Path-Breaking Initiatives Undertaken By The Government Over The Last 8 Years
Part I - Jal Jeevan Mission
One of the five elements of nature, water is among the most essential pre-requisites for life. From households to fields and industry, water is one of the most crucial aspects of life and economy for societies and nations of the 21st century. Water security is one of the key concerns of the future. Clean drinking water, improved sanitation and hygiene lead to better public health, especially of children and women, who are more vulnerable to water-borne diseases. And in an effort to bring ‘ease of living’ and adding pride and dignity to rural families, Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) is being implemented across the country in partnership with States.
In a paradigm shift from earlier water supply programmes, JJM focuses on water service delivery and not just building water supply infrastructure. Drinking water is a basic need and it is envisioned that JJM will enable every household and public institution in our villages to have provision of assured tap water supply in adequate quantity and of prescribed quality on regular and long-term basis.
What is Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM)?
The Jal Jeevan Mission was launched on August 15, 2019 by Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi to provide potable piped water supply to all rural households and schools, anganwadi centres (AWCs), ashramshalas, public health centres, community centres including health and wellness centres, gram panchayat offices, etc., in villages by 2024.
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. JJM is ensuring that the poorest and the marginalised, as well as the previously unreached are all provided assured tap water supply. What makes JJM unique is that prior to its launch, the basic unit of water supply in rural India was a village/habitation. Being a transformational programme, the Mission has now made the household as the basic unit of water supply.
At the time of announcement of JJM, out of total 19.12 crore rural households, only 3.23 crore (17%) households reported to have tap water connections. To ensure safe, potable tap water supply to remaining 83% rural households, water supply infrastructure is being created to provide functional household tap connections to about 16 crore households in five years along with upgrading existing water supply systems to make them JJM compliant.
Objectives
The broad objectives of the Mission are:
· To provide Functional Household Tap Connection (FHTC) to every rural household.
· To prioritize provision of FHTCs in quality affected areas, villages in drought prone and desert areas, Aspirational Districts, Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) villages, etc.
· To provide functional tap connection to schools, AWCs, gram panchayat buildings, health centres, wellness centres, and community buildings
· To monitor functionality of tap connections
· To promote and ensure voluntary ownership among local community by way of contribution in cash, kind and/or labour and voluntary labour (shramdaan)
· To assist in ensuring sustainability of water supply system, i.e. water source, water supply infrastructure, and funds for regular O&M
· To empower and develop human resource in the sector such that the demands of construction, plumbing, electrical, water quality management, water treatment, catchment protection, O&M, etc. are taken care of in short and long term
· To bring awareness on various aspects and significance of safe drinking water and involvement of stakeholders in manner that make water everyone's business
Logo
The logo of the Mission signifies the importance of water conservation and its link to water supply. The drop in the JJM logo indicates the work we all have to do-save every drop of water. It also symbolizes the soul of the mission that is to provide every rural household in the country with piped-water connection. Scan the QR code above to watch the video which depicts the philosophy behind the logo.
Implementation
JJM is being implemented in partnership with States to make provision of tap water supply in adequate quantity of prescribed quality with adequate pressure on regular and long-term basis to every rural home.
JJM follows a ‘bottom-up’ approach and is being implemented as a decentralized, demand-driven, communitymanaged water supply systems so that gram panchayats and/or its sub-committees or user groups i.e. Village Water & Sanitation Committees (VWSCS) or Pani Samitis are able to manage, operate and maintain water supply to every household in villages.
‘Har Ghar Jal’ announced by the Prime Minister aims to ensure piped water supply to every rural home by 2024. In Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM)– Har Ghar Jal, local village community is to play a central role in the planning, implementation, management, operation and maintenance of their own in village water supply system.
Water quality monitoring and 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.
To safeguard rural public health, nation-wide online Water Quality Management Information System (WQMIS) has been developed by using the reports generated from water quality testing through FTKs as well as laboratories.
Start-ups and the private sector are being encouraged and awarded to develop potable water quality testing devices for use at domestic as well as village levels. Sensor-based IoT devices are being installed for automatic data capturing to measure and monitor the water supply, etc. The online JJM Dashboard, which is in public domain, provides State/UT/ district/village-wise progress of provision of tap water supply in rural areas, viz. households as well as public institutions. (ejalshakti.gov.in/jjmreport/JJM India.aspx)
Noteworthy Statistic
Jal Jeevan Mission has achieved a milestone of providing tap water to over 9 crore rural homes. Today, nearly 50% rural households have provision of tap water supply.
In Goa, Telangana, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Puducherry, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, and Haryana, every rural household has tap water supply. Many more States like Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, and Bihar are on the verge of becoming ‘Har Ghar Jal’ in 2022. Har Ghar Jal means all households in that unit are provided with tap water supply.
At the announcement of the Mission in 2019, out of 19.12 crore rural households only 3.23 crore 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, over 100 districts, more than 1,200 blocks, over 70,000 Gram Panchayats and more than 1,50,000 villages have become ‘Har Ghar Jal’.
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 this, in 2021-22, Rs 26,940 crore has been allocated to States as 15th Finance Commission tied grant for water and 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.
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.
Compiled by: Annesha Banerjee & Anuja Bhardwajan
Source: PIB/JJM dashboard/ NPCI/Vikaspedia