Jal Jeevan Mission: Ending An Era of Thirst in Amrit Kaal.

For many of us, clean water is so plentiful and readily available that we rarely, if ever, pause to consider what life would be like without it. The importance of clean potable water is not an issue of a particular sect, region, or nation, it is an existential issue for the future of human existence and its coming generations. India is blessed with lofty mountains, absorbent plains, gradient plateaus, and a long coastline. This gives it a natural place to be the mother of many perennial rivers, large watershed areas, reservoirs, and other natural water sources that can cater to a large chunk of the population. Apart from these, India is a recipient of annual rainfalls from the South-West and North-East monsoons, giving it a double thrust to quench the thirst of 1.4 billion people.

But despite these geographical and climatic advantages, we have been unsuccessful in providing clean drinkable water to each household, especially in the far-flung areas of our country. Incompetency and inefficiency in managing water in the past few decades have not just been a testimony of our callousness but have also affected the most vulnerable sections of our society. Water as a resource, has many stages in which it needs to be gauged for its purity, portability, equitable distribution, and accessibility. Here, the government has acknowledged the vitality and the essential basic necessity of water and launched the Jal Jeevan Mission. Jal (Water) and Jeevan (Life) in a consequentialist school of thought, due to their close interdependence, are one and the same. Jal is Jeevan, and Jeevan is Jal, both cannot be disjointed from each other. This is a remarkable step towards achieving an ideal social condition where there is water security in the nation, where each one of us would be blessed with the soothing satisfaction of water in our homes.

Jal Jeevan: The Saviour of Life

Jal Jeevan Mission is envisioned to provide safe and adequate drinking water through individual household tap connections by 2024 to all households in rural India. The programme will also implement source sustainability measures as mandatory elements, such as recharge and reuse through greywater management, water conservation, and rainwater harvesting. This Mission is based on a community approach and will include extensive Information, Education, and communication as key components of the mission. It envisages the mission to create a Jan Andolan for water, thereby not just making it everyone’s priority, but also a new way of life.

Its vision signifies the applicability of the down-to-top approach to implement a program that has a substantial level of community participation. Ensuring that every rural household has access to a sufficient and consistent supply of potable drinking water, establishing a reliable and sustainable water supply system that operates over the long term, ensuring continuous access to safe drinking water for rural communities, and implementing affordable service delivery charges for the provision of water services, thereby improving the living standards of rural households and promoting affordability and accessibility is the broad vision on which this ambitious program rests on.

To quantify the objectives of the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), it aims to ensure that every rural household is equipped with Functional Household Tap Connections (FHTCs), enabling access to 55 litres of water per person per day. A significant aspect of the Jal Jeevan Mission is the implementation of extensive information, education, and communication programs, with a strong focus on community involvement. To promote sustainability, the program includes measures to enhance source sustainability, such as greywater management, water conservation, and rainwater harvesting, thereby encouraging the recharge and reuse of water resources.

Impact: Quenching the Thirst

Deciphering the pictorial depiction of the above representation shows the outreach of the program, from 2019 to 2023. It has established taps in 13,71,91,995(71.30%) rural households as of now from 3,23,62,838(16.82%) households in 2019. This is an earmarking progress made not just by the government, but also by the community which played a significant role in bringing change at the grassroots level. The impact of this scheme is not on a linear line, but it has wide-ranging implications, be it social, economic, human rights, political-civil, etc.

As per a recent report by WHO, titled “Estimating potential health gains from increased access to safely managed drinking water services following the Jal Jeevan Mission initiative”, it is estimated that the provisioning of safely managed drinking water in the country would result in averting almost 4,00,000 diarrheal disease deaths across the country. It is also estimated in the report that with the universal coverage of safely managed drinking water in India, almost 14 million DALYs (Disability Adjusted Life Years) are estimated to be averted, resulting in estimated cost savings of up to Rs 8.2 lakh Crore.

Rural women and adolescent girls spend a lot of time and energy getting water for day-to-day use. This results in a lack of participation of women in income generation opportunities, loss of school days for girls, and adverse health impacts. Assured availability of drinking water in the household premises not only improves the health and socioeconomic condition of the rural population, especially women but also brings down the drudgery of rural women and girls. The said report of WHO also asserts that providing tap connection to every rural household would result in significant time saved on water collection (5.5 crore hours each day), especially among women.

United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6.1 aims to achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all by 2030. The Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM)-Har Ghar Jal is being implemented by the Government of India in partnership with States/UTs to make provision for tap water supply to every rural household of the country, by 2024, much earlier than 2030- the SDG 6.1global timeline, hence influencing the achievement of SDG 6.1 positively. As of 01.10.2023, out of 19.4 Crore rural households in the country, provision of tap water supply has been made to 13.7 Crore (71.3%) rural households.

A Bright and Secured Future India as it is growing, both internally and externally, is on a progressive pathway to enhance its ingenious capacities and capabilities. Securing clean portables to every household is one of the basic social obligations of any state. The government with its Jal Jeevan Mission is on the right track to achieving 100% water security to the world’s largest population. Yes, some roadblocks like logistics, topographical difficulties, community awareness and outreach, and behavioural change have been the major impediment towards the fullest realisation of the goal, but the innovativeness, political will, and participative implementation of the program would make these issues easy going. Water being the most vital component of our existence and our future generations, its accessibility, affordability, quality, and utility should be taken care of with a comprehensive, inclusive, and sustainable approach, which is what the government is aiming for, and the community desires. Thus, we as a community of a rich civilisation that talks about nature as a part of our lives should imbibe these values to make an effort alongside the government to make our lives and this planet a better place to live in.