More than 60% rural households now have tap water connections: How PM Modi’s flagship scheme is bringing a change in rural India

By: Yash Gupte

In India, more than 1.55 lakh villages, or 25 percent of all villages, have reported "Har Ghar Jal," meaning that every household has access to safe drinking water from taps on their property.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s flagship scheme- the Jal Jeevan Mission has achieved a new milestone as now 60 percent of the rural households in India have tap water connections. Narendra Modi has expressed his happiness for 60 percent coverage of Tap Water connection in village households and said that this is an outstanding achievement and will empower several lives. In India, more than 1.55 lakh villages, or 25 percent of all villages, have reported "Har Ghar Jal," meaning that every household has access to safe drinking water from taps on their property. One tap connection has been made available every second for the current year, from January to March 2023, as part of the Jal Jeevan Mission. This is a fantastic accomplishment, with an average of 86,894 new tap water connections being provided every day during the first three months of 2023.

The overall financial commitment for Jal Jeevan Mission is Rs 3,600 billion making it one of the largest welfare programmes in the world. At the time of the launch of the Mission in August 2019, out of 19.43 Crore rural households, only 3.23 Crore (16.65 percent) had access to tap water. States/UTs have consistently worked to carry out the Jal Jeevan Mission despite setbacks brought on by the Pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine crisis, etc. On April 4, 2023, the nation achieved another milestone on its path to achieving "Har Ghar Jal" when more than 11.66 billion (60 percent) rural households have access to a domestic water supply.

Under the JJM, the states and UTs have been advised to undertake testing of water quality on a periodic basis i.e. once in year for chemical and physical parameters, and twice in a year for bacteriological parameters and take remedial action wherever necessary, to ensure that the water supplied to households is of prescribed quality. As of April 05, 2023, there are 2,078 active laboratories for testing the quality of water. Till date around 61,02,526 samples have been tested in these laboratories. Out of the total tested samples, 6,89,236 were found contaminated. Around 21,50,287 women have been trained for testing water samples using the Field Testing Kits (FTK). This shows that the scheme is also ensuring women empowerment in the remotest parts of the country. About 4,71,862 villages have tested water samples using FTKs. Kerala reported the maximum number of contaminated water samples at 2,71,167.

Under the Jal Jeevan Mission, the tap water connections are not only being provided to rural households but also to schools and other similar establishments. With focus on health and well-being of children, special efforts have been made to provide tap water connection in all rural schools, anganwadi centres and ashramshalas (tribal residential schools) for drinking, cooking mid-day meal, hand washing and use in toilets. As of April 05, 2023 tap water supply has been provided in 9.03 lakh (88.26 percent) schools and 9.36 lakh (83.71 percent) anganwadi centres.

Source: Ministry of JalShakti

According to the latest figures released by the ministry, 130 districts, 1,342 blocks, 74,847 Gram Panchayat and 1,56,163 villages have been provided with drinking water through taps. Goa, Telangana, Gujarat, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Puducherry and Haryana have already achieved 100 percent household connections. Also, Punjab has been added to the list of states with 100 percent tap water connections. Himachal Pradesh and Bihar have coverage of more than 95 percent and are progressing fast towards attaining the status. The northeastern states of Manipur, Mizoram and Sikkim have a coverage of more than 75 percent.

However, in nine states, less than 50 percent households have tap water supply. West Bengal has the lowest coverage at 31.85 percent, followed by Jharkhand at 33.13 percent, Uttar Pradesh 35.37 percent, Rajasthan at 35.64 percent, and Chhattisgarh at 41.60 percent. In 117 aspirational districts (home to some of the poorest Indians), 1,22,33,458 (36.18 percent) households have been provided with tap water connections. Schools in 12 states and UTs have 100 percent tap water connection while schools in 10 states and UTs have over 75 percent tap water connection. There has been a marginal increase in the tap water connections in the states of West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh as compared to last month.

Source: Ministry of Jal Shakti

The Jal Jeevan Mission has come a long way from receiving Rs 10,000.66 crore in 2019-20 to Rs 55,000 crore in 2022-23. The biggest jump in allocation of funds for the scheme by the central government was witnessed in the year 2021-22 as the allocation went up from Rs 11,000 crore in 2020-21 to Rs 45,011 in 2021-22. The data shows that there has been under utilisation of funds by the states for the successful implementation of the scheme. For example, in the financial year 2021-22, Rs 45,011 crore were allocated by the central government for the Jal Jeevan Mission but of these total funds, only Rs 40,009.77 crore were drawn by different states across the country. But the more surprising part here is that out of the withdrawn funds worth Rs 40,009.77 crore only Rs 25,524.36 crore were utilised by the states.

This clearly points out that there is an under utilisation of funds by the states and this is one of the reasons that most of the states are far from attaining the status of ‘Har Ghar Jal.’ If the under utilisation of funds continue, then it is difficult for the central government to achieve its target of providing tap water connections to all the rural households by 2024. The central government and state governments must work together and overcome bureaucratic difficulties and other issues and ensure successful implementation of the scheme, thus keeping up the spirit of cooperative federalism.

In the year 2022-23, the highest funds allocated by the central government have been drawn by Uttar Pradesh. The state has drawn Rs 9,497 crore out of the total Rs 55,000 crore. But in spite of drawing the highest funds under the scheme, Uttar Pradesh remains one of the poorest performing states with only 35.37 percent of the rural households having tap water connections.

The Jal Jeevan Mission has come a long way and the progress made under the mission is a great achievement and with effective utilisation of funds and implementation of the scheme, each and every rural household in rural India can be equipped with a tap water connection.