Prachi Jha

The Jal Jeevan Mission

1.Introduction
Cape Town, the jewel of South Africa made headlines in 2018 as it became the first city to approach
‘Day Zero’. Day Zero refers to the phenomenon where the city completely depletes its water
resources. It wreaked havoc in the urban landscape of South Africa as the policy makers struggled to
find a solution. However, ‘day zero’ never came due to sheer resilience of the city’s water
management strategies and the citizens tireless water conservation efforts. As of 2 nd October 2020,
Cape Town’s largest water supplier the Theewaterskloof Dam has reached a water occupancy level of
100% from 11% in 2019 (Global Citizen, 2020). However, water crisis is not an alien concept
restricted to South Africa. It is a mammoth predicament for countries around the world as the looming
climate change continues to accelerate it further.

In this backdrop, India the most populous country in the world consists about 18% of the world
population but just 4% of the water resources (World Bank, 2023). Water is a continues to be
commodity as invaluable as diamond in India. Niti Aayog Reports have further highlighted that the
country dependence on the turbulent and inconsistent monsoon only makes the problem worse. The
melting glaciers of Himalayas along with the severity of El Nino in recent years further exuberates the
impending water crisis. However, it is not just the depleting water resource that remains a
predicament in India. Many rural areas continue to lack basic access to tap water facilities that could
provide access to clean and safe drinking water.

In 2019 just 3.23 crore rural households out of 18.93 had access had tap water connections (Ministry
of Jal Shakti, 2021). This is just 17% of the rural households in India (JJM Dashboard, 2021). In order
to tackle this crisis on 15th August 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the Jal Jeeval
Mission to provide safe drinking water connections in adequate quality on a durable basis to all the
rural households in India by 2024 (Ministry of Jal Shakti, 2021).

2.Overview
The Jal Jeevan Mission is a flagship initiative of the Government of India under the Ministry of Jal
Shakti launched in collaboration with the state governments in 2019. The aim of this policy is to
ensure a secured supply of safe tap water supply in a sufficient amount in a regular and durable
premise in all rural households and public institutions by 2024 under the ‘Har Ghar Jal’ scheme
(Ministry of Jal Shakti, 2021). This will ensure an improvement in the quality of life and will reduce
the onset of water borne diseases like cholera. Moreover, it will also prove to be a right step in the
direction of women empowerment. This is due to the fact that the water supply in rural areas is
usually located miles away from the dwellings in the villages and it is usually the responsibility of the
women to fetch the water from such far-flung regions. This will increase the ‘ease of living’ of the
poor women population of the rural areas (Ministry of Jal Shakti, 2021). With the onset of more
productive hours being saved, this can allow the rural community to invest in more economically
productive activities like non agricultural activities.

Providing ‘Functional Household Tap Connection’ to everyone is the primary aim of Jal Jeevan
Mission which is elucidated in terms of regularity, quality, quantity, and pressure of water supply
(Ministry of Jal Shakti, 2021). The Government aims to create a people’s revolution in water by
building the water infrastructure along the lines of the successful ‘White Revolution’ that occurred in
the milk sector of India.

Water contamination remains the most pressing issue in the rural areas of India. The increasing usage
of fertilizers, pesticides, and other chemicals contaminating the water resource leads to heavy metal

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toxicity that is proving to be detrimental to health. Water Quality Monitoring & Surveillance
(WQMS) is chief component of the Jal Jeevan Mission that involves scientific tools to test the quality
of water at delivery points (Ministry of Jal Shakti, 2021). The minute surveillance of the quality of the
water resources delivered through the policy at the grass root level shall be the responsibility of the
Gram Panchayats. The Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) will assist the Gram
Panchayats in providing regular testing of the supply of the drinking eater delivered through this
policy. In order to ensure the success of this policy in the long run, the public shall be trained on the
importance of regular testing of water resources to generate public awareness on the significance of
safe and clean drinking water. This will ensure the people in the rural areas hold their local
representatives accountable and ensure the success of the ‘Har Ghar Jal’ policy.

3.Policy Formulation
The National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) was a precursor to the Jal Jeevan Mission.
It was launched in 2009 and had several shortcomings which the Jal Jeevan Mission has sought to
resolve. The CAG found several deficiencies in the National Rural Drinking Water Programme
(NRDWP) in 2017. It was characterised by underperformance and could only supply portable water to
17% of the rural households as opposed to its set target of 55% (Committee Reports, 2022). The
scheme was implemented in a top-down approach with the apex body, National Drinking Water and
Sanitation Council at the helm of affairs but this body remained non-operational. Moreover, the states
failed to produce any documented water plan for ensuring water supply. The NRDWP did not set any
measurable targets it merely stated goals like ‘promote women’s participation.’

The Jal Jeevan Mission was designed to address the short fallings of the NRDWP. Jal Jeevan Mission
declared its ambition to pivot on the integrated demand and supply-side management of water at the
local level. It focused on bottom-up approach and aspired to empower the local panchayats. It aspired
to build the rural infrastructure to ensure rainwater harvesting, groundwater recharge and management
of household wastewater so that the water table would be sustained. In order to ensure the
implementation of the scheme stringent institutional mechanisms were designed at 4 levels. The
National Jal Jeevan Mission (NJJM) will coordinate the progress and implement schemes at the
national level, the State Water and Sanitation Mission (SWSM) at State level, District Water and
Sanitation Mission (DWSM) at District level; and the Gram Panchayat and/or its sub-committees viz.
Village Water Sanitation Committee (VWSC)/ Paani Samiti at the Village level.

Every district in India has varied water resource potential and different requirements. The Jal Jeevan
Mission recognizes this and thus in the spirit of the vision of the 73rd Amendment Act the Gram
Panchayats will serve the important role of planning, designing, implementing, and maintaining the
village infrastructure. Village Action Plan will be formulated in every village with i.) Water source &
its maintenance ii.) Water supply and iii.) Greywater management as its three main components. The
village action plans of the various villages will combine to form a District Action Plan having the
similar three components. The DAP of all the districts of the state will combine to form the State
Action Plan. In addition to the three components the State Action Plan will include projects like the
regional grids, bulk water supply and distribution projects for reducing burden on the water stress
regions of the state. The delivery of water-based infrastructure will be based on the demand-based
approach. The JAL JEEVAN MISSION will involve the internet of things (IoT) to ensure the delivery
of high-quality services. This approach of JAL JEEVAN MISSION was in line with the lesson learnt
with the failure of the NRDWP ghat the ’one size fits all’ approach will not work in India.

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3.Evaluation
The Jal Jeevan Mission has remained one of the most successful schemes of the central government.
Since its implementation in 2019, piped water connection has been achieved in 11 crore households as
of 2023(JJM Dashboard, 2023). From taped water connection being present in only 17% of the
households in 2019, 65.17% of the rural households have achieved tap water connection as per the Jal
Jeevan Mission Dashboard. States like Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Telangana, and
Goa along with the Union Territories like Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Daman and Diu, and Dadar
Nager Haveli have achieved 100% of tap water connection. All the other states have also improved
their previous tap water connections. The Jal Jeevan Mission has also improved the condition of
woman in the states who have been relieved of the responsibility of fetching water from far flung
regions. Moreover, its focus on water testing will prove to be the step in the right direction as the
world braces excessive water pollution and heavy metal poisoning due to excessive depletion of water
resources. This is despite the major roadblocks provided by the COVID 19 pandemic, the Russia-
Ukraine War, and the global energy crisis.

The World Bank has also praised the Jal Jeevan Mission initiative of the Government of India as it
will reduce the concentration of water borne diseases and save about 14 million deaths from diarrheal
and sanitation related diseases (PIB, 2023). The Jal Jeevan Mission will also reduce the instance of
multidimensional poverty in rural areas. Ensuring the access to clean water and sanitation is part of
the sustainable development goal number six which the government had earlier aimed to achieve by
the year 2030.

4. Challenges
Despite the various accolades and achievements of the Jal Jeevan Mission, it is not free from
criticism. Jal Jeevan Mission had an ambitious target of achieving rural tap water connections in all
the rural areas by 2024. However, now policy analysts are doubting whether this target could be
achieved by April 2024. It is being predicted that as per the current phase of implementation, only
about 70% of the rural households will achieve tap water connections as opposed to the 100% target
made by the government (Centre’s Potable Water Mission May Miss 2024 Target, 2023). This was
due to the various roadblocks provided by local as well as external crisis. This included the Covid 19
pandemic which led to the delay in implementation of all the non- health related public policies due to
the diversion of state resources towards the pandemic. The large mammoth nature of the exercise has
also delayed the implementation of the scheme. India having the largest population in the world
results in the slow delivery of any scheme. Moreover only 17% of the rural households had access to
water in 2019 thus due to the minimal water infrastructure of India, the scheme did not have a good
base to start in the first place. The ongoing Russia- Ukraine Crisis has led to a reduction in the supply
of steel and cement that is required for building the water pipeline. There are several issues specific to
the state that has caused difficulties in the implementation of the scheme. For example, arid states like
Rajasthan face logistic issues in supplying the water in the first place. Moreover, the tussle between
the centre and the state over the control of the subject of water in the concurrent list has also made the
scheme face several roadblocks. There have been various complaints by the opposition parties
especially in states like Karnataka that the Jal Jeevan Mission is merely a pipe laying scheme and has
not provided actual supply of water to the rural masses (Times of India, 2023).

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5. Feedback and Way Forward
Jal Jeevan Mission is an ambitious initiative undertaken by the government of India. It is crucial for
this scheme to attain success as it will ensure the upliftment of millions of women. In states such as
Jharkhand an average woman still spends forty minutes per day trying to arrange water resource for
her family. It will also save countless of lives that succumb to water borne diseases and cancer.
However, for this scheme to achieve its awaited success it is crucial that the government addresses its
shortcomings to ensure it does not become a dead letter like the NRDWP scheme launched by the
UPA government. Moreover, it is not just the rural areas that suffer from water crisis. The water crisis
remains a severe crisis even in the urban areas. Cities like Bangalore and Mumbai face repeated water
shortages and are projected to become the next victims of day zero. The failure of deep boring in
many urban spaces and the depleting water table is a major cause of concern in the urban areas. Thus
a similar scheme launched along the lines of Jal Jeevan Mission must be launched for the urban areas
as well in cooperation with the Municipalities. Moreover, it is important that the shortcomings of the
schemes as addressed by the opposition must be investigated. It is important that Jal Jeevan Mission
does not remain just a pipe laying program but becomes an active scheme that redefines the water
scarcity situation in India.

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References
1. Centre’s potable water mission may miss 2024 target. (2023, July 1). Centre’s Potable Water
Mission May Miss 2024 Target - the Hindu. https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/jal-
jeevan-mission-falling-short-of-2024-target/article67029959.ece
2. Committee Reports. (n.d.). Committee Reports. https://prsindia.org/policy/report-
summaries/national-rural-drinking-water-programme-22
3. Ministry of Jal Shakti. (2021, October). Drinking Water Quality Monitoring & Surveillance
Framework. Jal Jeevan Mission
4. JJM Dashboard. (2021, May 13). JJM Dashboard.
https://ejalshakti.gov.in/jjmreport/JJMIndia.aspx
5. How Cape Town Went From Water Crisis to Overflowing Dams in Just 2 Years. (2020,
October 9). Global Citizen. https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/cape-town-water-crisis-
day-zero-overflowing-dams/
6. Frequently asked questions (FAQs) on Jal Jeevan Mission | India Water Portal. (2020,
March 31). Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on Jal Jeevan Mission | India Water Portal.
https://www.indiawaterportal.org/faqs/frequently-asked-questions-faqs-jal-jeevan-mission
7. India can avoid 400k deaths if Jal Jeevan Mission meets target: WHO report. (2023, June 9).
Hindustan Times. https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/india-can-avoid-400k-deaths-
if-jjm-meets-target-who-report-101686336491269.html
8. Chhatrala, S. (2022, February 15). Jal Jeevan Mission takes off, but drinking water for all
still a distant dream | Policy Circle. Policy Circle. https://www.policycircle.org/society/jal-
jeevan-mission-analysis/
9. Following complaints, Congress govt to review PM’s Jal Jeevan Mission scheme | Bengaluru
News - Times of India. (n.d.). The Times of India.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/following-complaints-congress-govt-to-
review-pms-jal-jeevan-mission-scheme/articleshow/100923492.cms