Snapshot
Share of rural households with tap water connection has increased from 17 per cent to 50 per cent since the launch of Har Ghar Jal’ programme under Jal Jeevan Mission in 2019.
In 2019, only 3.23 Crore households had access to drinking water through taps. Today, over 9.59 crore rural households have tap water connection.
As of 27 May, 108 districts, 1,222 blocks, 71,667 Gram Panchayats and 1,51,171 villages have become ‘Har Ghar Jal.’
Nearing its goal of providing tap water connection in every rural household by 2024, the ‘Har Ghar Jal’ programme implemented by Jal Jeevan Mission under the Ministry of Jal Shakti has achieved the milestone of 50 per cent of rural households having access to tap water connections.
While Goa, Telangana, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, Puducherry and Haryana have already achieved 100 per cent household connections, Punjab, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Bihar have coverage of more than 90 per cent and are progressing fast towards attaining the status of ‘Har Ghar Jal’.
At the time of the launch of Jal Jeevan Mission in 2019, only 3.23 Crore households, i.e. 17 per cent of the rural population, had access to drinking water through taps. Today, over 9.59 crore rural households spread across States/ UTs are getting water within their premises.
As of 27 May, 108 districts, 1,222 blocks, 71,667 Gram Panchayats and 1,51,171 villages have become ‘Har Ghar Jal,’ wherein all rural households have been provided with drinking water through taps.
“Women and girls in these households are now free from the drudgery of walking long distances in scorching heat, rain and snow in search of water,” the Ministry of Jal Shakti said.
“The burden of arranging water for daily household needs mostly fell on women and young girls. There is sufficient evidence to suggest that school attendance among girls was significantly lower in summers when due to increased requirements for water, multiple trips were needed. After the launch of Jal Jeevan Mission and improvement in access to tap water connection within their premises, considerable improvement in this regard has been noticed,” it added.
JJM has been given a top priority by PM Modi led government. Many political analysts attribute JJM, among important factors, to an increased share of support among women to the BJP led government.
In 2021-22, over Rs 40,000 crore grant had been released to States and UTs under the Jal Jeevan Mission.
Further, the budget under Jal Jeevan Mission for 2022-23 has been enhanced to Rs 60,000 crore.