15th August 2024 marks the 5th Anniversary of the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM): Har Ghar Jal, the flagship scheme of Government of India implemented by the Department of Drinking Water & Sanitation (DDWS), Ministry of Jal Shakti (MoJS), in partnership with States.
- During the 78th Independence Day (15 August 2024) address, Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister (PM) of India emphasized the success of the JJM in ensuring clean drinking water for 15 crore beneficiaries.
About Jal Jeevan Mission:
The Jal Jeevan Mission was launched by Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister (PM) of India, on 15 August 2019 (73rd Independence Day of India) at the Red Fort in New Delhi, Delhi.
Aim:
- To ensure safe and sufficient drinking water access for rural Households (HHs).
- To make provision for tap water supply to every rural HH in India by 2024.
Background:
i.The GoI initiated assistance to States for rural water supply in 1972 through the Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme, later renamed the National Rural Drinking Water Program (NRDWP) in 2009.
- NRDWP aimed to provide safe and adequate drinking water to all HHs by 2030, aligning with the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
ii.The GoI has restructured and subsumed the NRDWP into JJM to provide Functional Household Tap Connection (FHTC) to every rural HH i.e., Har Ghar Nal Se Jal (HGNSJ) by 2024.
iii.The goal of JJM is to provide FHTC to every HH with service level at the rate of 55 liters per capita per day (lpcd).
Objectives:
i.Provide FHTC to every rural HH.
ii.Prioritise FHTC in quality-affected, drought-prone, desert areas, and Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) villages.
iii.Ensure tap connections in schools, Anganwadis, and community buildings.
iv.Monitor tap connection functionality.
v.Promote community ownership and ensure system sustainability.
vi.Empower and develop human resources in the water sector.
vii.Raise awareness about safe drinking water.
Transformative Impact:
i.At the time of the scheme’s launch, only 3.23 crore (17%) of rural HHs, out of 18.70 crore rural HHs, had access to tap water.
ii.JJM seeks to bridge this gap, targeting nearly 16 crore additional HHs with tap water by 2024, directly benefiting over 19 crore rural families and improving public health.
iii.Over 5 years, the mission extended tap water to an additional 11.82 crore HHs, improving rural life and driving national development.
Impacts of the JJM Scheme:
i.The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that the JJM will save over 5.5 crore hours daily, mainly for women, by reducing the time spent collecting water.
- WHO projects that providing safe drinking water across India could prevent nearly 400,000 deaths from diarrheal diseases and save 14 million Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs).
ii.The Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIM–Bangalore), Karnataka, and the International Labour Organization (ILO) estimate that JJM will create 59.9 lakh Person-Years (PY) of direct and 2.2 crore PY of indirect employment in its capital phase.
- Additionally, 13.3 lakh person-years of direct employment during the operation and maintenance phase.
Progress:
i.As of 12th August 2024, JJM has successfully provided tap water connections to 11.82 crore additional rural households. The total coverage has increased to 15.07 crore households, accounting 77.98% of all rural households in India.
ii.188 districts, 1,838 blocks, 1,09,996 Gram Panchayats and 2,33,209 villages have reported to achieve ‘Har Ghar Jal’ status as of 14th August 2024.
- HGJ means all households in that administrative unit are provided with a tap water supply.
iii.As on 14th August 2024, 9,27,421 schools and 9,63,955 Aanganwadi centres have tap watersupply.
iv.Priority is given to Japanese Encephalitis (JE)-Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) affected areas, with over 2.35 crore households (79.21%) receiving clean tap water.
v.Goa, Andaman and Nicobar (A&N) Islands, Dadra and Nagar Haveli (D&NH) & Daman Diu (D&D), Haryana, Telangana, Puducherry, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Mizoram, and Arunachal Pradesh have fully covered all rural households.
About the Ministry of Jal Shakti (MoJS):
Union Minister– C R Paatil (Constituency- Navsari, Gujarat)
Ministers of State (MoS)- V. Somanna (Constituency- Tumkur, Karnataka); Raj Bhushan Choudhary (Constituency- Muzaffarpur, Bihar)
