Jal Jeevan Mission, a flagship programme launched by the Centre on August 15, 2019, with an aim to provide clean drinking tap water to rural areas of the country, has accomplished two-thirds of its set target in August 2023.
The government aims to provide tap water connections in 100 per cent of rural households by the end of 2024. A family is provided 55 litres of clean water per day per person under this mission.
According to the government data as on August 18, 2023, there are 19,23,93,450 rural households in India out of which tap connections have successfully been installed in 12,86,14,123 (128 million), which accounts for 66.85 per cent of the set target.
The government data showed that there were only 3,23,62,838 (32 million) households with tap water connections till the launch date of the scheme i.e. August 15, 2019, which accounted for only 16.82 per cent of the total households.
However, the number has now risen to 12,86,14,123 in merely four years of the launch of the government’s programme.
As on August 2019, 16,00,30,612 households were remaining to be supplied the tap water connections. The government has provided the tap water connection to 9,62,51,285 households out of the remaining ones since the launch of the Jal Jeevan Mission.
States/UTs with most and least tap water connections overall
There are nine states and Union Territories with 100 per cent tap water connections, including Goa, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, D&NH and D&D, Haryana, Telangana, Puducherry, Gujarat, Punjab, and Himachal Pradesh.
Bihar and Mizoram have over 90 per cent of households with tap water connections. Bihar and Mizoram have 96.39 and 91.67 per cent connections respectively.
BJP-ruled states and states where it is a part of the ruling coalition including Uttarakhand, Maharashtra, Manipur and Nagaland fall between 70 to 80 per cent category in the completion of the scheme.
Jammu and Kashmir, Tripura are between 67.99 and 67.38 per cent respectively.
Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Assam fall between 50 to 60 per cent.
Congress-ruled Rajasthan has only 42.63 per cent, JMM-ruled Jharkhand 40.22 per cent, while Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal only 37.22 per cent coverage of the tap water connections.
Impact of Jal Jeevan Mission
According to the government. the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) aims to provide safe and adequate drinking water through individual household tap connections by 2024 to all households in rural India.
The government estimates that if JJM succeeds in its mission, it will prevent around 1,36,000 under-5 deaths per year.
“It is estimated that if the Jal Jeevan Mission provided safely managed drinking-water to all of India, this would result in averting almost 400 000 diarrhoeal disease deaths,” the government said.
With universal coverage of safely managed drinking water in India, almost 14 million DALYs (Disability Adjusted Life Years) from diarrhoeal disease are estimated to be averted, resulting in estimated cost savings of up to USD 101 billion.
“Providing tap connection to every household would result in significant time saved on water collection (66.6 million hours each day), especially among women,” it added.
Way forward
According to an official, the JJM’s focus in the future will be to boost the laying of water infrastructure some the states which are lagging and also the aspirational districts which, on the socio-economic indicators, are lower-than-average.
According to Union Minister of State for Jal Shakti, Prahlad Singh Patel’s written reply in Rajya Sabha on July 31, over 50 per cent of ST rural households in India have been provided with the tap water connection under JJM till July 2023.
Under the Centre’s flagship scheme, the pattern of fund-sharing between the Centre and the states and UTs is 100 per cent for UTs without a legislature, 90 pc to 10 pc for northeastern states and UTs with a legislature and an equal share of 50 per cent for both for all other states.
Under the JJM, 30 per cent of weightage is allocated for difficult terrains while 10 per cent for the people living in SC/ST-dominated areas.
According to the Ministry of Jal Shakti in April this year, JJM is being implemented as a decentralized, demand-driven community-managed programme. More than 5.24 lakh Paani Samitis/ Village Water and Sanitation Committees (VWSC) have been formed and over 5.12 lakh Village Action Plan have been prepared under Jal Jeevan Mission to manage, operate, and maintain in-village water supply infrastructure.
To supplement the efforts and support the States/ UTs, Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation have formalized a Rural Wash Partners’ Forum (RWPF), where development partners along with sector partners involved in WASH sector have come forward to work in a collaborative manner with Government of India and State/ UTs for effective implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission.
“The JJM is also creating both direct and indirect employment opportunities in rural areas. A preliminary survey by IIM Bengaluru has assessed that about 1,47,55,980 person-year of employment can be created during the five-year period of implementation of JJM,” the Ministry of Jal Shakti said.
ALSO READ | Har Ghar Jal mission: Despite Covid, 71 districts have tap water connections in each house
ALSO READ | Tap water access in Delhi linked to dengue infection risk: Study
