Approach:
- Intro on Jal Jeevan Mission.
- Mention the JJM’s achievements so far.
- Strategy adopted under JJM.
- Conclusion.
Ministry of Jal Shakti in 2019, launched the Jal Jeevan Mission. The aim is to provide safe and adequate drinking water through individual household tap connections by 2024 to all households in rural India. The goal is to have ‘Har Ghar Jal’– every house in the village is to be provided with a Functional tap connection.
The JJM (Urban) has been designed to provide universal coverage of water supply to all households through functional taps in all 4,378 statutory towns in accordance with Sustainable Development Goal- 6. The mission also provides coverage of sewerage/septage management in 500 AMRUT cities is the other focus area.
Achievements of JJM so far : Initially, out of a total of 18.70 crore rural households, only 3.23 crore (17%) households had the provision of tap water supply. At present, there are 19.32 crore rural households across 21 different climatic conditions in the country. About 9 crores (46%) of rural households in the country have assured provision of a clean tap water supply. Every rural household in 101 districts and 1.40 lakh villages are getting a clean tap water supply.
Three States, viz. Goa, Haryana, Telangana, and three UTs, viz. Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Daman & Diu, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, and Puducherry have become ‘Har Ghar Jal’ States/UTs.
Strategy Adopted:
- JJM is a decentralised, demand-driven, and community-managed programme it also aims to instil a ‘sense of ownership’ among the local community.
- Acknowledging the urgency to ensure potable tap water supply in difficult areas, priority has been accorded to water quality-affected habitations such as villages falling in drought-prone & desert areas, Aspirational Districts, SC/ST majority villages and Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) Villages.
- Under JJM, every State/UT prepared a ‘saturation plan’ to achieve 100% coverage or ‘Har Ghar Jal’ status.
- In line with the motto of Jal Jeevan Mission, 185 organisations have been roped in as Sector Partners to dovetail their resources and efforts in achieving the collective goal of Har Ghar Jal. Further, About 14 thousand local NGOs, VOs, CBOs, women SHGs, etc., are engaged by States as Implementation Support Agencies (ISAs) for VWSCs.
- About 10 lakh women have been trained across villages with an emphasis on ensuring water quality. Laboratories are being standardised and upgraded across the country. More than 2,000 water quality testing laboratories have been opened.
- Sensor-based IoT pilots are underway in more than 100 villages for automatic data capturing to measure and monitor the daily water supply.
- Water Quality Management Information System (WQMIS) has been developed by using the reports generated from water quality testing through Field Testing Kits as well as laboratories.
However, some challenges with regard to water supply infrastructure & overexploitation remains.
With the progress of JJM, SBM, India became a shining example on the global platform for its impactful WASH policies that are being driven on such a large scale while building a movement of behavioural change. India is now certainly in a position to make available the knowledge & experiences to other countries, especially the global south.