) has been formed to monitor the activities and the progress of the Technical Assistance and Management Consultancy (TAMC) under the project. The first meeting of the Consultancy Monitoring Committee (CMC) was held on 10 January 2018 under the chairmanship of the Joint Secretary (A & GW) of the MoWR, RG & GR. The subsequent second CMC meeting was held on 09 February 2018.
• The first meeting of Hydrological Information Systems Management Group (HISMG) – Technical Group under the chairmanship of Member (RM), CWC was held on 30th January 2018 for monitoring the technical activities of NHP.
• For monitoring Institutional Strengthening and Training (IS&T) and Data/Data Dissemination of NHP, 1st meeting of HISMG IS&T and D&DD was held on 14th March 2018 under the chairmanship of the Joint Secretary (A & GW) of the MoWR, RG & GR.