Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that the vision of Jal Jeevan Mission is not just to make water accessible to the people, but is also intended to bring about a big movement of “decentralisation”.

“This is a village-driven- women-driven Movement. Its main base is a mass movement and public participation” Modi said as he virtually launched the Jal Jeevan Mission mobile application.

Interacting with Gram Panchayats and Pani Samitis/Village Water and Sanitation Committees (VWSC) on Jal Jeevan Mission through video conference, Modi 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.

Modi said that all details about the mission such as number of households that received water, quality of water will be available on the mobile application. The mobile app aims to improve our awareness among stakeholders and ensure greater transparency and accountability of schemes under the Jal Jeevan Mission.

It maybe recalled that the ₹ 3.6 lakh crore Jal Jeevan mission was announced by the Prime Minister in August 2019 to provide clean tapwater to all households. Since the launch of Jal Jeevan mission in 2019, five crore households have got water connections, Modi said. From Independence till 2019, only three crore households in the country had access to tap water.

Today, water is reaching every household in about 1.25 lakh villages in about 80 districts of the country. In the aspirational districts the number of tap connections have increased from 31 lakh to 1.16 crore.

The Jal Shakti Ministry was formed by the government in July 2019 to address all water issues in the country. It was formed by integrating several existing ministries, such as water resources and the Ministry of drinking water and sanitation.

Related Topics