Jal Jeevan Mission, working with speed and scale, has on Wednesday (14 July) achieved a milestone of providing tap water supply to every household in 1 lakh villages across India in a short period of 23 months.

At the launch of this ambitious programme, out of 18.94 Crore rural households in the country, only 3.23 Crore (17 per cent) had tap water connections.

With Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), tap water supply has reached 7.72 Crore (40 per cent) households. Goa, Telangana, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Puducherry have achieved 100 per cent tap water supply in rural areas.

According to the Ministry of Jal Shakti, 71 districts, 824 blocks, and 1,00,275 villages have achieved the ‘Har Ghar Jal’ target.

Announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 15 August 2019, Jal Jeevan Mission focuses on water service delivery rather than providing mere water supply infrastructure. Under JJM, the aim is to ensure that every household has a tap water supply irrespective of its socio-economic condition.

“The JJM is built on the principle of ‘no one is left out’ ensuring the poorest of the poor, weaker and marginalized sections of society - those unserved so far, get assured potable tap water supply in their homes,” the ministry said.

“Assured availability of drinking water in homes will save the women and young girls of centuries old drudgery faced by them across rural India. It will improve their health, education and socio- economic conditions. Further, tap water connection in every rural home, brings dignity to the people as it bridges the urban–rural gap and brings ‘ease of living’ in accessing safe water,” the statement by the ministry added.

To achieve this mammoth goal of providing tap water supply to every rural household in a short period of five years, the Modi government has allocated Rs 3.60 lakh crore.

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. There is assured funding of Rs 1,42,084 Crore for the next five years, i.e. up to 2025-26.

Under Jal Jeevan Mission, water-scarce areas, quality-affected villages, Aspirational districts, SC/ST majority villages and Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) villages are prioritized for providing tap water supply.

During the last 23 months, tap water supply has increased four-fold from seven per cent to 33 per cent in 117 Aspirational districts.

Similarly, more than 97 lakh households have been provided with tap water supply in 61 districts affected by Japanese Encephalitis- Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (JE-IES).

Also, 696 SAGY villages and 29,063 SC/ST majority villages have become ‘Har Ghar Jal.’