Clean water for every Indian household has been a prime agenda point of the Indian Government. To this end, the Jal Jeevan Mission was announced on August 15, 2019. It aims to provide clean drinking water to all as well as augment local water resources and promote desalination programmes. In Budget 2020, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that the Jal Jeevan Mission was being allocated Rs 3.6 trillion, of which the upcoming fiscal will see Rs 115 billion being pumped in.
However, the tide turned, and how! If the number of connections provided during the COVID-19 period are anything to go by, since Unlock1, about 45 lakh tap connections have been provided so far in 2020-21. In simple terms, about 1 lakh households are being provided with tap connections every day, which indicates the ‘speed’. Little wonder then, that these surprising figures could give rise to questions about actual implementation.
Thus, to ensure transparency, every asset created under the mission is being geo-tagged and connections are being linked with the Aadhar of the ‘head of the household’. If someone wants to explore further, a dashboard indicating the progress of the mission, up to the district level, has been created and is available on the ministry’s website.
After the mission came into being, states were requested to undertake a revalidation exercise of baseline data, as per which there are 19.04 crore rural households in the country, of which 3.23 crore households are already provided tap connections. The remaining 15.81 crore households are to be provided with tap connections. Thus, the objective is to cover about 16 crore households in a timebound manner while ensuring the functionality of already provided connections. This means 3.2 crore households are to be covered every year; i.e. approximately 88,000 tap connections are to be provided on a daily basis.
As for the timeline of implementation, Shekhawat reportedly mentioned that the ministry is committed to the deadline announced by the Prime Minister to reach its goal by 2024; and states are on board for the same as well.
The Government hopes that water will turn into the next people’s movement and will become everyone’s business, a transformational change for the sector that has hitherto been seen as only a public-sector responsibility. To make water everyone’s business, the mission strives to build partnerships and work together with various institutions and individuals to achieve drinking water security for all. On May 1, 2020, this year, India had 56 per cent more water compared to the same period last year.
Just like the social side, the commercial side, too, has been well thought through. The Government has adopted a hybrid annuity model (HAM) for rejuvenation of the Ganga. Under this model, whoever constructs the project will be responsible for its maintenance for 15 years. The Government will give 40 per cent payment upfront and the remaining 60 per cent along with interest and operational expenditure will be given in annuity every six months or a year. This provides a good opportunity for players in the water management and treatment business.
Opportunities for different segments from the total budget allocated for Jal Jeevan Mission
Leading players (who stand as major beneficiaries) in the Jal Jeevan Mission
EPC & civil work |
Pipes |
Pumps/motors |
L&T |
Astral Poly Technik |
V Guard Industries |
Thermax |
Supreme Industries |
Kirloskar Brothers |
Dilip Buildcon |
Finolex Industries |
KSB Pumps |
NCC |
Jindal Saw |
Dynamitic Technologies |
KNR Constructions |
Tata Metalics |
WPIL |
Gayatri Projects |
Surya Roshni |
Shakti Pumps |
HG Infra Engineering |
Srikalashasthi Pipe |
Crompton Greaves |
Va Tech Wabag |
Prince Pipes |
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Shriram EPC |
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Ion Exchange (India) |
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Chembond Chemicals |