15-Dec-2022: Impact of Jal Jeevan Mission

Since August 2019, 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 by 2024, through tap water connection.

At the time of announcement of Jal Jeevan Mission, 3.23 Crore (17%) households were reported to have tap water connections. So far, around 7.48 Crore (38%) rural households have been provided with tap water connections in last 3 years. Thus, as on 12.12.2022, out of 19.36 Crore rural households in the country, around 10.71 Crore (55%) households are reported to have tap water supply in their homes and the remaining 8.65 Crore rural households are planned to be covered by 2024.

For successful implementation of the mission across the country, in 2019-20, a sum of Rs. 10,000 Crore, in 2020-21, Rs. 11,000 Crore, in 2021-22, Rs. 40,125 Crore was utilized. Further, in 2022-23, out of Rs.60,000 Crore allocated for the mission, as on 12.12.2022, an amount of Rs. 22,774.55 Crore has been released to the eligible States/ UTs.

Under JJM, it has been envisaged to carry out regular functionality assessment, evaluation and impact assessment. So far, no impact assessment has been carried out by the Ministry. However, Department of Drinking Water & Sanitation, undertakes annual assessment of the functionality of household tap water connections provided under the Mission, through an independent third-party agency, based on standard statistical sampling. During the functionality assessment 2021-22, it was found that 86% of households had working tap connections. Out of these, 85% were getting water in adequate quantity, 80% were getting water regularly as per the schedule of water supply for their piped water supply scheme, and 87% of households were receiving water as per the prescribed water quality standards.

8-Aug-2022: Status of Jal Jeevan Mission

Since August 2019, Government of India, in partnership with States, is implementing Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) to make provision of potable tap water supply every rural household by 2024.

At the time of the announcement of the Jal Jeevan Mission, 3.23 Crore rural households were reported to have tap water connections. So far, 6.70 Crore households have been provided with tap water connections in the last 35 months. Thus, as on 3rd August, 2022, out of 19.11 Crore rural households in the country, around 9.93 Crore (51.99%) households are reported to have tap water supply in their homes.

A number of steps have been taken to plan and implement JJM in the whole country with speed, inter alia, which includes joint discussion and finalization of annual action plan (AAP) of States/ UTs, regular review of implementation, capacity building and knowledge sharing through workshops/ conferences/ webinars and field visits by a multi-disciplinary team to provide technical support, etc. A detailed Operational Guideline for the implementation of JJM; Margdarshika for Gram Panchayats & VWSCs to provide safe drinking water in rural households and Guidelines on a special campaign to provide piped water supply in anganwadi centers, ashramshalas and schools have been shared with States/ UTs, to facilitate planning and implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission. For online monitoring, JJM–Integrated Management Information System (IMIS) and JJM–Dashboard has been put in place. Provision has also been made for transparent online financial management through Public Financial Management System (PFMS).

So far, States of Goa, Telangana, Haryana and Union Territories of A &N Islands, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu and Puducherry have reported to provide tap water connection to all households.

18-Jul-2022: Community ownership of water supply

Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) is a decentralized, demand-driven, community-managed programme and through bottom-up planning approach. JJM Operational Guidelines emphasise on the role of community in planning, implementation, management, operation and maintenance of in-village water supply infrastructure. The importance of community ownership of water supply infrastructure for long-term service delivery has been stressed upon State/UTs through various communications, review meetings, national/regional conferences, national/regional workshops, webinars, field-visits etc.

Further, to bring in sense of ownership and pride among rural communities, community contribution is to be made, which is 5% of capital cost towards in-village water supply infrastructure in hilly, forested, and in villages having more than 50% SC/ ST population and 10% in the remaining villages. Communities will be rewarded by providing 10% of the in-village infrastructure cost of the scheme after successful implementation of the scheme, as a revolving fund to meet any unforeseen expenditure due to break down, etc. for long-term sustainability of the schemes. Provision has also been made for incentives to those Panchayats where community contribution is deposited by the community.

As envisaged in JJM Operation Guidelines, States/UTs are to form sub-committee of Gram Panchayat i.e. Village Water and Sanitation Committee (VWSC)/ Pani Samiti/ User Group etc. with at least 50% women members to ensure community participation. Margdarshika for Gram Panchayats & VWSCs has been shared with States/ UTs, to facilitate planning &implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission in villages.

JJM Operational Guidelines also envisages preparation of Village Action Plan (VAP) by Gram Panchayat or its sub-committee with support from Implementation Support Agencies (ISAs), Public Health Engineering / Rural Water Supply Department, District Water and Sanitation Mission (DWSM) based on baseline survey, resource mapping and felt needs of the village community. This ensures the involvement of community right from the beginning.

Further, community stakeholders are also trained on their involvement at various stages of implementation of JJM in States/UTs including preparation of Village Action Plans.

During review meetings of JJM with States/UTs held at various levels, progress made in formation of VWSCs/ Pani Samitis, preparation of Village Action Plans are also monitored by this Department. Out of 6,01,463 villages, as reported by States/UTs as on 13.07.2022, sub-committees of Gram Panchayat are formed in 5,02,414 villages and 4,56,946 Village Action Plans have been prepared.

28-May-2022: Jal Jeevan Mission Achieves 50% Completion Milestone

Keeping in line with Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s vision to provide every rural home with safe drinking water, the country has achieved the milestone of 50% rural households having access to tap water connections. Goa, Telangana, A&N Islands, D&N Haveli and Daman & Diu, Puducherry and Haryana have already achieved 100% household connections. Punjab, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Bihar have coverage of more than 90% and are progressing fast towards attaining the status of ‘Har Ghar Jal’.

In a move to attain “Gram Swarajya”, the dream of Mahatma Gandhi, Jal Jeevan Mission aims to empower the Panchayati Raj Institutions and communities by engaging them in water supply schemes from the very beginning. Over 9.59 Crore rural households spread across States/ UTs are getting water within their premises. Women and girls these households are now free from the century old drudgery of walking long distances in scorching heat, rain and snow in search of water. ‘Har Ghar Jal’ is a flagship programme of the Union Government, implemented by Jal Jeevan Mission under the Ministry of Jal Shakti, in partnership with States/ UTs to ensure tap water connection in every rural household by 2024.

At the time of launch Jal Jeevan Mission in 2019, only 3.23 Crore households i.e. 17% of the rural population had access to drinking water through taps. The burden of arrangement of water for daily household needs mostly fell on women and young girls. There is sufficient evidence to suggest that school attendance among girls was significantly lower in summers when due to increased requirements for water, multiple trips were needed. After the launch of Jal Jeevan Mission and improvement in access to tap water connection within their premises, considerable improvement in this regard has been noticed. As on 27.05.2022, 108 districts, 1,222 blocks, 71,667 Gram Panchayats and 1,51,171 villages have become “Har Ghar Jal”, wherein all rural households have been provided with drinking water through taps.

This year as the nation celebrates ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’, special Gram Sabhas are being convened across the length and breadth of the country to discuss and deliberate on issues related to drinking water in a move to attain ‘WASH Prabudh Gaon’. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has addressed and interacted with Sarpanch and members of Pani Samitis on multiple occasions in the past, motivating them to take onus of the programme as they are the ultimate custodians of the water supply infrastructure created under ‘Har Ghar Jal’. Under JJM, support is provided to Panchayats by the State Government through Implementing Support Agencies (ISAs) in community engagement, building capacity of the Pani Samitis, and taking up O&M activities.

7-Apr-2022: Implementation Of Jal Jeevan Mission

Annual Action Plan meetings, mid-year review meetings and other  meetings with respective State Governments and UT Administrations are regularly held at various levels to review planning, implementation and progress made so far under Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) to make provision of tap water supply to every rural household, schools, anganwadi centres, ashramshalas, etc. latest by 2024.

Recently, to discuss various emerging issues and to speed up implementation of JJM, three  regional conferences chaired by Union Minister of Jal Shakti were held at Bengaluru, Guwahati & Kolkata with 22  States/UTs. A fourth regional conference is scheduled at Jaipur with 11 States/UTs.

Government of India in partnership with States is implementing Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) – Har Ghar Jal to make provision of tap water supply to every rural household by 2024. On 15th August, 2019, at the time of announcement of Jal Jeevan Mission, out of 18.93 Crore rural households, only 3.23 Crore (17%) households were reported to have tap water connections. So far, additional 6.15 Crore (31.81%) rural households have been provided with tap water connections. Thus, as of 04.04.2022, out of total 19.32 Crore rural households in the country, 9.38 Crore (48.56%) households have provision of tap water supply in their homes.

Under JJM, every State/ UT has finalized timelines for making provision of tap water supply to every rural household, which is as under:

Provision of tap water supply to all rural households have been made in Goa, Telangana, Haryana, A&N Islands, Puducherry and Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli.

Number of steps have been taken to plan and implement JJM in the whole country with speed, inter alia, which includes joint discussion and finalization of saturation plan and annual action plan (AAP) of States/ UTs, regular review of implementation, workshops/ conferences/ webinars for capacity building, training, knowledge sharing, field visits by multi-disciplinary team to provide technical support, etc. Detailed Operational Guideline for the implementation of JJM; Margdarshika for Gram Panchayats & VWSCs to provide safe drinking water in rural households and Guidelines on a special campaign to provide piped water supply in anganwadi centres, ashramshalas and schools have been shared with States/ UTs, to facilitate planning and implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission. For online monitoring, JJM–Integrated Management Information System (IMIS) and JJM–Dashboard have been put in place. Provision has also been made for transparent online financial management through Public Financial Management System (PFMS).

7-Apr-2022: Drinking Water Projects

The Government of India is implementing Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), in partnership with States/ UTs, to make provision of potable tap water supply in adequate quantity of prescribed quality on regular and long-term basis to every rural household of the country by 2024.

Drinking water is a State subject and the power to plan, design, approve, implement, operate and maintain water supply schemes/ projects is vested with States. Department of Drinking Water & Sanitation, Government of India provides financial and technical assistance to the States for this purpose.

The Department of Drinking Water & Sanitation has signed 2 MoUs/ work-plans with Governments of other nations/ international bodies on cooperation in the field of water supply, water and wastewater management, etc. 

National Jal Jeevan Mission is collaborating with UN agencies viz. UNICEF, UNOPS, voluntary organization, non-government organizations, charitable foundation etc. working in drinking water sector, to work as Sector Partners for supporting implementation of JJM in the areas of gap-analysis of implementation, change management, planning for capacity building, outreach campaigns, documentation of best practices etc.  No remuneration is paid to Sector Partners for their services. As on 04.04.2022, 109 Sector Partners have signed MoUs/ Work plans with the Department.

Further, 104 government and non-government organizations/ universities/ training institutes are empanelled as Key Resource Centres under Jal Jeevan Mission for providing leadership training in the States/ UTs for effective implementation of the mission.

Five JJM-Professor Chairs have been approved in eminent educational institutions to provide support through outreach & consultancy, training, research and education in focus areas to various stakeholders in the sector, especially the State Water & Sanitation / Rural Water Supply/ Public Health Engineering Departments and others in achieving the objectives of Jal Jeevan Mission and Swachh Bharat Mission.

The total outlay for Jal Jeevan Mission is ₹ 3.60 lakh crore. 

14-Mar-2022: Supply of Clean and Safe Drinking Water

The Government of India is implementing Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) in partnership with States/ UTs to make provision of potable tap water supply in adequate quantity of prescribed quality to every rural household by 2024. As on 10th March, 2022, out of 19.31 Cr. rural households, 9.16 Cr. households have the provision of tap water supply. State, district and village-wise information related to JJM is placed in the public domain, which is available on JJM dashboard at: https://ejalshakti.gov.in/jjmreport/JJMIndia.aspx

The Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) was launched by the Government of India on 25thJune, 2015 in selected 500 cities and towns across the country, has one of the key objectives of ensuring that every household has access to a tap connection with assured supply of water. The water supply component includes new, augmentation and rehabilitation of water supply system; rejuvenation of water bodies for drinking water supply and special water supply arrangement for difficult areas, hills and coastal cities, including those having water quality problem. Under AMRUT Mission, out of the total plan size of ₹77,640 crore, ₹39,010 crore (50%) has been allocated to water supply sector only.

As informed by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, as on date, States/ UTs have taken up 1,351 water supply projects worth ₹42,400 crore, of which 834 projects worth ₹14,049 crore have been completed. Overall, water supply projects worth ₹31,863 crore have been physically completed. Against the target to provide 139 lakh tap connection in 500 AMRUT cities to achieve universal water supply, 126 lakh new water tap connections have been provided so far under AMRUT and in convergence with other schemes.

Further, Government of India has launched AMRUT 2.0 on 1stOctober, 2021 for a period of five years (FY 2021-22 to 2025-26), with the objective of providing universal coverage of water supply through functional household tap connections in all statutory towns in the country. AMRUT 2.0 focuses on making cities water secure through recycle/reuse of treated sewage, rejuvenation of water bodies and water conservation.

City-wise data on households deprived of safe and clean drinking water facility is not centrally maintained.

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has signed 14 MoUs/ Agreements/ Cooperation and Department of Drinking Water & Sanitation has signed 2 with Governments of other nations/ International Bodies on cooperation in the field of water supply, water and waste water management, etc.

16-Feb-2022: Jal Jeevan Mission achieves milestone of providing tap water to 9 Crore rural homes

To translate Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s vision of providing clean tap water to every home in the country by 2024, in a short span of two and half years and despite COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown disruptions, Jal Jeevan Mission, has provided tap water supply to more than 5.77 Crore rural households. As a result, today 9 Crore rural households in the country are enjoying benefits of clean tap water supply.

At the announcement of the Mission on 15th August 2019, out of 19.27 Crore households only 3.23 Crore (17%) households in India had tap water connections. Following the principle of Prime Minister’s vision of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas and Sabka Prayas’,  in this short period, 98 districts, 1,129 blocks, 66,067 Gram Panchayats and 1,36,135 villages have become ‘Har Ghar Jal’. In Goa, Haryana, Telangana, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Puducherry, Dadar & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, every rural household has tap water supply. Many more States like Punjab (99%), Himachal Pradesh (92.4%), Gujarat (92%) and Bihar (90%) are on the verge of becoming ‘Har Ghar Jal’ in 2022.

To achieve the mammoth task of providing tap water supply to every rural household in a span of five years, Rs 3.60 lakh Crore has been allocated. Rs. 60,000 Crore has been allocated to ‘Har Ghar Jal’ in Union Budget 2022-23 to provide tap water to 3.8 Crore households.

In addition to above, in 2021-22, Rs 26,940 Crore has been allocated to States as 15th Finance Commission tied grant for water & sanitation to Rural Local Bodies/ PRIs. There is an assured funding of Rs 1,42,084 Crore for the next five years i.e. up to 2025-26. This huge investment in rural areas across the country, is accelerating economic activities and boosting rural economy, as well as creating employment opportunities in villages.

In a paradigm shift from earlier water supply programmes, Jal Jeevan Mission focuses on water service delivery and not just building water supply infrastructure. The motto of the Jal Jeevan Mission is ‘no one is left out’, thus ensuring every household irrespective of its socio-economic status, gets tap water supply. Jal Jeevan Mission strives for the freedom of mothers and sisters from centuries old drudgery of fetching water for household, and improving their health, education and socio- economic condition. The Mission is bringing ‘ease of living and adding pride and dignity to rural families.

Under the Jal Jeevan Mission, quality-affected villages, Aspirational districts, SC/ST majority villages, water-scarce areas and Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojna (SAGY) villages are prioritized for providing tap water supply. In last 24 months, tap water supply has increased four-fold from 24 lakh (9.3%) to about 1.36 Crore (40%) households in 117 Aspirational districts. Similarly, more than 1.15 Crore households (38%) have been provided with tap water supply in 61 districts affected by Japanese Encephalitis-Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (JE-IES). Prior to announcement of JJM, only 8 lakh homes (2.64%) in JE-AES affected districts had tap water supply. In case, the building of surface water-based systems takes time in quality affected areas, as an interim measure, community water purification plants have been installed to provide safe water @ of 8-10 lpcd to every household.

To ensure health and well-being of children by providing clean tap water in schools and anganwadi centres in the country, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi announced a 100-days campaign, which was launched by the Union Minister Jal Shakti, Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on 2nd October 2020. So far, in a short span of 16 months, 8.46 lakh schools (82%) and 8.67 lakh (78%) anganwadi centre across the country have been provided with potable tap water supply for drinking & cooking mid-day meals, handwashing and use in toilets. 93 thousand rainwater harvesting facilities and 1.08 lakh grey water reuse structures have been developed in schools across the country. Andaman & Nicobar Island, Andhra Pradesh, D&NH and D&D, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Puducherry, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Uttarakhand have made provision of tap water in every school. Central Government has asked the States to ensure provision of clean tap water supply in the remaining schools and anganwadi centres at the earliest to ensure better health, improved sanitation and hygiene for children.

Jal Jeevan Mission is a ‘bottom up’ approach where community plays a vital role from planning to implementation, management, operation and maintenance. To achieve this, Village Water & Sanitation Committee (VWSC)/ Pani Samiti are being constituted and strengthened; Village Action Plan are developed through community engagement; Implementation Support Agencies (ISAs) are engaged to support village communities in programme implementation and create awareness among people. So far over 4.69 lakh VWSCs (Pani Samitis) have been constituted and more than 3.81 lakh Village Action Plans have been developed across India.

To build the capacity of the community to efficiently manage the water utility, Jal Jeevan Mission is conducting capacity building programmes with the help of Implementation Support Agencies (ISAs), 104 Key Resource Centres (KRCs), and sector partners working in the area of water across the country.

Water quality monitoring & surveillance activities are given top priority under the Jal Jeevan Mission. Five women in each village are being trained to test water samples of any kind of contamination by using Field test Kits (FTKs). FTKs are procured and handed over to Panchayats. The FTK helps to test water on nine parameters viz; pH, alkalinity, chloride, nitrate, total hardness, fluoride, iron, residual free chlorine and H2S. More than 9.13 lakh women have been trained so far to test water quality through FTKs.

There are 2,022 water testing laboratories in the country. Of these, 454 laboratories are NABL accredited. For the first time in the country, water testing laboratories are opened to public to get their water samples tested at nominal rates. Many States have provided mobile vans to enable collecting and testing water samples in faraway remote villages.

Jal Jeevan Mission leverages the use of technology to ensure transparency, accountability, proper utilization of funds and service delivery. Every water supply asset created under Jal Jeevan Mission is geo-tagged. Hydro-geo morphological (HGM) maps are used in planning single village scheme to identify drinking water sources and construct aquifer recharge structure. Household tap connections provided by JJM are linked with Aadhar number of the head of the household and more importantly all financial transactions are undertaken through Public Finance Management System (PFMS).

To ensure transparency and accountability in implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission, all information about Jal Jeevan Mission is in public domain and the JJM dashboard can be accessed at https://ejalshakti.gov.in/jjmreport/JJMIndia.aspx

With the active participation of people especially women, and rural communities working together, Jal Jeevan Mission has become a Jan Andolan. For long term drinking water security, local communities and Gram Panchayats are coming forward and taking responsibility to manage in village water supply systems, their water resources and grey water.  Jal Jeevan Mission is on track to fulfill the Government’s resolve to provide tap water supply to every rural household by 2024.

10-Feb-2022: Har Ghar Jal Yojana

To meet the rising aspirations of people living in villages to have piped water supply in their homes, since August 2019, Government of India is implementing Jal Jeevan Mission, in partnership with States to make provision of tap water supply to every rural household and public institutions in villages like schools, anganwadi centres, ashramshalas (tribal residential schools), health centres, Gram Panchayat building, etc., by 2024. The estimated outlay of the mission is Rs. 3.60 lakh Crore, out of which Central share is Rs. 2.08 lakh Crore.

At the time of announcement of Jal Jeevan Mission, out of 18.93 Crore rural households, 3.23 Crore (17%) households were reported to have tap water connections. So far, 5.72 Crore (29.63%) rural households have been provided with tap water connections in last 29 months. Thus, as of date, out of 19.28 Crore rural households in the country, 8.95 Crore (46.41%) households are reported to have tap water supply in their homes. So far, provision of tap water supply have been made in 8.45 lakh (82%) schools and 8.64 lakh (77%) anganwadi centres and 3.40 lakh (74%) health centres/ Gram Panchayat building etc. have been made.

The State/ UT, district & village-wise status of tap water connection in rural households, schools and anganwadi centres etc. as reported by States/ UTs is in public domain and available on JJM dashboard at: https://ejalshakti.gov.in/jjmreport/JJMIndia.aspx

With assured tap water supply, JJM is playing a significant role in bringing 'ease of living' for rural community, especially women. Assured availability of safe drinking water in the household premises will improve the health and thereby socio-economic condition of rural population and will also bring down the drudgery of rural women, especially girls, who travel long distances to bring water home. With the implementation of the mission, participation of women in income generation opportunities is also expected to improve thereby reducing loss of school days for girls and adverse health impacts.

4-Feb-2022: Tap water supply provided to 1.1 Crore homes in Aspirational Districts in 28 months under Jal Jeevan Mission

The Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Jal Shakti today organised a National Conference on assured portable water supply and ODF plus in Aspirational districts. CEO, NITI Aayog, Shri Amitabh Kant delivering his keynote address said that “Aspirational districts are unique in many ways and face multiple challenges. The model of working in these regions has been appreciated by many international agencies including UN. The impact of water and sanitation is multifold and directly affects health and nutrition. It is therefore important that District Collectors and policy makers provide the much-needed leadership to ensure that toilet facility and tap water reaches every rural home in the given timeline”. Smt. Vini Mahajan, Secretary DDWS, Chief Secretaries, Shri Arun Baroka, Addl. Secretary, DDWS, ACS and Principal Secretaries of States and over one thousand officials from DDWS, central ministries, NITI Aayog, State governments and CEOs/ DCs of Aspirational districts participated in the e-conference.

Setting the agenda for the conference, Smt. Mahajan appreciated the progress made by the districts in providing tap water supply to rural homes and ensuring toilet usage at all times post ODF. She said, “As both Jal Jeevan Mission and Swachh Bharat Mission are time-bound, mission mode programmes to provide tap water and sanitation facility with ‘no one is left out’ motto, it is important that consistent efforts are made by all in terms of water availability and clean toilets for long term sustainability of the programme.”

Shri Arun Baroka, Additional Secretary, DDWS presented performance of 117 aspirational districts in ODF Plus and providing tap water supply. At the time of launch of Jal Jeevan Mission on 15th August 2019 out of 3.39 Crore households in aspirational districts only 24 lakh household had access to tap water but today we are providing tap water in 1.34 Crore (39.53%) households. Three aspirational districts of Telangana and 1 district of Haryana have achieved 100% coverage.  In Aspirational districts, in 5,090 villages solid waste and in 3,663 villages liquid waste management has been started.

Shri Baroka said that it is imperative for Aspirational districts to speed up the efforts and make sure that the target deadline is not missed. He emphasized that provision of tap water must be ensured in schools and anganwadi centres for drinking, cooking mid-day meal, handwashing and usage in toilets.

Shri Kumar Ashirwad, CEO, Gadchiroli, Maharashtra, Shri R K Sharma, DC, Namsai, Arunachal Pradesh, Shri Uday Praveen, DC, Udalguri, Assam and Shri Deepak Soni, DC, Dantewada Chhattisgarh shared their experience in overcoming the challenges through innovative solutions in providing clean tap water and sanitation facilities in their districts.

Jal Jeevan Mission is implemented in a decentralized manner following the ‘bottom-up’ approach, wherein the local village community plays a key role starting from planning to implementation and from management to operation & maintenance. For this, the State undertakes community activities like engaging with the community and strengthening the Pani Samiti. Emphasizing on it, Shri Amitabh Kant stressed on efforts for rejuvenation of water bodies, conservation of water sources, rainwater harvesting and augmentation of surface water. He said, “community engagement has to be the core of the programme. Social and behaviour change is important to bring about change and make the programme a Jan Andolan. It is important that all DPRs are approved by March, 2022 so that work can be taken up in speed to make all Aspirational Districts ‘Har Ghar Jal’ by March 2023.

Working in line with ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas and Sabka Prayas ’, Jal Jeevan Mission aims at universal access to potable tap water supply. At the start of the mission in 2019, out of a total of 19.20 Crore rural households in the country, only 3.23 Crore (17%) had tap water supply. During the last 28 months, despite Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns disruptions, Jal Jeevan Mission has been implemented with speed and today, 5.69 Crore rural households have been provided with tap water connections. Presently, 8.93 Crore (46.34%) rural household across the country have tap water supply. States of Goa, Telangana, Haryana and UTs of Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Puducherry, D&NH and D&D have ensured 100% household tap connection in rural areas. At present, every household in 97 districts and more than 1.34 lakh villages are receiving tap water supply in their homes.

20-Dec-2021: Status of Nal Se Jal Scheme across India

Since August 2019, Government of India is implementing Jal Jeevan Mission, in partnership with States to make provision of tap water supply to every rural household and public institutions in villages like schools, anganwadi centres, ashramshalas (tribal residential schools), health centres, Gram Panchayat building, etc., by 2024.The estimated outlay of the mission is Rs. 3.60 lakh Crore, out of which Central share is Rs. 2.08 lakh Crore.

At the time of announcement of Jal Jeevan Mission, out of 18.93 Crore rural households, 3.23 Crore (17%) households were reported to have tap water connections. In last 27 months, 5.44 Crore (28.30%) rural households have been provided with tap water connections. Thus, as of date, out of 19.22 Crore rural households in the country, 8.67 Crore (45.10%) households are reported to have provision of tap water supply in their homes. So far, provision of tap water supply has been made in 8.33 lakh (81%) schools and 8.75 lakh (78.3%) anganwadi centres.

The State/ UT, district & village-wise status of tap water connection in rural households, schools and anganwadi centres as reported by States/ UTs is in public domain and available on JJM dashboard at:  https://ejalshakti.gov.in/jjmreport/JJMIndia.aspx

Year-wise timelines finalized by States/ UTs for making provision of tap water supply to every rural household is as follows:

In Goa, Telangana, Haryana, Puducherry, A & N Islands, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, provision for tap water supply to all rural households has been made.

With assured tap water supply, JJM is playing a significant role in improving the ‘quality of life’ of people as well as enhancing their 'ease of living', especially of women and children. Assured availability of safe drinking water in the household premises help in improving the health and thereby socio-economic condition of rural population. It also brings down the drudgery of rural women and girls, who travel long distance to fetch water for the family. With the implementation of the mission, participation of women in income generation opportunities is also expected to improve as well as reduction in loss of school days for girls and adverse health impacts.

JJM is also helping in mitigating the impact of CoVid-19 pandemic by ensuring tap water supply in rural homes, thereby avoiding crowding at public stand-posts. Assured tap water supply and handwashing facilities in schools, ashramshalas and anganwadi centres, also helps in preventing the spread of Coronavirus. 

Apart from this, implementation of drinking water supply works to ensure tap water supply in all 6.04 lakh rural villages to raise demand for materials like cement, bricks, gravel, sand, steel, pipes, motors, faucets, etc. on one hand and engagement of unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled workers for creation as well as for operation and maintenance of water supply schemes on the other. This also boosts the rural economy and income generation to people in rural areas.

9-Dec-2021: Implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission

To enable every rural household of the country to have provision of tap water supply by 2024, since August 2019, Government of India, in partnership with States, is implementing  Jal Jeevan  Mission  (JJM).

Following the principle of ‘no one is left out’, under Jal Jeevan Mission, provision of tap water supply is made in every rural household, including those in SC/ ST dominated villages of Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. Further, priority is given for provision of tap water supply in water-quality affected habitations, desert and drought-prone areas, SC/ ST majority villages, Aspirational & JE - AES affected districts, Saansad Adarsh Gramin Yojana villages, etc.

At the time of announcement of Jal Jeevan Mission, out of 18.93 Crore rural households, 3.23 Crore (17%) households were reported to have tap water connections. So far, 5.38 Crore (28%) rural households have been provided with tap water connections under JJM. Thus, as of date, out of 19.22 Crore rural households across the country, 8.62 Crore (44.84%) households are reported to have potable tap water supply in their homes.

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, lack of capacity of the local village communities to manage and operate in-village water supply infrastructure, etc. and delay in release of the matching State share in some States especially after the Covid-19 pandemic, are few problems faced in the implementation of the mission.

After the announcement of JJM, a conference of Ministers in-charge of rural water supply of States/ UTs was held in New Delhi followed by five regional workshops involving States/ UTs and other stakeholders working in water sector, to discuss the modalities for implementation as well as for firming up the operational guidelines for the mission.

Inputs received from various stakeholders including line ministries were examined and those found in consonance with the approval of the Government, have been incorporated while framing the Operational Guidelines for the implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission and the same has been released on 25th December, 2019.

1-Oct-2021: Over 5 Crore Tap Water Connections Provided Since Announcement of Jal Jeevan Mission

Since the announcement of Jal Jeevan Mission in August, 2019, in just about 25 months, over 5 Crore families have been provided with tap water connection in their homes. Despite Covid-19 pandemic, its subsequent lockdowns and challenges, States/ UTs worked relentlessly to ensure assured tap water supply to rural homes. Assured tap water supply in homes relieves people, especially women and young girls, from fetching water, carrying heavy loads at a distance, etc. thus, reducing their age-old drudgery. The newfound time is being used for income generation activities, learning new skills, supporting children’s education, etc.

Jal Jeevan Mission was announced by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on 15th August, 2019 to provide Functional Household Tap Connection (FHTC) to every home by 2024. In 2019, out of about 18.93 Crore households in rural areas, only 3.23 Crore (17%) had tap water connections. Thus, 15.70 Crore households are to be provided with tap water by 2024. In addition, functionality of all existing water supply systems and tap connections is also to be ensured. The programme directly benefits more than 19 Crore rural families, bridging rural – urban divide and improving public health. As on date, about 8.26 Crore (43%) rural households have tap water supply in their homes.

The motto of Jal Jeevan Mission is that ‘no one is left out.’ Every rural household in 78 districts, and 1.16 lakh villages is getting tap water supply. With focus on health and well-being of children, last year on Gandhi Jayanti, a campaign was launched to provide tap water connections to all schools, anganwadi centres and ashramshalas (tribal residential schools) for drinking, cooking mid-day meal, hand washing and use in toilets. As on date, tap water supply has been provided in 7.72 lakh (76%) schools and 7.48 lakh (67.5%) anganwadi centres.

Following a bottom-up approach, JJM is being implemented as a decentralized, demand-driven and community-managed programme with Gram Panchayats and/ or its sub-committees, i.e. Village Water & Sanitation Committees (VWSC)/ Pani Samitis playing a key role in planning, implementation, management, operation and maintenance of in-village water supply systems, thereby providing clean tap water to every household on regular and long-term basis.

The Pani Samitis/ VWSCs function as a legal entity as envisaged in the 73rd Amendment to the Constitution. It consists of 10-15 members with at least 50% women members and proportionate representation from weaker sections. VWSC prepared a one-time Village Action Plan (VAP), co-terminus with 15th Finance Commission period by dovetailing different resources at village level, which is to be approved in a Gram Sabha. VAP comprises of 4 key components of drinking water source augmentation, drinking water supply system, grey water treatment and its reuse, and regular operation and maintenance of in-village water supply system.

Further, a cadre of 30-40 members in every village are being trained and skilled to build their capacities to manage their in-village water supply systems. 5 women from every village, viz. ASHA, Anganwadi teacher, SHG leaders, etc. are being trained to test water quality using Field Test Kits (FTKs). 5-10 members are trained as plumbers, masons, motor mechanics, fitters, etc. so that skilled resource are available in every village to address any requirement, and also increasing employment opportunities. GP/ VWSC members are being trained to act as service providers, function as local public water utilities. A silent revolution is taking place in the villages.

Honouring Mahatma Gandhi’s vision of ‘Gram Swaraj’, this Gandhi Jayanti, i.e. 2nd October, 2021, a special Gram Sabha is being convened across the length and breadth of the country to discuss and deliberate on issues related to drinking water in their villages in a move to attain ‘WASH Prabudh Gaon’. On this occasion, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will do Samvaad, i.e. address about 3.3 lakh Village Water & Sanitation Committees/ Pani Samitis from 10 AM to 12 PM. This interaction with the Prime Minister will boost the energy of the community and local leaders who worked throughout the pandemic and during lockdown ensuring tap water reached every household.

As part of ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’ and to help in developing a responsive and responsible leadership to make village a WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) enlightened village, this Samvad intends to go a long way to bring vision of Gram Swaraj into a reality.

During the Samvad, Prime Minister Shri Modi will also release a progress report of Jal Jeevan mission, a manual for the utilization of 15th Finance Commission tied grant for RLBs/ PRIs and framework for Water Quality Monitoring & Surveillance (WQMS). The Prime Minister will also launch Jal Jeevan Mission App that can be used by all stakeholders, and Rashtriya Jal Jeevan Kosh. Any individual, institution, corporate, or philanthropist, in India or abroad, can contribute to help provide tap water connection in every rural household, school, anganwadi centre, ashramshala, panchayat, primary healthcare centre, etc.

31-Aug-2021: Jal Jeevan Mission promotes innovations and R&D

The Technical Committee constituted in the Department of Drinking Water & Sanitation, Ministry of Jal Shakti in its last meeting considered 6 innovation proposals and 8 R&D proposals and they would now be considered for listing in the innovation portal of the Department. The recommendations by the Committee would help the States/ UTs to use these technologies depending on their requirement and suitability.

Since August 2019, Government of India is implementing Jal Jeevan Mission in partnership with States to make provision of tap water supply to every rural home of the country by 2024. To realize the goal of the mission with ‘speed and scale’, amidst the diverse challenges that are encountered, require innovative technological solutions.

To assist the implementation agencies, a Technical Committee under the chairmanship of Principal Scientific Advisor to Government of India has been constituted under Jal Jeevan Mission to identify new technologies and select high end R&D proposals for funding. The Committee has representatives from Scientific Departments of Government of India, IITs, State Governments, NITI Aayog, NGOs and UNICEF.

The Committee was set up in October 2019 and despite CoVid-19 pandemic and other constraints, the Committee has met four times so far. It considered 114 innovative technologies and 84 R&D proposals and has accepted 10 innovative technologies and 2 R&D proposals for funding. The fourth meeting of the Technical Committee was held on 27th August, 2021 during which, it considered 6 innovation proposals and 8 R&D proposals. One of the R&D proposals considered in the meeting was undertaking IoT based monitoring of drinking water quantity and quality in rural drinking water systems in different parts of the country. The proposal was presented by different CSIR labs coming together as partners.

The National Jal Jeevan Mission has two separate portals each for recognition of innovations and funding R&D proposals in drinking water and sanitation sector. Companies/ technology service providers desirous of getting their innovation accepted by the Committee can upload them in the innovation portal. Similarly R&D proposals from young innovators, researchers, academia, entrepreneurs, start-ups working in this sector including action research proposals for adopting evidence-based technical intervention to manage rural water supply efficiently, effectively and economically can be uploaded in the R&D portal of the mission.

The innovative technologies approved are in the areas of decentralised and packaged sewage treatment, treatment of grey water and black water using a combination of green plants and bacterial culture, drinking water disinfection using auto-chlorination, IoT based electric vehicle for delivery of drinking water to households, water quality measurement kits using photometry and IoT based AI/ ML driven on-line water quality monitoring and disinfection. Under the R&D proposals, one was on to develop an inexpensive hand-held user-friendly device to produce quality drinking water in an emergency such as a flood and can be used to directly convert contaminated floodwater into potable water. The other was on demonstration of a technology for remediating community well water contaminated with an emerging & endocrine disrupting micro pollutant, Perchlorate in the State of Kerala.

The National Jal Jeevan Mission consolidates all the accepted innovations and shares the same with State Governments for consideration and adopting them. It is uploaded in the innovation portal giving wide publicity and recognition. At times, State Governments while seeking innovative solutions for the challenges faced, mention in their request for proposals that innovative technologies approved by the Technical Committee would be given preference. The results of the R&D studies would be shared with the States for pilot scale implementation followed by large scale deployment.

With focus on leveraging the use of technology for assured service delivery, the National Jal Jeevan Mission encourages young entrepreneurs, institutions, start-ups to upload their technologies/ seek funding for R&D in the frontier areas for filling the knowledge gap. The proposals can be uploaded in the portal using the following web links.

9-Apr-2021: Ladakh Presents Annual Action Plan for Providing Tap Water Connection to All Rural Households by 2022

The Union Territory of Ladakh today presented its Annual Action Plan to provide tap water connection to the rural households of the UT before the committee of Department of Drinking Water & Sanitation, Ministry of Jal Shakti, with members from different Central Ministries/ Departments and NITI Aayog. The committee carries out a rigorous scrutiny of the proposed Annual Action Plan (AAP) prepared by States/ UTs before finalizing the same. Thereafter, funds are released throughout the year and regular field visits, review meetings are held to ensure implementation of the Annual Action Plan to achieve the goal of Jal Jeevan Mission.

Ladakh has planned to accomplish the ambitious target of providing tap connection to every rural household i.e. 100% coverage by 2022. Slow progress was made by the UT last year primarily due to Covid-19 pandemic lock down. During the currentyear2021-22, the UT plans to provide tap connections to 32,514 households and the remaining 11,568 household by next year. Out of 44,082 rural households in the UT of Ladakh, only 3,760 households so far have been provided with tap connections. Ladakh plans to provide tap connections in 451 schools, 449 Anganwadi Centre, 13 Ashram Shala, 191 Gram Panchayat building and 327 healthcare centres.

In today’s meeting, the Additional secretary and Mission Director, National Jal Jeevan Mission stressed on retrofitting and augmentation of existing water supply schemes and urged the UT to start this work in ‘campaign mode’ to provide household tap connections from existing public stand-posts. The UT team assured expeditious implementation of the programme. It was highlighted that all drinking water sources need to be tested once for chemical parameters and twice for bacteriological contamination (pre and post monsoon) every year. Further, it was urged for training of at least 5 persons, preferably women, in every village for surveillance of water quality using field test kits (FTKs). The UT was asked for NABL accreditation of all laboratories in next few months.

The UT was impressed upon the need for preparation of Village Action Plans as well as constitution of Village Water &Sanitation Committee (VWSC)/ Pani Samiti with minimum 50% women members, responsible for planning, designing, implementing and operating & maintaining of in-village water supply infrastructure. All villages have to prepare Village Action Plan (VAP), which essentially will comprise of development/ augmentation of drinking water sources, water supply, grey-water management and operation & maintenance component.

The UT administration assured that in the current year, they will form VWSCs and prepare Village Action Plan. The UT will engage local civil society organization to extend handholding support to the Panchayats and local village community in programme implementation. Skill training will be organized for the local youth in plumbing, fitting, electrical works and masonry so as to create a cadre of trained manpower in villages, which will not only help in implementation of water supply infrastructure works, but also ensure regular operation & maintenance is being taken care of by local community. IEC campaign will be organized in the UT so that Jal Jeevan Mission becomes a truly people’s movement.

It’s the endeavour of the Government to provide tap water connection in rural households on priority during the prevailing CoVid-19 cases surge in the country, so that rural people don’t have to go through the hardship of fetching water from public stand-posts.

Government of India is committed to provide assured basic services to the people living in rural areas of the country with focus on improving their living standard and enhancing their ‘ease of living’. Drinking water is a service delivery, wherein the quantity, quality of water supplied, and periodicity of water supply is being ensured for which the Union Government’s flagship programme, Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) is under implementation since 15th August 2019. The objective of the Mission is universal coverage i.e., every family in the village gets tap water connection in their household.

In 2021-22, Rs. 50,000 Crore budgetary allocation has been made for Jal Jeevan Mission. In addition to this, there is also Rs. 26,940 Crore assured fund available under the 15th Finance Commission tied-grants to RLBs/ PRIs for water & sanitation, matching State share and externally aided projects. Thus, in 2021-22, more than Rs. 1 lakh Crore is planned to be invested in the country on ensuring tap water supply to rural homes. This kind of huge investment will give a boost to manufacturing activities, create employment opportunities in rural areas as well as boost to rural economy.

31-Mar-2021: Jal Jeevan Mission deploys first-of-its-kind sensor-based IoT devices to monitor rural drinking water supply systems

To monitor the rural drinking water supply systems in villages, the Ministry of Jal Shakti has decided to take the digital route to use sensor-based IoT devices to effectively monitor the implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) in more than six lakh villages. For this, National Jal Jeevan Mission in collaboration with Tata Community Initiatives Trust (TCIT) and Tata Trusts recently completed pilot projects in several remote villages of five States i.e. Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Himachal Pradesh. A key feature of these pilots has been the use of frugal yet sturdy sensors, which makes the solution scalable and sustainable. One of the key challenges posed to the team was to develop a robust solution at a fraction of the water infrastructure costs (<10-15% of total scheme capex) without compromising on quality or functionality. These costs are expected to reduce further at scale. More importantly, majority of the vendors, including manufacturers, are Indian players, thereby giving a boost to Government’s AatmaNirbhar Bharat programme. The pilots went live in September 2020 despite challenges during CoVid-19 pandemic.

The Internet of Things (IoT) based remote monitoring provides near real-time information without any manual intervention by using sensors. This would not only allow effective monitoring and management on-ground, but also enable real-time visibility to State water supply/ PHED officials, and citizens. With a futuristic vision to ensure regular tap water to every home, real-time measurement and monitoring is critical for rural drinking water supply schemes, with enormous gains in terms of operational efficiencies, cost reduction, grievance redressal, etc. Data will drive improvement in service delivery and instill transparency for precious natural asset such as water. Thus, making a strong social and economic case for deployment of such a system.

Rural drinking water supply design varies considerably across different regions of the country. These pilots were spread across diverse agro-climatic conditions - including areas in western Himalayas, desert regions to Gangetic plains (spanning extreme cold of -100C to severe heat of 480C. These pilots cover different types of sources such as groundwater based borewells, springs in hilly areas, and surface water (river and dams) and villages with a population of a few hundreds to several thousands. The pilots also demonstrated a first-of-its-kind comprehensive (source to tap) remote monitoring and control system in a completely off-grid (using solar and battery only) rural environment in Sirohi district, Rajasthan.

Several types of sensors have been deployed including flow meters, ground water level sensors, chlorine analyzers, pressure sensors, pump controller etc. to measure all the relevant aspects of water service delivery – quantity, duration, quality, pressure, and sustainability – in addition to providing operational efficiencies. The cloud and analytics powered IoT Platform is integrated with a GIS (Geographical Information System) providing a robust decision support system.

The pilots have led to several outcomes as it has helped identify distribution issues – such as outages, leakages, low pressure, etc. and led to resolution across sites. It recently alerted both officials and community regarding fast depleting groundwater levels, that led the villagers to build a source strengthening structure to recharge their borewell. Other benefits observed include efficient and responsible use of water by community and reduced cost of operations through data-enabled leak detection, predictive maintenance, and automation.

Villages have a small TV screen installed with a visual dashboard in local vernacular, that helps the VWSC/ PaniSamiti take corrective actions. This has also led to a positive behavioral change. Earlier, water disinfection process was not carried out regularly in some of these villages. Now, the VWSC (PaniSamiti) sees a visual indicator on their village IoT screen telling when to disinfect water based on residual chlorine levels.

Customizing IoT for rural India is critical considering the Wi-Fi broadband and cellular connectivity. In fact, most locations in rural water network lack easy access to grid for powering such IoT devices, which is in an urban setting. “It requires using a combination of technologies such as RF and cellular for communications, and using solar or battery-based powering mechanisms for difficult to access locations. Further, optimizing data transmission rates can play an important role in enhancing battery life and keeping operating costs low”, mentions Mr. Siddhant Masson, Project Lead – IoT based Smart Water Management, TCIT.

The way forward

The success of these pilot projects has not gone unnoticed. Several States, including Gujarat, Bihar, Haryana, and Arunachal Pradesh, have already rolled out tenders for IoT-based remote monitoring systems ranging from 500 villages to several districts. Further, States like Sikkim, Manipur, Goa, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand have started the process to roll-out this technology.

Implementation of such innovative technology can directly boost several Union Government initiatives, including Aatmanirbhar Bharat, Digital India, Smart Village and also benefit the Smart Cities projects with an enhanced IoT ecosystem in the country; in addition to being the gamechanger for the drinking water supply sector.

Drinking water supply systems in Indian villages face multiple challenges of drying up of groundwater source, pump failures, irregular and inadequate water supply, etc. These challenges invariably aggravate socio-economic disparities, like women transporting water, often on foot over several kilometers; several water-borne diseases, which could easily be avoided; also, economic – wage loss and expenditure on medical care. The need of the hour is to ensure and put in place systems to effectively monitor and manage rural water supply.

Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), Union Government's flagship programme, which is implemented in partnership with States/ UTs to provide tap water connection to every rural household by 2024envisions creating a Digital Wall and Remote Command & Control Centre for monitoring and managing supply of prescribed quality water in adequate quantity (55 Liters Per Capita per Day - LPCD) every day through household tap connections across all rural villages.

29-Mar-2021: Since launch of Jal Jeevan Mission, over 4 Crore rural homes provided with tap water connections

Announced by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on 15th August, 2019, with the aim to provide tap water supply to every rural home by 2024, Jal Jeevan Mission has reached a new milestone of providing over 4 Crore rural households with tap water supply. Now, 7.24 Crore (38%) i.e. more than 1/3rd of rural households are getting potable water through taps. Goa has become the first State in the country to provide 100% tap water supply followed by Telangana and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. The untiring efforts of States/ UTs have helped Jal Jeevan Mission provide assured tap water supply to every family living in 56 districts and over 86 thousand villages. States/ UTs are now competing with each other and focusing on the target to ensure that every household in the country gets safe drinking water , so that 'no one is left out’.

The remote Kakisnur village of Velairpad Mandal, Andhra Pradesh is home to 200 people amidst thick forest, hilly area with no road connectivity and power supply. But, it just received 24x7 potable water supply under Government of India’s Jal Jeevan Mission programme being implemented in partnership with States/ UTs. The efforts are in line with Government of India’s endeavour to provide clean tap water in rural households with focus on improving their living standards and enhancing the ‘ease of living’. The impact of safe water in Kakisnur village is seen through the improved health outcomes among the village community. The road to 100% Functional Household Tap Connection (FHTC) in Kakisnur was indeed tough. District authorities faced impediments as they implemented the Har Ghar Jal programme in this remote village which was accessible after a 20km ride alongside Godavari river. Hand drilling machines were loaded on a boat, borewell was drilled close to the local stream, solar power-based dual pump was erected supplying potable drinking water to the entire village.

Seven-year old Vaishnavi from Orumanaiyur village in Thrissur district of Kerala was tasked with the job of fetching water when both her parents and grandmother contracted CoVid-19 and had to quarantine. Being the eldest of the three siblings, she suddenly had to play the role of an elder. However, even her and her siblings were not allowed to venture out of the house as they were seen by local community as potential carriers. But to their surprise, tap water connection was provided in their home the very next day. Timely provision of tap water supply has helped this family survive difficult times.

There are many such stories from the field which show how Jal Jeevan Mission – Har Ghar Jal is changing lives.

Jal Jeevan Mission is being implemented in partnership with the States with an aim to provide potable water in adequate quantity, of prescribed quality on regular and long-term basis. Extensive planning exercise is undertaken by the States/ UTs following ‘bottom-up approach’. Accordingly, they have firmed up the Action Plan to provide tap water connection to every rural household. While implementing, States are giving priority to water quality-affected areas, villages in drought prone and desert areas, Scheduled Caste/ Scheduled Tribe majority villages, aspirational districts and Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojna villages.

Since children are more susceptible to water-borne diseases, a campaign has been launched to provide tap water supply in schools and ashram shalas and anganwadi centres across the country so that whenever the schools reopen, children are provided with safe water for drinking. Tap water to be used for cooking mid-day meal, providing handwashing facility and usage in toilets.

Potable water supply to water quality-affected habitations is a top priority under Jal Jeevan Mission. Efforts are made to ensure safe drinking water is provided to all quality-affected villages especially Arsenic and Fluoride affected rural habitations. JJM gives highest priority to potability of drinking water, which will reduce water-borne diseases and improve health of people. States/ UTs are upgrading water quality testing laboratories and opening them to public enabling them to get their water samples tested at nominal rates.

Following the appeal of Prime Minister, Jal Jeevan Mission aims to make water everyone’s business, i.e. ‘Jan Andolan’. As Prime Minister launched ' Catch the rain' campaign on World water day i.e. 22 March, 2021 and appealed all to conserve every drop of water, efforts are made to involve all stakeholders.

Jal Jeevan Mission is not about only infrastructure creation; focus is on ‘service delivery’ by empowering local communities to function as local water utilities. It is important to spread awareness on judicious use of water especially as piped water reaches every household in the village. It is envisioned that the Gram Panchayat and/ or its sub-committee, i.e. Village Water & Sanitation Committee (VWSC)/ Pani Samiti, etc. plays a key role in planning, implementation, management, operation & maintenance of in-village water supply systems. Building responsive and responsible leadership will ensure that the water supply systems are sustainable and last the life cycle of the design period.

17-Feb-2021: Jal Jeevan Mission- Urban Designed to Cover all Cities in the Country

Shri Durga Shanker Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs has stated that the Jal Jeevan Mission (Urban) (JJM (U)) is designed to provide universal coverage of water supply to all households. He added that JJM-U will lead to competition among cities to become more water secure and will create more awareness and sensitivity towards water conservation.

Shri Mishra said while launching the Pilot Pey Jal Survekshan last evening that based on the learnings of the pilot, this Survekshan will be extended to all the AMRUT cities. The mission will further work towards minimising water distribution losses to reduce non revenue water from current 40-50% to nearly 20%. Improving water quality is a major component of the mission so that the objective of ‘drink from tap’ can be realized. Further, treatment and reuse of waste water generated will be another important focus area.

 Pilot on Pey Jal Survekshan has been launched in 10 cities namely Agra, Badlapur, Bhubaneswar, Churu, Kochi, Madurai, Patiala, Rohtak, Surat and Tumkur. Pey Jal Survekshan will be conducted in cities to ascertain equitable distribution of water, reuse of wastewater and mapping of water bodies with respect to quantity and quality of water through a challenge process. Mission will be monitored through a technology-based platform on which beneficiary response will be monitored along with progress and output-outcome.

Jal Jeevan Mission (Urban) (JJM (U)) is designed to provide universal coverage of water supply to all households through functional taps in all 4,378 statutory towns in accordance with SDG Goal- 6. Sewerage/septage management in 500 AMRUT cities with the objective of making them water secure are the major focus areas under JJM(U). Estimated gap in urban household tap connections is 2.68 crore and estimated gap in sewer connections/septage in 500 AMRUT cities is 2.64 crore, which is proposed to be covered in JJM(U). The total outlay proposed for JJM(U) is ₹2,87,000 crore which includes ₹10,000 crore for continuing financial support to AMRUT Mission.

30-Jan-2021: MPs to play an active role in making Jal Jeevan Mission a ‘Jan Andolan’

Recognizing the key role Members of Parliament/ elected representatives can play in mobilizing the local community and empowering them to ensure assured piped water supply in rural homes, provisions have been made in the implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission to enable their participation to make Jal Jeevan Mission – Har Ghar Jal, a 'Jan Andolan'. The National Jal Jeevan Mission (NJJM) issued an advisory to States elaborating on the roles; the Members of Parliament can play in achieving the goal of the Mission. 

Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) is being implemented in partnership with States to provide functional tap water connection to every rural home by 2024. JJM is a decentralized, demand-driven and community-managed programme with the Gram Panchayat and/ or its sub-committee, i.e. Village Water & Sanitation Committee (VWSC)/ Pani Samiti/ User Group, etc. playing a key role in planning, implementation, management, operation and maintenance of in-village water supply systems. The Mission envisions to empower Gram Panchayat and/ or its sub-committee, i.e. VWSC/ Pani Samiti to function as a ‘local water utility’ that focuses on water supply service delivery. Thus, efforts are being made to involve local community to make water everyone's business.

Every village has to prepare a 5-year Village Action Plan (VAP) co-terminus with 15th Finance Commission by dovetailing all resources available under various schemes/ programmes in the village e.g.  MGNREGS, 15th FC grants for PRIs, JJM, SBM(G) and other sources like District Mineral Development Fund (DMDF), CSR Fund, MP/ MLA Local Area Development Funds, public contributions, etc.

Starting with involvement of MPs in District Water &Sanitation Mission (DWSM), which includes review of progress of JJM in districts; promote community engagement and participation; prioritize convergence with MPLAD funds and other centrally sponsored scheme funds; resolution of bottlenecks in implementation of schemes; and overall to ensure that implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission - Har Ghar Jal is being done in accordance with provisions of the Operational Guidelines of the mission, so that every rural household gets assured potable tap water on regular and long-term basis.

MPs are already nominated as Co-Chairperson of the District Level District Development Coordination & Monitoring Committee (DISHA) of the Ministry of Rural Development. Their inputs/ suggestions would be considered while finalizing the District Action Plan (DAP) for 100% coverage for provision of drinking water in all rural households of the districts in their constituencies.

Further, before declaring any district as' Har Ghar Jal' district, i.e. districts with tap water supply in every rural home, Members of Parliament whose constituencies are part of the district would be consulted so that ‘no one is left out’.

As envisaged in the programme, Village Action Plan (VAP) for five years co-terminus with 15th Finance Commission period is to be prepared for each village with active involvement of local community. These VAP shave components i.e. strengthening of local drinking water sources; in-village water supply infrastructure to provide tap water connections to every home and public institutions; grey water treatment and reuse; and operation & maintenance of water supply systems so as every family gets assured supply of potable water on regular and long-term basis. The VAP will be prepared by the Gram Panchayat/ VWSC/ Pani Samiti with the help from RWS/ PHE department and implementation support agencies (ISAs). The work and activities identified in the VAP will be implemented by dovetailing of resources available at village level under various schemes/ programmes. The VAP is the document to ensure long-term sustainability of water sources and systems in villages. People’s representatives will play a huge role in community mobilization, bring transparency and local community will have the water supply schemes of their choice and need. This is the true empowerment of people.

To bring in ‘sense of ownership’ and pride among rural communities, under Jal Jeevan Mission, there is a provision of 5% capital cost contribution in form of cash and/ or kind and/ or labour towards in-village water supply infrastructure in hilly, forested, and more than 50% SC/ ST population dominant villages, and 10% capital cost of the in-village infrastructure in remaining villages.

Considering the importance of water and sanitation in rural areas, 15th Finance Commission has identified water supply and sanitation as priority areas and accordingly, for rural local bodies, in 2020-21, Rs. 30,375 Crore ‘tied-grant’ has been allocated for a.) supply of drinking water, rain water harvesting and water recycling; and b.) sanitation and maintenance of open-defecation free (ODF) status, in villages. Thus, PRIs are to utilize this tied grant on water and sanitation for long-term sustainability.

States/ UTs have firmed up their timelines for 100% coverage of households with tap water connections. Timeline of States/ UTs for 100% coverage with FHTCs is as follows:

• 100% FHTCs in 2020:     Goa
• 100% FHTCs in 2021:     A&N Islands, Bihar, Puducherry and Telangana
• 100% FHTCs in 2022:     Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Meghalaya, Punjab, Sikkim, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh
• 100% FHTCs in 2023:     Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tamil Nadu and Tripura
• 100% FHTCs in 2024:     Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan and West Bengal.

Safe water to children is critical for their well-being and holistic development. To facilitate piped water supply in anganwadi centres, ashram shalas (residential schools in tribal areas) and schools on priority, a 100-day campaign has been launched on 2nd October, 2020. Under the Campaign, focus is on making provision of safe piped water supply for drinking and cooking of mid-day meals along with piped water supply for hand washing and use in toilets. Considering the challenges faced by the States/ UTs to complete the works, the campaign is being continued till March 31, 2021. In this campaign, involvement of MPs will speed up in achieving assured tap water in schools, anganwadi centres and ashram shalas.

At the time of announcement of the Jal Jeevan Mission in August 2019, about 3.23 Crore (17%) households out of total 18.93 Crore rural households in the country, had tap water supply. Remaining 83% rural households are to be provided with tap water connections by 2024. Despite Covid-19 pandemic and resultant disruption, drinking water supply works continued and as a result, in this period, 3.28 Crore households were provided tap water connections. Thus, now, more than 1/3rd rural homes (34%) of the country i.e. 6.52 Crore rural households are now having tap water supply in their homes.

There is a healthy competition among the States/ UTs toper form better. This has provided further impetus to the ongoing efforts to provide tap water connections in rural homes and in schools, anganwadi centres and ashram shalas. Goa has become the first State in the country to provide tap water connections to all rural households followed by Telangana. As of now, in 52 districts, and in more than 660 Blocks, 38,000 Gram Panchayats and 72,000 villages, all households have started getting tap water supply.

With union Government’s focus to improve the ‘quality of life’ and bring ‘ease of living’ of the people living in rural areas, involvement of the Members of Parliament in this flagship programme will make Jal Jeevan Mission, a people’s movement, i.e. Jan Andolan.

12-Jan-2021: National Jal Jeevan Mission team visits Manipur

A team of 6 members from National Jal Jeevan Mission is on a visit to Manipur from 10th to 13th January, 2021. The team intends to provide technical assistance thereby supporting the State realize the goal of ‘Har Ghar Jal’ under the flagship programme, Jal Jeevan Mission. The team aims to identify the issues and challenges faced by the programme implementors in the State as well as document the good practices for upscaling and replication in other parts of the country.

The team will be visiting Kakching, Thoubal, Bishnupur, & Noney districts during the four-day long tour. They will be interacting with the field level officials involved in the implementation of water supply schemes as well as Gram Pradhans and members of Gram Panchayats who are the custodians of the infrastructure thus created under the programme. The team will also be holding meeting with the Chairperson of District Water & Sanitation Mission/ Deputy Commissioner to brief them about the progress and seek their intervention for speedy implementation of the programme. On the last day of the visit, a de-brief session is also planned by the team.

Manipur State has around 4.51 lakh rural households, out of which tap water supply is available to 1.67 lakh (37%) households. The State aims to provide 2 lakh Functional Household Tap Connections in 2020-21. The State has planned for 100% tap water connections coverage by 2021-22 under Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM).

Jal Jeevan Mission is a flagship program announced by Prime Minister in August, 2019, which aims to provide all rural households with tap water supply in adequate quantity & of prescribed quality by 2024. Union Government is committed to providing all assistance to the State as provision of potable water is a top priority. Under the programme, funds are provided by Government of India based on the outputs in terms of tap water connections provided and the utilization of available central and matching State share. Centre has allocated Rs 131.80 Crore to Manipur in 2020-21.

There is need for convergence planning to be done by the State under various programmes like MGNREGS, JJM, SBM (G), 15th Finance Commission Grants to PRIs, CAMPA,  Local Area Development Fund, etc. at village level and Village Action Plan (VAP) of every village is to be prepared for 5 years co-terminus with the 15th Finance Commission by dovetailing all such funds for carrying out various activities to ensure drinking water security.

Manipur though falls under high intensity of rainfall area also faces an acute shortage of water particularly during dry/ lean season of February - May every year. Manipur has primarily an agrarian economy, with significant hydroelectric power generation potential. The mismanagement of water has severely depleted water supply and degraded water quality in Manipur. Scarcity, overexploitation and pollution are the key areas of concern regarding water management. With proper recharge structures and watershed management, infiltration rate can be increased that will help in better groundwater recharging.

The State has been working hard in implementing Jal Jeevan Mission- amidst the challenges of rough terrain & climatic conditions, further compounded by the impediments caused due to Covid-19 pandemic. The works under JJM is in full swing in the State and visit of NJJM team will provide impetus to the implementation of the programme in the State.

7-Jan-2021: National Jal Jeevan Mission team visits West Bengal to provide technical assistance and support the State to achieve the goal of ‘Har Ghar Jal’ by 2023-24

A team of 8 members from National Jal Jeevan Mission (NJJM) is on a 4-day visit to West Bengal from 5 to 8 January, 2021 to provide technical assistance to the State for realizing the goal of ‘Har Ghar Jal’ under the Jal Jeevan Mission, a flagship programme  being implemented by the Union Government in partnership with States. The visit also aims to identify the issues and challenges being faced by the programme implementers in the State and to document the good practices as well.

The team is visiting Purba Mednipur, Paschim Mednipur, Nadia, Murshidabad, Birbhum, Bardaman, Bankura and Paschim Bardhaman districts of the State during these 4 days. The members of NJJM are interacting with the field level officials involved in the implementation of water supply schemes as well as Gram Pradhans, members of Gram Panchayats, members of Village Water and Sanitation Committees/ Paani Samiti and the beneficiaries. The team is also holding meetings with the Chairperson of District Water & Sanitation Mission/ District Collector to brief them about the progress of work in their area and seek their intervention for speedy implementation of the programme.

West Bengal is planning 100% coverage by 2024 to accomplish the ambitious target of providing tap connection to every rural household of the State. And, for achieving this time-bound goal under JJM, Government of India is committed to provide all assistance to the State and thus working in tandem with the State Government. Earlier in the last month, a 4 member team had visited the State to provide technical assistance thereby expediting the pace of implementation in the State.

Out of 1.63 Crore rural households, the State of West Bengal has a coverage of 7.61 lakh households and the State is committed to provide tap connections to all households in the State by 2023-24. The works under JJM is in full swing in the State and visit of NJJM team will provide impetus to the implementation of programme in the State. During 2020-21, the State has an assured availability of Rs. 2,760.76 Crore of Central share funds including opening balance of Rs. 1,146.58 Crore, while after including the States’ share, West Bengal has a total availability of Rs. 5,770 Crore under JJM to provide household tap connections. Further, additional funds too can be provided to the State based on the progress of implementation in form of performance incentive under JJM.

West Bengal has Rs 4,412 Crore as 15th Finance Commission Grants to Panchayati Raj Institutions, 50% of which will mandatorily be spent on water and sanitation. There is need for convergence planning to be done by the State under various programmes like MGNREGS, JJM, SBM (G), 15th Finance Commission Grants to PRIs, District Mineral Development Fund, CAMPA, CSR Fund, Local Area Development Fund, etc. at village level and Village Action Plan (VAP) of every village is to be prepared for 5 years co-terminus with the 15th Finance Commission by dovetailing all such funds for carrying out water conservation activities to strengthen water source leading to drinking water security.

Under the life altering Jal Jeevan Mission, every rural household in the country will be provided with a Functional Household Tap Connection for the supply of potable water in adequate quantity and of prescribed quality on a regular and long-term basis. Following the true spirit of cooperative federalism, State Governments are implementing this flagship programme to realize the objectives of the Mission to enhance ‘ease of living’ of people in rural areas as well as reduce the ‘drudgery’ of women, especially girls. This life-changing Mission focuses on the key principles of ‘equity and inclusiveness’. With a departure from earlier programmes, this mission stresses on service delivery, rather than infrastructure creation.

1-Jan-2021: In the last one year, more than 3 Crore tap water connections provided under Jal Jeevan Mission

On 15th August, 2019, Jal Jeevan Mission was announced by the Hon’ble Prime Minister from the ramparts of the Red Fort with an aim to provide Functional Household Tap Connection (FHTC)to every rural household by 2024. Jal Jeevan Mission is under implementation since August, 2019 in partnership with the State governments with an aim to provide potable water in adequate quantity and of prescribed quality on regular and long-term basis. As on 15th August 2019, out of 18.93 Crore rural households, 3.23 Crore (17%) had tap water connections.

During this year, every State/ UT did extensive planning following ‘bottom-up approach’ and have firmed up their plan to provide tap water connection to every home. The untiring efforts of States/ UTs have helped Jal Jeevan Mission provide 3 Crore tap water connections since August, 2019. Further, 26 districts, 457 Blocks, 34,919 Panchayats and 65,627 villages have become 'Har Ghar Jal' meaning every family living in these rural areas is getting assured tap water supply in their homes and 'no one is left behind'. Goa has become the first State in the country to provide 100% FHTCs and became 'Har Ghar Jal' State. Different States are competing with each other and focusing on the set target to ensure that every household in the country gets safe drinking water adhering to the core principle of 'equity & inclusiveness'.

States are giving priority to water quality-affected areas, Scheduled Caste/ Scheduled Tribe majority villages, aspirational districts, village in drought prone and desert areas and quality-affected habitations. States are working to ensure that piped water supply reaches the regions affected by Fluoride and Arsenic at the earliest as well.

The Jal Jeevan Mission journey so far has been filled with challenges and disruptions as the entire world battled with CoVid-19 pandemic fromMarch,2020 till date. All the works have been badly affected due to lockdown and construction work was badly affected in most parts of the country. Handwashing has become the most important tool meaning availability of adequate safe & clean water inside home has become all the more important. Giving primacy to this and with the spirit of changing lives, States/ UTs continued the water supply work following due precautions emphasized by the Government. Continuing work despite CoVid-19 also proved to be a boon for local economy generating livelihoods in their own villages, especially for the migrant labour who returned home.

As the Union government has been working towards making lives better for women across various sections by constructing individual household and community toilets, providing cooking gas, etc. similarly, tap water connections within the household aims to reduce drudgery and enhance 'ease of living' for young girls and women who are often burdened with the task of fetching water from the public standpost and walking long distances in search of water. By providing water at the doorstep, Jal Jeevan Mission is impacting the lives in multiple ways by improving the health parameters and reducing dropout from school among children.

Ensuring disease free life and holistic development of our children is a priority. In this spirit, a '100-Day Campaign' was launched on 2nd October, 2020 to provide piped water supply to every school, anganwadi centre (AWC) and ashram shala, i.e. residential schools for children from tribal communities. Under this campaign, potable tap water will not only be available for drinking and cooking mid-day meals, but also for hand washing and running tap water in toilets. So far, in 3 months, more than 4.4 lakh rural schools and about 3.73 lakh AWCs have started getting potable tap water. Punjab and Tamil Nadu have become the first States to provide every school with tap water supply. Also, every AWC in Tamil Nadu is provided with tap water.

Consumption of contaminated water has adverse impact on our health, especially children. In this backdrop, upgradation of water quality testing laboratories and its accreditation from NABL have been taken up. There are about 2,300 water quality testing laboratories with States/ UTs and these have been opened up to general public, so that they can get their water samples tested at a nominal cost.  Also, emphasis is given to empowering local village community to keep surveillance on quality of water supply and/ or source through regular testing using Field Test Kits (FTKs). A grand challenge is going on in partnership with the DPIIT to develop ‘portable domestic water quality testing devices’.

Under Jal Jeevan Mission, Village Action Plans (VAPs) for five years, co-terminus with the 15th Finance Commission are prepared so that fund available to PRIs can be gainfully utilized by GPs for assured water supply delivery to homes. These VAPs are aggregated at district level to formulate the District Action Plans (DAPs), which are consolidated at State level to formulate the State Action Plan (SAP). SAP covers projects like regional water supply schemes, bulk water supply and distribution projects, etc. to ensure drinking water security in the State.

The mission requires skilled human resources in areas like masonry, plumbing, fitting, electricals, pump mechanics, etc., in every village/ habitation, whose services will be used for creation of water supply schemes as well as regular O&M. Such a pool of skilled human resources in rural areas will make villages a self-reliant unit for regular upkeep and maintenance of water supply systems in line with idea ‘AatmaNirbhar Bharat’. This programme is to provide employment opportunities and boost local economy.

National Jal Jeevan Mission is assisting States/ UTs, which also include teams visiting villages to review the implementation and provide technical assistance to expedite the implementation with focus on prudent investment. The teams interact with members of GPs/ VWSCs and local community as well as PHED officials with focus on community participation and institutional arrangements for expeditious implementation. It is observed that local village communities, NGOs, SHGs, sector partners have joined hands to make Jal Jeevan Mission truly a ‘people’s programme’. The Mission is working on bringing about social and behavior change to ensure drinking water security. 

5-Dec-2020: National Jal Jeevan Mission team visits Andhra Pradesh to provide technical assistance & help the State to realize the goal of ‘Har Ghar Jal’ by 2023-24

A team of 6 members from the National Jal Jeevan Mission (NJJM) is visiting Andhra Pradesh during 2 – 5December, 2020 to provide technical assistance to the State to realize the goal of ‘Har Ghar Jal’ under the flagship programme, Jal Jeevan Mission as well as identify different issues and challenges and to document good practices. The team is visiting different parts of the State and interacting with field-level officials involved with the implementation of water supply schemes as well as Gram Pradhans and members of Gram Panchayats. The team is also holding meetings with the Chairperson of District Water& Sanitation Mission/District Collector to brief them about the progress and seek their intervention for speedy implementation of the programme.

Jal Jeevan Mission is a flagship program of the Union Government which aims to provide all rural households potable water in adequate quantity & of prescribed quality on regular and long-term basis. Union Government and State Governments are working hand in hand to accomplish this ambitious goal of provision of assured potable water in rural homes.

Government of Andhra Pradesh has planned to provide functional tap water (FHTC) to all rural households of the State by 2023-24. Out of 95.66 lakh rural households in the State, till now 34.94 lakh households have been provided with tap water connections and plans are afoot to cover the remaining houses. The 6-member team covered 9 districts viz. Vishakhapatnam, Krishna, Chittoor, Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, West Godavari, Kadapa, Anantapur and Kurnool. Different villages/ habitations were selected randomly to see the progress of the mission works. The team visited Kothavalasa block of Vizianagaram district where the discussions were held with people and VWSC comprising of five women members. In Palletummalapalem village, tap water connections were provided during the 100-daycampaign at Panchayat Bhawan and schools in Krishna district. In the village, there is an overhead tank with sump and slow sand filter arrangement to supply water.

The team also visited Raghavampalli village, Mustur Gram Panchayat in Anantapur district. The village has 282 households, out of which 149 households have functional household tap connection. Similarly, households in Mopidevi village in Krishna district are getting assured water supply. Vaddemanu village in Nandikotur block of Kurnool district has 100% tap water connections. Household tap water connections were provided in the village even inhabitation which had hard rock.

NJJM team also visited Ambativalasa habitation of Reemapeta Gram Panchayat in Vizianagaram district where all households have been provided tap water connections in May, 2020. VWSC has been formed here with 50% women participation. R. Lilawatamma an old lady residing in the village said, “At my age, it is very difficult to carry water from the Public Stand Post every day. But with the facility of tap connection in the house, I now feel relieved. At least in old age, I will not be forced to carry heavy buckets. It makes me happy to see the water flow.”

A silent revolution is happening in these villages, where Government’s vision of providing basic amenities, thereby improving the lives of people, and enhancing ease of living is getting fulfilled as well as realizing the aspirations of the people.

19-Oct-2020: Grand ICT Challenge under Jal Jeevan Mission receives impressive response; Aims to harness vibrant ‘Internet of Things’ eco-systems for creating smart rural water supply system

National Jal Jeevan Mission in partnership with Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) had launched an ICT Grand Challenge to create innovative, modular, and cost-effective solution to develop a ‘Smart Water Supply Measurement and Monitoring System’ to be deployed at the village level. The last date was  12 October 2020. A total of 213 proposal from various Indian Tech start-ups, MSMEs, Indian Companies, Indian LLPs have been received which will now be scrutinized by a jury committee appointed by MEITY and select the proposals.  The ambitious mission focuses on service delivery rather than mere creation of infrastructure. This kind of technological challenge offers a great opportunity to ensure long-term sustainability of water supply systems in rural areas.

This grand challenge will harness the vibrant IoT eco-systems of India for creating smart rural water supply eco-system to measure and monitor the service delivery of the water supply in rural areas. This challenge will provide opportunity to work for cause of Jal Jeevan Mission and to assure potable water supply through functional household tap connection to every rural household of the country.

The Grand challenge will provide support at ideation Stage, prototype development stage, deployment stage. The pilot will be conducted in100 villages. The best solution will get cash prize of Rs. 50 Lakh and runner ups will get prize of Rs. 20 Lakh each. The successful developers will be given an opportunity to join the MeitY supported incubator for further nurturing of the solution. This will boost the idea and thrust of initiatives like Aatmanirbhar Bharat, Digital India and Make in India.

Union Government’s flagship programme- Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) is being implemented in partnership with States for providing Functional Household Tap water Connection (FHTC) to every rural household by 2024. The programme focuses on service delivery at the household level, i.e. water supply regularly in adequate quantity and of prescribed quality, on long-term basis. This necessitates the use of modern technology in systematic monitoring of the programme and to capture service delivery data automatically for ensuring the quality of services. Digitisation of water supply infrastructure has the potential to solve some of the biggest societal problems facing the nation. More importantly, it will help anticipate and address future challenges.

12-Oct-2020: Haryana Government launches State of the Art Mobile Water Testing Laboratory Van

The supply of clean and safe water is essential for public health therefore, ensuring supply of water along with regular testing is imperative. The Jal Jeevan Mission of the Ministry of Jal Shakti aims to provide tap water connection to every rural home by 2024. The work under this mission is being done on war footing and the mission gives a lot of emphasis on water quality surveillance and monitoring. Taking cognizance of the pressing need for water testing, Govt. of Haryana has come up with a novel approach by launching a State of the Art Mobile Water Testing Laboratory Van, fully equipped with multi-parameter system containing analyzers/ sensor/ probes/ instruments meant for water testing. Water Quality in State of Haryana is mainly affected by constituents like total dissolved solids (TDS), Fluoride, nitrate, iron and alkalinity.

This mobile water testing lab van has been uniquely designed and fully loaded with latest technologies and features. It is GPS enabled for location tracking and the analyzed sample data can be transmitted to a centralized PHED server via GPRS/ 3G connectivity with power backup. It also provides On-site recording and reporting of results through a smart phone or similar device with the ability to send results direct to a web based secure central server. This mobile van also has a fully automated sensor-based analysis controlled by centrally commanded software. The LED display unit in the mobile lab gives an instant display of the results immediately after analysis.

Needless to say, this mobile water testing laboratory will be an effective mode of surveillance of drinking water quality in rural areas of the State. The lab is capable of measuring different water quality parameters like pH, alkalinity, TDS, hardness, residual chlorine, zinc, nitrite, Fluoride, turbidity and micro-biological test of water samples. This mobile lab will help in quickly identifying the water quality problem on the spot at site.

The mobile testing van will be stationed at State Water Testing Laboratory, Karnal and its area of operation will be throughout the State. This new facility will provide access to water-testing facility even at the remotest corner of the State. Further, in the event of outbreak of water-borne disease, these vans can be deployed onsite for effective management and quick access to water test reports. Besides, they can also be used for counter checking of quality of testing from all laboratories.

Jal Jeevan Mission is a flagship programme of Union Government and under this program Government of Haryana is fully committed to provide tap water connection to every rural household ensuring sustainable supply of potable water. The mission gives a lot of emphasis on water quality surveillance and monitoring. It mandates that in every village 5 persons especially women to be trained for use of Field Test Kits, so that water can be tested in villages. Public Health Engineering Department/ Rural Water Supply department of States are ensuring supply of safe drinking water to rural homes and monitoring water quality on regular basis by testing in the laboratories.

9-Oct-2020: Goa becomes first 'Har Ghar Jal' State across the nation by providing tap water connection to every rural household

Goa has earned itself the unique distinction of becoming first 'Har Ghar Jal' State in the country as it successfully provides 100% Functional Household Tap Connections (FHTCs) in the rural areas covering 2.30 lakh rural households. Harnessing the immense benefits of efficiently utilising the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) which aims to improve the quality of life and bring 'ease-of-living' to rural communities, the Chief Minister of Goa, Shri Pramod Sawant announced that all rural homes in the State now have a tap water supply. State's commitment and brisk efforts have ensured advancement and achievement of targets well before time.

In June, 2020, the Union Minister of Jal Shakti, Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat wrote to the Chief Minister of Goa expressing his happiness on the State's Annual Action Plan (AAP) to provide 100% Functional Household Tap Connections (FHTCs) in rural areas by 2021 and extended full support for the implementation of Mission reiterating that providing potable water is a national priority for the Union Government. Accordingly, fund allocation to Goa in 2020-21 has been increased to Rs. 12.40 Crore. Besides, the State could also explore through convergence of various programmes like MGNREGS, SBM (G), 15th FC Grants to PRIs, District Mineral Development Fund, CAMPA, CSR Fund, Local Area Development Fund, etc. for strengthening of drinking water sources, water supply, grey water treatment & re-use and operation & maintenance.

The two districts of Goa i.e. North Goa with 1.65 lakh rural households and South Goa with 98,000rural households in 191 Gram Panchayats are fully saturated with assured piped water supply through tap connections. To strengthen the water testing facilities, the State is in process of getting 14 water quality testing laboratories NABL accredited.  Jal Jeevan Mission mandates training 5 persons in very village especially women to be trained in using Field Test Kits, so that water can be tested in the villages.

Goa’s achievement is an example for other States to emulate and ensure every rural home gets tap connection and especially in these times of CoVid-19 pandemic, it is all the more imperative to have assured safe water supply within households. This silent revolution happening in rural India in terms of household tap water connections is a work in progress for a ‘New India’.

Having achieved the universal access, the State now plans for sensor-based service delivery monitoring system so as to monitor the functionality of water supply i.e. potable water in adequate quantity and of prescribed quality being provided to every rural household on regular and long-term basis.

30-Aug-2020: Measurement and monitoring of water supply to be done under Jal Jeevan Mission

India is one of the most vibrant IoT eco-systems in the world, with various supporting enablers making it conducive for companies looking to serve global demand beyond national boundaries. Government of India has introduced different policies and initiatives to leverage the benefits of these disruptive IoT technologies in multiple sectors. To harness the initiatives like Aatmanirbhar Bharat, Digital India and Make in India, the Jal Jeevan Mission will be creating a smart rural water supply eco-system to measure and monitor the service delivery of the water supply in rural areas.

Union Government’s flagship programme, Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) being implemented in partnership with States aims at providing Functional Household Tap Connection (FHTC) to every rural household of the country by 2024. The programme focuses on service delivery at the household level, i.e.  supply of 55 lpcd of water of prescribed quality on a regular and long-term basis. The mission focuses on ‘service delivery’, rather only on infrastructure creation.

In accordance to 73rd Amendment to the Constitution, Gram Panchayats at village level are to manage drinking water supply. Thus, Gram Panchayat or its sub-committee, i.e. Village Water & Sanitation Committee/ Paani Samiti are required to function as a ‘local public utility’ for drinking water management, water service delivery, greywater treatment& reuse, and take care of operation and maintenance of in-village water supply infrastructure for assured drinking water supply on regular basis, collect user charges for delivery of water supply services. To facilitate States and Gram Panchayats or its sub-committee, i.e. Paani Samiti, an automated system for measurement and monitoring of water service delivery is necessary. This necessitates the use of modern technology for measurement and monitoring of the water service delivery and to capture and transmit service delivery data automatically for ensuring the quality of service.

It’s the endeavour of the Union Government to expand optic fibre network upto all villages. Accordingly, Hon’ble Prime Minister announced that in next 1,000 days, all villages will be connected by fibre optic network. In almost whole country, telecom connectivity has reached. IoT strategies are increasingly used to monitor the water quantity and quality. Recent technological advancements (such as IoT, Big Data Analytics, AI/ML, Cloud) and declining costs of mobile data, hardware (sensors), and software provide an opportunity to digitise water supply infrastructure in rural India. Digitally enabled water supply infrastructure will help in near real-time monitoring and evidence-based policymaking. Digitisation of water supply infrastructure has the potential to help the Gram Panchayats as 'local public utility'. More importantly, it will help anticipate and address future challenges.

National Jal Jeevan Mission has constituted a Technical Expert Committee to prepare a road map for measurement and monitoring of water service delivery system in rural areas. The committee has eminent members from academia, administration, technology and specialists from water supply sector.

National Jal Jeevan Mission and Ministry of Electronics &Information Technology planning to conduct an ICT Grand Challenge. The purpose of the ICT grand challenge is to bring an innovative, modular, and cost-effective solution to develop a ‘Smart Water Supply Measurement and Monitoring System’ to be deployed at the village level. The ICT grand challenge will be inviting proposal from Indian Tech start-ups, MSMEs, Indian Companies, Indian LLPs.

The mission in partnership with State Governments and sector partners has started facilitating sensor-based water supply system on pilot basis in various villages. Gujarat has begun navigating the sensor-based rural water supply systems in 1,000 villages spread across five districts. Other States have also started pilot projects. The data collected from the field locations will be transmitted to the State and Central server and can be used to monitor the functionality ( quantity, quality and regularity of water supply) at the State and Central level. This will ensure to minimise service delivery outage and water loss and monitor the quantity and quality on a long-term basis. The additional advantage of this data would be to analyse the demand pattern of the user groups over time and use this information for demand management at the aggregate level, minimise non-revenue water, ensure proper management and effective operation and maintenance of water supply systems in the villages.

29-May-2020: Govt of India approves Rs 445 Crore for implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission in Chhattisgarh during 2020-21

Chhattisgarh State presented their Annual Action Plan for 2020-21 for consideration and approval of Ministry of Jal Shakti. Significantly, Jal Jeevan Mission launched under the Ministry of Jal Shakti is aimed to provide adequate potable drinking water of prescribed quality on regular and long-term basis to every rural household of the country by the 2024.  A budget of whopping Rs 3.60 lakh Crore has been allocated for this scheme.

Under this life changing Mission, Chhattisgarh State has planned to have 100% Functional Tap Water Connection (FHTC) by 2023-24. Out of 45 lakh households in the State, it’s planned to provide tap connections to 20 lakh households.  While planning for universal coverage of households, priority is being given to water scarce areas, quality-affected areas, SC/ ST dominated habitations/ villages, aspirational districts, Sansad Adarsh Gramin Yojana villages. Govt of India has approved Rs 445 Crore for implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission in the State in 2020-21.

State is laying emphasis on water quality monitoring and surveillance. Chhattisgarh has been battling with the issue of rapid ground water depletion and chemical contamination of Arsenic, Fluoride, Iron, etc. in water since many years; thus, taking cognizance of the situation the state was advised to ensure provision of potable water in these habitations.  Under Jal Jeevan Mission, emphasis is being given on water quality surveillance through active participation of frontline functionaries as well as involving the community.  School and college students are being encouraged to use the Field Test Kits to test the quality of water being provided in the rural areas.

In every Gram Panchayat, GP or their sub-committee i.e. Village Water & Sanitation Committees have been constituted for planning at village level. Village Action Plans have been carried out for villages, based on which the action plan has been finalized. State is ensuring convergence of funds from various sources like MGNREGS, 15th Finance Commission Grants to rural local bodies, SBM, etc. for taking up works related to strengthening of water resources, aquifer recharge, grey water management, etc.

It’s the endeavour of the Government to provide tap connections in rural households on priority basis during prevailing CoVid-19 situation, so that rural people don’t have to go through the hardship of fetching water from public stand-posts and standing in long queue. Government intends that the poor and marginalized sections of the society get water through tap connections inside their house premises and avoid going to standposts and ensuring social distancing, thereby keeping the rural communities safe from being infected.

With summers in full swing, monsoons approaching, and country grappling with COVID-19 pandemic, it has become more imperative to provide livelihood to the migrant workers who have returned to their native villages. These migrant labourers are basically skilled and semi-skilled ones, whose services could be effectively utilized in villages by providing jobs related to water supply especially plumbing, fitting, water conservation works, etc. in every village to ensure sufficient ground water availability leading to water security, water availability for agriculture and most importantly will help in provision of drinking water to every rural household.

25-Dec-2019: Prime Minister releases Operational Guidelines for the implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM)

The Prime Minister released the Operational Guidelines of JJM in a function organised at Vigyan Bhawan, which is observed as Good Governance day. The Operational Guidelines will help various functionaries involved in the implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission.

The Union Cabinet on 13.08.2019 approved Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) to provide Functional Household Tap Connection (FHTC) to every rural household by 2024. As per the information available, out of 17.87 Crore rural households in the country, about 14.6 Crore which accounts for 81.67% are yet to have household water tap connections.  The total project cost is estimated to be about Rs 3.60 lakh Crore. Central share will be Rs.2.08 lakh Crore. The fund sharing pattern to be 90:10 for Himalayan and North-Eastern States; 50:50 for other States and 100% for UTs.

Broad contours of the JJM was circulated to all the States/ UTs giving details of the Mission and expected actions from States/ UTs. A National Level State Ministers’ conference chaired by Hon’ble Minister of Jal Shakti was held on 26/8/2019, wherein modalities of implementation of JJM were discussed at length.

As decided by the Government, five regional workshops were organized one each in north, east, west, south and north-eastern regions of the country, wherein all stakeholders in water supply like, State Governments, voluntary organizations, development partners, professionals in water sector, etc. participated.

Further, the Department has carried out review of questions raised by Hon’ble MPs in Parliament, for developing a broad understanding of issues in drinking water supply sector as are being faced in different parts of the country with the purpose that, while formulating guidelines, strategy and implementation aspects to the issues at hand get addressed to the extent possible. Similarly, Standing Committee reports and Audit reports were examined in detail to get an overview of the shortcomings in the implementation of NRDWP so as to address the observations in the guidelines.

Consultations were also held on implementation aspects of the Mission with other Ministries of Government of India.

Considering above aspects, Operational Guidelines of Jal Jeevan Mission has been finalized. The Operational Guidelines was also put up on the portal of Ministry of Jal Shakti, Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation for feedback/ comments from citizens. The salient features of the guidelines are as follows:

1. Time bound completion of schemes taken up under National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) has been proposed by providing FHTC to every rural household. No extension of time or cost escalation will be allowed except for the cost towards retrofitting the same to provide FHTCs.
2. Priority to cover water quality affected habitations under JJM will be given.
3. For the implementation of JJM, following institutional arrangement has been proposed:
   1. National Jal Jeevan Mission at the Central level;
   2. State Water and Sanitation Mission (SWSM) at State level;
   3. District Water and Sanitation Mission (DWSM) at district level; and
   4. Gram Panchayat and/ or its sub-committees i.e. Village Water Sanitation Committee (VWSC)/ Paani Samiti at village Level.
4. Extra budgetary resources will be made available for JJM and is proposed to be allocated along with Gross Budgetary Support among States/ UTs as per the allocation criteria.
5. Good performance of the States/ UTs will be incentivized out of the fund not utilized by other States at the far end of the financial year.
6. The fund released by Central Government to the State Governments is to be deposited in one Single Nodal Account (SNA) that will be maintained by SWSM along with State matching share to be transferred within 15 days of Central release. Public Finance Management System (PFMS) should be used for tracking the funds.
7. The physical and financial progress of the mission is proposed to be monitored through IMIS and fund utilization through PFMS.
8. No expenditure towards centage charges, O&M cost of the schemes like electricity charges, salary of regular staff and purchase of land, etc. will be allowed out of Central share.
9. Imbibing the spirit of 73rd Amendment of Constitution of India, Gram Panchayats or its sub-committees will play a crucial role in planning, designing, execution, operations and maintenance of the in-village infrastructure.
10. To bring in sense of ownership and pride among rural communities, 5% capital cost contribution towards in-village water supply infrastructure in hilly, forested, and more than 50% SC/ ST dominant population villages, and 10% in the remaining villages is proposed.
11. Communities to be rewarded by providing 10% of the in-village infrastructure cost of the scheme which will be maintained by them as a revolving fund to meet any unforeseen expenditure due to break down, etc.
12. To handhold and facilitate the implementation of in-village infrastructure and community participation process, Gram Panchayat and/ or its sub-committee, Implementation Support Agencies (ISAs), viz. Self-Help Groups (SHGs)/ CBOs/ NGOs/ VOs, etc. is proposed to be identified and empaneled by state government and engaged by SWSM/ DWSM as per the requirement.
13. In order to ensure faster implementation with ‘speed and scale’ in a time-bound manner for providing FHTC in every rural household by 2024, it is proposed to forge partnership with all stakeholders in water sector namely; voluntary organizations, sector partners, professionals in water sector, foundations and CSR arms of various corporates.
14. JJM aims at providing potable water in adequate quantity i.e. 55 litre per capita per day (lpcd) of prescribed quality i.e. BIS Standard of IS: 10500 on regular basis. Assured availability of safe drinking water in the household premises will improve the health and thereby socio-economic condition of the rural population and will also bring down the drudgery of rural women, especially girls.
15. Every village is to prepare a village action plan (VAP) which will be essentially having three components namely; i.) water source & its maintenance ii.) water supply and iii.) grey water management. Village action plan will be aggregated at district level to formulate the District action plan which will be aggregated at State level to formulate the State action plan. State action plan will give a holistic view especially covering projects like regional grids, bulk water supply and distribution projects to address the needs of water stressed areas and will also have a plan for ensuring drinking water security in the State.
16. SWSM will decide rate contracts and empanel reputed construction agencies/ vendors through centralized tendering and also to prepare design templates for expeditious implementation.
17. Mandatory source sustainability measures like rain water harvesting, groundwater recharge and other water conservation measures as along with grey water management (including reuse) are proposed to be undertaken in convergence with MGNREGS and grants under Finance Commission, State Finance Commission, District Mineral Development Fund (DMF), etc. It has been proposed to assess and pool the fund available for drinking water supply from various sources be it, Government such as MPLADS, MLALADS, DMDF or donations whether at State level or village level be strictly utilized as per the approved plans. This helps in preventing creation of parallel water supply infrastructure deviating from the approved plan. 
18. The guidelines also propose that States will have a definite O&M policy especially to meet with the O&M requirements like monthly energy cost of the PWS scheme, by ensuring cost recovery from user groups and thereby avoiding any unwanted burden on public exchequer.
19. JJM envisages a structural change in the provision of drinking water supply services. The service provision should change to ‘utility based approach’ centered on ‘service delivery’. Such a reform is proposed in the guidelines so as to enable the institutions to function as utilities focusing on services and recover water tariff/ user fee.
20. Measuring water to ascertain the availability and the quality using sensors based IoT technologies is also proposed in the guidelines.
21. Third party inspection is proposed to be undertaken before making any payment to instill accountability.
22. Functionality assessment of the schemes implemented under JJM will be done by Department/ NJJM.
23. The guidelines also list support activities like HRD, IEC, Skill Development, etc. to be taken up under JJM.
24. Similarly, Water Quality Monitoring and Surveillance is proposed to be an important component under JJM wherein setting up and maintenance of water quality testing labs by the PHE Department and surveillance activities by community will be taken up so as to ensure that the water supplied is of prescribed quality and thereby definition of functionality under JJM is adhered to.

11-Nov-2019: Jal Shakti Minister Shekhawat reviews Jal Jeevan Mission in Southern States

Union Minister of Jal Shakti, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has emphasized the urgency to start work on Jal Jeevan Mission as the first six months of the mission are critical for the success of the mission. He was speaking at the regional review of Jal Jeevan Mission at Hyderabad. The regional review included states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and UTs of Puducherry and Lakshadweep.

In the review, the preparation and progress on water related schemes in the Southern States was assessed and the way forward was discussed. Parameswaran Iyer, Secretary, Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Jal Shakti highlighted the steps that are needed to be taken for proper implementation of the programme. He stressed the need for retrofitting the existing schemes to incorporate household tap connections and also for a streamlined system of financial management; and assured the states of a smooth fund flow from the centre. He also advised the States on the steps envisaged for sustaining the gains of the Swachh Bharat Mission. The states were apprised regarding the steps to be taken in the next phase that is ODF Plus to keep the sanitation momentum going.

Announced by the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi on 73rd Independence Day, the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) aims at providing Functional Household Tap Connections (FHTCs) in rural areas by 2024. Government of India and State Governments will work in partnership to further this goal. Approx. 14.60 crores rural households of the country will be provided with FHTCs. The provisional cost estimate for this mission is Rs 3.60 lakh Crores.

Further to the announcement, Department of Drinking Water & Sanitation, which is the implementing Department for the mission, has been holding region-wise stakeholder consultation workshops. Five such regional workshops with stakeholders had already been organized on JJM.