Jal Jeevan Mission Completes Five-Year
Kartavya Desk Staff
Syllabus: Environmental Conservation/ Government Policies and Intervention
The Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), a central government initiative to provide piped water to every rural household by 2024, was launched in 2019.
Key Achievements
• Over 77% of rural households in India now have piped water connections, a significant leap from the 2019 baseline of 17%.
• States Achieving 100% Tap Connectivity: Goa, Telangana, Haryana.
• Union Territories Achieving 100% Tap Connectivity: Puducherry, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu.
• Tap water coverage increased from over 3 crore to 15 crore households.
• 8 states and 3 Union Territories achieved 100% coverage.
• Over 88% of schools and over 85% of Anganwadi centres receive tap water.
• Over 2 lakh villages and 190 districts reached ‘Har Ghar Jal’ status.
About the mission:
A fully functional tap water connection is defined as a household getting at least 55 litres of potable water per capita per day all through the year
Present challenges with the mission:
Aspect | Details
State Disparities | Only a few states report high coverage rates. In contrast, populous states like Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan have lower coverage.
Quality Concerns | Some households, despite having tap connections, use local groundwater due to inadequate tap water quality.
Reporting and Certification | Adoption numbers rely on self-reporting by villages and lack third-party certification.
Shortcomings in Reality | Despite official claims of 100% household tap connections (FHTC), many households lack taps, and those with taps often receive limited water
Discrepancies in Reporting | Discrepancies exist between official reports and ground reality, where eligible FHTC households are not fully connected to running water supply.
Water Treatment Efforts | Water treatment plants have been commissioned to address water scarcity, but the challenge lies in commissioning pipes over difficult terrain.
Taps Get Stolen | In some areas, taps provided by the mission have been stolen, and households lack sufficient storage to maintain a continuous water supply.
Suggestions:
• Quality Over Quantity: Prioritizing consistent, high-quality tap water adoption in rural India is crucial. States with lower adoption rates and larger populations should receive assistance to improve their numbers.
• Third-Party Assessment: Implement third-party assessments to verify the accuracy of reported tap water connections, ensuring transparency and accountability.
• Focus on Lagging States: Prioritize states with lower adoption rates and larger populations to accelerate progress toward universal tap water coverage.
• Public Awareness: Conduct awareness campaigns to educate rural communities on the benefits of clean tap water and proper water usage.
• Make the Right to Water Legal: In India, the right to water is not enshrined as a fundamental right in the Constitution.
Other steps are taken for water management in Urban Areas:
• Atal Bhujal Yojana: For sustainable management of groundwater resources with community participation in selected water-stressed areas.
• National Aquifer Management Program: For mapping of aquifers, characterization, and development of aquifer management plans.
• National Water Policy (2012): Include provisions like rainwater harvesting, augmenting the availability of water through direct use of rainfall, etc.
• Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT): To provide tap connections to over 1 crore households in 500 cities.
Conclusion:
On 28 July 2010, through Resolution 64/292, the United Nations General Assembly explicitly recognized the human right to water and sanitation and acknowledged that clean drinking water and sanitation are essential to the realization of all human rights.
Insta Links:
• Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) has hit the 51% mark
• Jal Jeevan Mission
Mains Links:
The Jal Jeevan Mission will be a major step towards improving our people’s ease of living and meeting their aspirations of a New India. Analyse. (250 words)
Prelims links:
Consider the following statements: (UPSC 2020)
• 36% of India’s districts are classified as “overexploited” or “critical” by the Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA).
• CGWA was formed under the Environment (Protection) Act.
• India has the largest area under groundwater irrigation in the world.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only (b) 2 and 3 only (c) 2 only (d) 1 and 3 only
Ans: B