The Government has promised to make portable, safe drinking water available in adequate, prescribed quantities in all rural households. To realise this goal, it launched the Jal Jeevan Mission in 2019, with partnerships with states, as water planning, approval, implementation, operation and maintenance of drinking water supply is a state subject, The mission saw significant improvement because when it was launched, only 3.23 crore (16.8%) of total rural households in the country had access to tap water. As on 7.12.2023 around 10.53 crore rural households have been provided with tap water connections under JJM, thus out of 19.24 crore rural households in the country, approximately 13.76 crore (71.51%) households are reported to have tap water connections. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimated that achieving saturation of tap water coverage in rural households, will result in saving 5.5 crore hours, spent by women on fetching water. Some steps were taken to enhance women’s participation in the scheme. More than 5.29 lakh sub-committees/ user groups of the Village Water and Sanitation Committee with at least 50% women members and representation of other marginalised groups have been constituted to look after the village water system. Five women are identified and trained from every village for testing the water samples through Field Test Kits (FTKs) and so far, 23.36 lakh women have been trained and more than 82.05 lakh samples have been tested. More than 14,000 NGOs/ VOs/ Women SHGs/ CBOs/ Trusts/ Foundations referred as ISAs are engaged across the country to facilitate women participation at all levels of water management.
Jal Jeevan Mission: Safe Drinking Water For Every Rural Household
