Jal Shakti Minister launches the Punah Bharan app for planning groundwater recharge

28 October 2026

The Union Minister of Jal Shakti launched the Punah Bharan Mobile Application, built to support scientific planning of groundwater recharge. It was developed by BISAG-N, the Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geo-informatics, with the National Water Mission of the Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation. A user can find possible artificial recharge zones within a radius of up to 3 km and see which recharge structures suit local conditions. The companion web portal carries village-level Artificial Recharge Structure zonation maps, GIS tools and thematic layers for planners. The platform works on geospatial datasets of rainfall, groundwater level, groundwater yield, slope and drainage, and uses them to mark places where recharge will work. The aim is to make groundwater management decisions rest on data rather than guesswork.