Jal Jeevan Mission

 

“Water is a gift from the creator, Protect it! Respect it!”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Jal Jeevan Mission mobile application and interacted with Gram panchayats and Pani Samitis on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti on Saturday via video conferencing.

The application aims to improve awareness among stakeholders and for greater transparency and accountability of schemes under the mission.

He also launched Rashtriya Jal Jeevan Kosh, where any individual, institution, corporation, or philanthropist, be it in India or abroad, can contribute to help provide tap water connection in every rural household, school, Anganwadi centre, ashram shala, and other public institutions.

Government of India has restructured and subsumed the ongoing National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) into Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) to provide Functional Household Tap Connection (FHTC) to every rural household i.e., Har Ghar Nal Se Jal (HGNSJ) by 2024.

Earlier The Central Government assistance to States for rural water supply began in 1972 with the launch of Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme. It was renamed as National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) in 2009, which is a centrally sponsored scheme with fund sharing between the Centre and the States. Under NRDWP, one of the objectives was to “enable all households to have access to and use safe & adequate drinking water within premises to the extent possible”. It was proposed to achieve the goal by 2030, coinciding with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. But now, it is has been planned to achieve the goal by 2024 through Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM).

v     Mission:

Jal Jeevan Mission is to assist, empower and facilitate:

• States/ UTs in planning of participatory rural water supply strategy for ensuring potable drinking water security on long-term basis to every rural household and public institution, viz. GP building, School, Anganwadi centre, Health centre, wellness centres, etc.

• States/ UTs for creation of water supply infrastructure so that every rural household has Functional Tap Connection (FHTC) by 2024 and water in adequate quantity of prescribed quality is made available on regular basis.

• States/ UTs to plan for their drinking water security

• GPs/ rural communities to plan, implement, manage, own, operate and maintain their own in-village water supply systems

• States/ UTs to develop robust institutions having focus on service delivery and financial sustainability of the sector by promoting utility approach

• Capacity building of the stakeholders and create awareness in community on significance of water for improvement in quality of life

• In making provision and mobilization of financial assistance to States/ UTs for implementation of the mission.

v    Objectives

The broad objectives of the Mission are:

• To provide FHTC to every rural household.

• To prioritize provision of FHTCs in quality affected areas, villages in drought prone and desert areas, Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) villages, etc.

• To provide functional tap connection to Schools, Anganwadi centres, GP buildings, Health centres, wellness centres and community buildings

• To monitor functionality of tap connections.

• To promote and ensure voluntary ownership among local community by way of contribution in cash, kind and/ or labour and voluntary labour (shramdaan)

• To assist in ensuring sustainability of water supply system, i.e. water source, water supply infrastructure, and funds for regular O&M

• To empower and develop human resource in the sector such that the demands of construction, plumbing, electrical, water quality management, water treatment, catchment protection, O&M, etc. are taken care of in short and long term

• To bring awareness on various aspects and significance of safe drinking water and involvement of stakeholders in manner that make water everyone's business

Financial Implication and Funding Pattern under JJM: Total estimated cost of JJM is Rs. 3.60 Lakh Crore. The fund sharing pattern between Centre and State is 90:10 for Himalayan (Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh) and North-Eastern States, 100:0 for UTs and 50:50 for rest of the States. Fund allocation criteria under JJM: The notional allocation of fund among state has been modified by including the number of left-out household connections as additional criteria with 20% weightage and 10% weightage is given to rural population affected by water quality, thus allowing more fund for quality affected states. The states can utilise the funds under JJM for taking up schemes in quality affected areas on priority.

Jal Jeevan Mission would ensure functional household tap connection to every rural household as there is a demand that exists and people aspire for household piped water supply. It will significantly improve quality of life, particularly of women and children and assist in ODF-sustainability as water is important to sustain Swachh Bharat Mission’s gains. In the rural areas, for developing in-village water supply infrastructure, water resource management, source strengthening/ augmentation, distribution network, treatment plants, etc., unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled human resource will be required. Further there will be procurement of various materials for water supply systems. This will generate employment and boost the economy.

v    Components under Jal Jeevan Mission:

The following components are supported under JJM

• Development of in-village piped water supply infrastructure to provide tap water connection to every rural household

• Development of reliable drinking water sources and/ or augmentation of existing sources to provide long-term sustainability of water supply system

• Wherever necessary, bulk water transfer, treatment plants and distribution network to cater to every rural household

• Technological interventions for removal of contaminants where water quality is an issue

• Retrofitting of completed and ongoing schemes to provide FHTCs at minimum service level of 55 lpcd;

• Greywater management

• Support activities, i.e. IEC, HRD, training, development of utilities, water quality laboratories, water quality testing & surveillance, R&D, knowledge centre, capacity building of communities, etc.

• Any other unforeseen challenges/ issues emerging due to natural disasters/ calamities which affect the goal of FHTC to every household by 2024, as per guidelines of Ministry of Finance on Flexi Funds.

In order to instill the ‘sense of ownership’ among the community/ user groups for better implementation and long-term operation & maintenance of the scheme as well as bringing in transparency, GP/ VWSC/ Paani Samiti will implement the in-village piped water supply infrastructure and related source development. Communities will contribute towards 10% of the capital cost in cash and/or kind and/or labour in all villages except for hilly and forested areas/ NE and Himalayan States and villages having more than 50% SC and/or ST population, where community contribution would be 5% of the capital cost.

To assist the village community for in-village water resource management and water supply related infrastructure, NGOs, Voluntary Organizations/ women SHGs under NRLM/ SRLM, etc. will be associated as partners to facilitate the communities in awareness creation, capacity building, planning & implementing the schemes. They would also mobilise the local communities, firm up their aspirations and handhold them for resource mapping as participatory approach and decentralized planning will hold the key for long term sustainability and operation and maintenance of the system. JJM will focus on integrated demand and supply side management of water at the local level, including creation of local infrastructure for source sustainability like rainwater harvesting, groundwater recharge and management of household wastewater for reuse would be undertaken in convergence with other Government programmes/ schemes. For targeted delivery and monitoring of specific outcomes, every functional tap connection is to be linked with the Aadhar number of the head of the household subject to statutory provisions. Every asset created under JJM will be geo-tagged. States will carry out inspections by empanelled third party agencies for all infrastructures created under the JJM. GOI will carry out functionality assessment of schemes, based on which fund will be made available to States/ UTs based on their performance. There are people who would like to contribute and donate voluntarily for water supply in the rural areas. To facilitate this, ‘Rashtriya Jal Jeevan Kosh’ will mobilize and accept donations/ contributions received from various sources to fund Jal Jeevan Mission.