Jal Jeevan Mission provides tap water supply to 17% of rural houses

Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) has provided a tap water supply to over 5.77 crore rural households. Recently, nine crore rural households in India have had a clean tap water supply.

Out of 19.27 crore households, only 3.23 crore or 17% rural households in India had tap water connections. In India, 98 districts, 1,129 blocks, 66,067 Gram Panchayats and 1,36,135 villages have a tap water supply.

Tap water has been supplied to every rural household in five years and allocated Rs 3.60 lakh crore for the mission. Moreover, Rs 60,000 crore has been allocated to Har Ghar Jal in the Budget 2022-23 to provide tap water to 3.8 crore rural households.

In 2021-22, Rs 26,940 Crore had been allocated to states as 15th Finance Commission tied grants for water and sanitation to Rural Local Bodies or Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs). Additionally, there is assured funding of Rs 1,42,084 crore for the next five years.

Under the Jal Jeevan Mission, quality-affected villages, Aspirational districts, Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST), water-scarce areas and Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojna (SAGY) focus on providing tap water supply.

During the last year, the tap water supply had increased four-fold from 24 lakh or 9.3% to about 1.36 crore or 40% in 117 aspirational districts. Over 1.15 crore or 38%, compared to 8 lakh or 2.64% of rural houses, have tap water supply in 61 districts affected by Japanese Encephalitis-Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (JE-AES).

PM Narendra Modi had announced a 100-days campaign, launched by Minister Jal Shakti, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat. In about 16 months, 8.46 lakh schools and 8.67 lakh Anganwadi centres across the country have been provided with potable tap water supply for drinking and cooking mid-day meals, handwashing and use in toilets.

About 93,000 rainwater harvesting facilities and 1.08 lakh greywater reuse structures have been developed across the schools in India.

Village Water & Sanitation Committee (VWSC) or Pani Samiti have been strengthened. The Village Action Plan is developing through community engagement. Implementation Support Agencies (ISAs) will support village communities in programme implementation and create awareness among everyone. Over 4.69 lakh VWSCs have been constituted, and over 3.81 lakh Village Action Plans have been developed across India.

The Jal Jeevan Mission is conducting capacity building programmes through ISAs, 104 Key Resource Centres (KRCs), and sector partners working in the water sector across India.

Further, water quality monitoring and surveillance have been prioritised under the Jal Jeevan Mission. Five women in each village are being trained to test water samples using Field test Kits (FTKs).

Image Source

---

Also read: Govt releases Rs 360 cr for Uttarakhand under Jal Jeevan Mission