Nation

Jal Jeevan Mission offers tap water to 7.88 crore rural households

The Government of India has launched several water-related programmes in the last few years to address water shortages confronting a number of states in the country and to ensure the availability of tap and irrigation water to the needy. Water being a state subject, steps for augmentation, conservation and efficient management of water resources are primarily undertaken by the respective state governments. In order to supplement the efforts of the state governments, the Central Government provides technical and financial assistance to them through various schemes and programmes.

Jal Jeevan Mission

Presently, the Centre is implementing its flagship scheme- Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM)- HarGhar Jal in partnership with states to make provision of potable tap water supply in adequate quantity, of prescribed quality and on a regular and long-term basis to every rural household by 2024. The Minister of State for Jal Shakti, Prahlad Singh Patel informed the Rajya Sabha. Under Jal Jeevan Mission, the Bureau of Indian Standards’ IS:10500 standard is to be adopted for ensuring a safe drinking water supply as per existing guidelines.

Tap water connections to rural households

When Jal Jeevan Mission was launched, only 3.23 crore (17%) of rural households were having tap water connections. Now, more than 7.88 crore rural households have been provided with tap water connections since the announcement of JJM. As of 09.02.2023, out of 19.39 crore rural households in the country, 11.12 crore (57.36%) households are reported to have a tap water supply in their homes.

Construction of new water reservoirs

The Minister of State for Jal Shakti, Bishweswar Tudu informed the Rajya Sabha about the construction of new water reservoirs. Water resources projects, including those involving the construction of new water reservoirs for storage, rainwater catchment, flood mitigation and management, are planned, funded, executed and maintained by the state governments themselves as per their own resources and priority. The role of the Government of India is limited to being catalytic, providing technical support and partial financial assistance to a few identified projects under the ongoing schemes. Further, techno-economic appraisal of inter-state major and medium irrigation projects is to be undertaken and carried out by Central Water Commission (CWC) under the Ministry.

Namami Gange Programme

The central minister Bishweswar Tudu also discussed the achievements of the Namami Gange Programme, which was launched to rejuvenate river Ganga and its tributaries with a budgetary outlay of Rs.20,000 crore. Considering the need and spread of the programme, Government of India has further approved Namami Gange Mission-II with a budgetary outlay of Rs.22,500 crore till 2026 interalia including projects for existing liabilities and new projects.

National Mission for Clean Ganga

The minister Tudu said that a total of Rs.14,084.72 crore has been released by the Government of India to the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), from 2014-15 till 31st January 2023, out of which Rs.13,607.18 crore have been released by NMCG to state governments, State Missions for Clean Ganga and other agencies for implementation of projects related to Ganga rejuvenation.

Policy for industrial use

Central Government has formulated the National Water Policy 2012 (NWP-2012). The NWP-2012 contains Section 7 on “Water pricing” with provisions like pricing of water for ensuring its efficient use and reward conservation arrived at through independent statutory Water Regulatory Authority set up by each State; incentivization of recycle and reuse of water through a properly planned tariff system; differential pricing for various uses of water; regulating the use of electricity to minimize over-drawal of groundwater; statutory powers to collect and retain a portion of water charges to Water Users Associations. NWP-2012 also contains provisions regarding de-salinization to augment utilizable water resources.

Atal Bhujal Yojana

Atal Bhujal Yojana, a central sector scheme with a total outlay of Rs.6,000 crore is being implemented in 8,220 water-stressed Gram Panchayats of 229 administrative blocks and talukas in 80 districts of seven states- Haryana, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh for a period of 5 years from 01.04.2020. The institutional set-up required for the implementation of the program such as State Project Monitoring Units and District Project Monitoring Units have been set up.

Village and Water Sanitation Committees

The communities in all 8220 Gram Panchayats have been mobilized through existing Village and Water Sanitation Committees and their capacities have been built up through focused Information, Education & Communication (IEC) and training programs in terms of groundwater data collection and its importance in water budgeting for informed and decentralized decision making. A total of 8207 Community-led Water Security Plans (WSPs), having details about water budget and proposed demand-side interventions such as micro-irrigation, crop diversification, use of pipelines etc, and supply-side interventions such as check dams, farm ponds, recharge shafts and other artificial recharge, water conservation structures, have been prepared.

Central Ground Water Board

The minister also informed about the Central Ground Water Board, which has taken up Aquifer Mapping and Management Programme (NAQUIM) since 2012, under the scheme of Ground Water Management and Regulation. NAQUIM is aimed to delineate aquifer disposition and their characterization for preparation of area specific ground water management plans with community participation. Out of the total geographical area of around 33 lakh square km of the entire country, an area of around 25 lakh square km of mappable area has been identified to be covered under NAQUIM programme.

 

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