To translate Prime Minister 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.
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.
