Government of India in partnership with States is implementing Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) – Har Ghar Jal to make provision of potable water to every rural household of the country, through functional tap water connection i.e. at a service level of 55 litre per capita per day (lpcd), of prescribed quality (BIS:10500), on regular and long-term basis.

At the start of Jal Jeevan Mission in August 2019, only 3.23 Crore (16.8%) rural households were reported to have tap water connections. So far, as reported by States/ UTs as on 05.08.2024, around 11.81 Crore additional rural households have been provided with tap water connections under JJM. Thus, as on 05.08.2024, out of 19.32 Crore rural households in the country, more than 15.04 Crore (77.87%) households are reported to have tap water supply in their homes.

Under life-changing Jal Jeevan Mission, efforts are being made to bring improvements in the lives of rural people by providing potable tap water supply in their homes. With the prioritized implementation of the Mission across the country, positive impacts are being assessed by reputed national and international institutions/ individuals. A few of these are listed as under:

1. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that achieving saturation under JJM will result in savings of more than 5.5 Crore hours of time every day, which is otherwise spent in collection of water for household needs, primarily for women.
2. The World Health Organization (WHO) has also estimated that ensuring safely managed drinking water for all households in the country could prevent nearly 400,000 deaths caused by diarrheal diseases leading to savings of approximately 14 million Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) on account of the lives so saved.
3. Nobel laureate Prof. Michael Kremer has published a research paper and has concluded that the coverage of all households with safe water, is likely to lead to almost 30% reduction in mortality among children below the age of five years, amounting to 1,36,000 lives saved annually.
4. The Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, in partnership with International Labour Organisation (ILO) has estimated the employment potential of JJM. The report released by the two institutions estimates that implementation of the Jal Jeevan Mission shall result in 59.9 lakh person-years of direct and 2.2 Crore person-years of indirect employment during the capex phase of JJM. Furthermore, the operation and maintenance of the Mission is likely to generate 13.3 lakh person-years of direct employment.

To ensure long term sustainability of infrastructure created, quality material and quality construction is being ensured through third party inspection before making payment. Moreover, measurement and monitoring of water supply in villages through sensor-based IoT solution, linking AADHAR of the head of household for targeted delivery subject to statutory provisions, geo-tagging of assets created, etc. are also provisioned under JJM.

Further, to bring transparency and effective monitoring, an online ‘JJM dashboard’ & mobile App has been created, which provides State/ UT, district, and village-wise progress as well as status of provision of tap water supply to rural homes.

Moreover, to instill the sense of ownership among the rural communities and Panchayats, the aspects of village level planning and community participation in all decisions pertaining to water supply systems have been included in the design of JJM. Some of the major initiatives taken up under the mission for participation of rural community are listed as under:

• Around 5.32 lakh sub-committee/ user group of the Gram Panchayats i.e. Village Water & Sanitation Committee (VWSC) or Pani Samiti with at least 50% women members and suitable representation to marginalized sections of society, have been constituted to plan, implement, manage, operate, and maintain in-village water supply system.
• Five women are identified and trained from every village for testing the water samples through Field Test Kits (FTKs) and so far, 24.64 lakh women have been trained and so far, more than 54.20 lakh samples have been tested through FTKs in 2024-25.
• More than 14,000 NGOs/ VOs/ Women SHGs/ CBOs/ Trusts/ Foundations referred as ISAs are engaged across the country to facilitate community participation at all levels of planning, implementation, management, operation and maintenance of in-village water supply systems and contribution.

Provisions for taking up augmentation and strengthening of local drinking water sources in convergence with other schemes viz. MGNREGS, 15^th Finance Commission grants to Rural Local Bodies (RLBs)/ Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs), Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP), State schemes, MP/ MLA-LAD funds, District Mineral Development Fund, CSR funds, community contribution, etc. have also been envisaged under the JJM.

In addition, to address the issue of operation & maintenance of water supply schemes, provision has also been made under JJM to reward/ incentivize the community in a phased-manner after the commissioning of the scheme to the tune of 10% of the capital expenditure on their respective in-village water supply scheme along with collection of user charges.

Water being a State subject, States/ UTs have been advised to undertake testing of water quality on a periodic basis and take remedial action wherever necessary, to ensure that the water supplied to households is of prescribed quality to meet health and safety standards.

Moreover, to encourage water quality testing to ensure potable drinking water supply, States/ UTs have opened water quality testing laboratories to general public for testing of their water samples at a nominal rate. To enable States/ UTs to test water samples for water quality, and for sample collection, reporting, monitoring and surveillance of drinking water sources, an online JJM – Water Quality Management Information System (WQMIS) portal has been developed. To treat greywater/ wastewater coming out of the households, the States/ UTs are encouraged to build soak pits in rural areas using JJM funds under convergence.

States have informed that lack of dependable drinking water sources in water-stressed, drought prone and desert areas, presence of geo-genic contaminants in ground water, uneven geographical terrain, scattered rural habitations, delay in release of the matching State share in some States, lack of technical capacity with implementing agencies, Gram Panchayats and local communities to plan, manage, operate & maintain the water supply schemes, rising price of raw materials, delay in obtaining statutory/ other clearances, etc. are few of problems being faced in the implementation of the Mission.

To address the challenges holistically and overcome these, Government of India has taken a number of steps, inter alia including implementation of Special Assistance to States for Capital Expenditure through M/o Finance for financial assistance as 50-year interest free loan for capital investment projects; nomination of a nodal officer in the Department for coordinating with Central nodal Ministries/ Departments/ agencies to facilitate the States in obtaining Statutory/ other clearances; setting up of State Programme Management Units (SPMUs) and District Programme Management Units (DPMUs) and implementation of ‘Nal Jal Mitra Programme’ for ensuring availability of skilled local persons at village level to bridge the gap in availability of technical skill sets and of HR for programme management.

Further, Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain (JSA: CTR) campaign aiming to encourage water conservation at grass-root levels with people's participation was launched in 2019 in 256 water stressed districts of the country. Moreover, recognizing the importance of sustainable water management especially for drinking water availability, JSA-CTR was implemented with the theme ‘Source Sustainability for Drinking Water’ in 2023. Similarly, in 2024, JSA is being implemented with the theme ‘Nari Shakti se Jal Shakti’ from 09.03.2024 to 30.11.2024 emphasizing the pivotal role played by women in the field of water conservation.

This was informed by UNION MINISTER OF STATE FOR JAL SHAKTI, SHRI V. SOMANNA, in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

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VM

(Lok Sabha US Q2785)