Frequently asked questions (FAQs) on Jal Jeevan Mission
On 15 August, 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), a time-bound mission-mode programme, to enable all rural household to have functional household tap connection (FHTC) i.e. Har Ghar Nal Se Jal by 2024. The goal of JJM is to provide FHTC to every household with service level at the rate of 55 litres per capita per day (lpcd).
With the launch of the scheme, there arises a lot of questions as to why the government needed to lauch such a scheme, what are the objectives, action plan of the mission, how much funds will be required for implementation of the scheme etc. ? So, India Water Portal, has tried to provide you with a comprehensive primer of the scheme, that will answer most of your questions.
With the growing population and expanding economic activities in the country, there is an increase in demand for water. With finite availability of water and competing demands, drinking water management has become a complex issue. The widening demand-supply gap is further compounded by other challenges, like groundwater depletion due to over-extraction, poor recharge, low storage capacity, erratic rainfall due to climate change, presence of contaminants, poor operation and maintenance (O&M) of water supply systems, etc.
These challenges have put further pressure on the rural population, which have catered to their water needs using traditional knowledge and their water wisdom. Therefore, there is a need to provide piped water supply to the rural population to not only improve the health and socioeconomic condition of local communities but also bring down the drudgery of rural women and girls.
As per Integrated Management Information System (IMIS) maintained by Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DDWS), as on 31.3.2019, about 18 percent, i.e. 3.28 crore out of the total 17.87 crore rural households in the country have tap water connection. Thus, about 14.60 crore households are without tap water connection and are planned to be covered in partnership with States/ Union Territories (UTs) under the JJM by 2024.
Watch the video to understand the need of Jal Jeevan Mission, its objectives, components, strategy and action plan to be implemented for the successful completion of the programme.
The broad objectives of the Mission are to provide FHTC to every rural household, schools, anganwadi centres, GP buildings, health centres, wellness centres and community buildings and to monitor FHTC; to prioritize provision of FHTCs in quality affected areas, villages in drought-prone and desert areas, Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) villages, etc.; 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; and to bring awareness on various aspects and significance of safe drinking water and involvement of stakeholders in manner that make water everyone's business.
The following components are supported under JJM:
Community led partnership with States/ UTs will be the strategy for achieving the objectives of JJM.
Communities can therefore, make the best of this opportunity and ensure that every rural household has FHTC of prescribed quality (BIS:10500) and on regular basis as may be decided by the Gram Panchayat and/ or its subcommittee, i.e. VWSC/ Paani Samiti/ User Group, etc. State Government and its Departments are to play the role of facilitator. The government believes that this approach will bring long-term sustainability in the sector.
Yes, to implement JJM, action plans will be prepared at each level, that is, village, district and state.
Yes, several schemes under the erstwhile National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) have been subsumed into JJM. These schemes are given below:
For the successful implementation of JJM, four-tier institutional mechanism would be set up:
Tier | Mission | Role | |
| i. | National level | National Jal Jeevan Mission (NJJM) | Headed by a senior officer with a directorate, NJJM will provide policy guidance, financial assistance, and technical support to states and coordinate with other ministries and departments for convergence. |
| ii. | State level | State Water and Sanitation Mission (SWSM) | Headed by Chief Secretary with Principal Secretary in charge of PHED/RWS Department as Mission Director, SWSM would be responsible for coordination, convergence, and policy guidance at the state level. |
| iii. | District level | District Water and Sanitation Mission (DWSM) | Headed by Deputy Commissioner/District Collector, DWSM will ensure preparation of village action plan, finalize a district action plan, provide administrative approval of in-village water supply schemes, ensure availability of funds for source sustainability and greywater management, approve cost estimates finalized by other committees, coordinate with Gram Panchayats, identify individuals to be trained as master trainers at the state level, approve, share reports, success stories, best practices on JJM IMIS, conduct campaigns, etc. |
| iv. | Gram Panchayat level | Paani Samiti/Village Water & Sanitation Committee (VWSC)/ User group | Under JJM, the community will play a lead role in planning, implementation, management, operation, and maintenance of in-village water supply infrastructure, thereby leading to FHTCs to every rural household. The committee will be headed by Sarpanch/ Up-Sarpanch/ Gram Panchayat member/ traditional village head/ senior village leader as the Gram Sabha may decide and may consist of 10-15 members: up to 25% elected members of Gram Panchayat, 50% women members, and the remaining 25% representatives of weaker sections of the village. |
Watch the video provides information on the roles and responsibilities for the scheme, the broader plan for providing FHTCs to all rural households, infrastructure work to be taken up and estimated funds for the programme.
The plan is to provide FHTC in every household with three delivery points (taps), viz. kitchen, washing & bathing area and toilet, to keep water clean and prevent misuse. Out of the three, only one tap per household will be funded under JJM.
In this regard, State Governments/ UT Administration will implement the mission based on the finalized SAP with timelines to cover all the villages of the respective State/ UT. Each village will be assessed on existing water supply infrastructure by DWSM in consultation with Gram Panchayat and/ or its sub-committee and ISA. Based on the same, FHTCs will be provided to every rural household by creating in-village water supply infrastructure including source development under any one of the following suggested categories, viz.
Broadly, water supply infrastructure work will fall in two categories, i.e.
- Creation of in-village infrastructure including source development/ strengthening/ augmentation and greywater management: It will be created through Single Village Scheme (SVS)/ Multi Village Scheme (MVS)/ solar power-based stand-alone schemes for scattered areas. The Gram Panchayat and/ or its subcommittee will be responsible to plan, implement, manage, operate and maintain this. It will include protection of drinking water source(s) as well as treatment and reuse of greywater.
- Infrastructure for bulk transfer of water, treatment and distribution systems: In villages with water quality issues and paucity of surface water sources, especially in drought-prone and desert areas, an approach to transfer bulk water from long distance will be adopted. It will be planned, implemented and monitored by the PHED/ RWS Department/ Board/ Agency as decided by the SWSM/ State Government. The components for transfer of water consists of head work, intake work, tube well, pumping station, trunks/ mains/ lateral distribution network, treatment plants, Elevated Storage Reservoir (ESR), sumps, bulk meters, substations for handling bulk water supply, etc.
Suggested names of ongoing Central government schemes that can be converged are:
Name of the scheme | Central/State Government Department | Components that can be converged |
| Swachh Bharat Mission - Grameen (SBM-G) | Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, M/o Jal Shakti | Greywater management – soak pits (individual/community), waste stabilization ponds, etc. |
| MGNREGS | M/o Rural Development | All water conservation activities under Natural Resource Management (NRM) component |
| Watershed Development Component (WDC) of PMKSY | D/o Land Resources | Watershed management/RWH/artificial recharge, creation/augmentation of water bodies, etc. |
| Repair, Renovation and Restoration of water bodies | D/o Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation | Restoration of larger water bodies |
The total estimated cost of JJM is Rs.3.60 Lakh Crore with Central and State share of Rs.2.08 Lakh Crore and Rs.1.52 Lakh Crore respectively.
The fund sharing pattern between the Centre and State is 90:10 for Himalayan (Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh), north-eastern states and Union Territories with legislature, while it is 100:0 for Union Territories without legislature. For the remaining states, the fund sharing pattern will be 50:50. Accordingly, the tentative outlay over the five years is as follows:
Central financial assistance for Jal Jeevan Mission will have two sources namely Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) and Extra Budgetary Resources (EBR). The criteria and weightage thereof, to be followed for fund allocation under JJM for both the budgetary resources will be as under:
Criteria | % weight |
| Rural Population (as per last Census) | 30 |
| Rural SC and ST population (as per last Census) | 10 |
| States under DDP, DPAP, HADP and special category Hill States in terms of rural areas | 30 |
| Population (as per IMIS) residing in habitations affected by chemical contaminants including heavy metals (as on 31st March of preceding financial year) | 10 |
| Weightage for balance individual household connections to be provided | 20 |
Up to 5 percent and up to 2 percent of such allocated fund to a State/ UT will be utilized for support activities and WQM&S activities, respectively. Balance will be utilized to provide FHTCs to rural households. Funds for SCs and STs will be earmarked in the State at least in proportion to their population.
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 percent 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 percent SC and/or ST population, where community contribution would be 5 percent 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.
In order to facilitate donations/ contributions from various individuals, corporate/ industrial houses, charitable institutions, etc., Rashtriya Jal Jeevan Kosh is being set up under NJJM, which will serve as a receptacle for charitable contributions/donations and CSR fund to achieve goals of JJM.
Watch the video to understand the contribution of communities and NGOs, schemes subsumed into programme and the plan for rural areas where tap water is not feasible.
In such areas, local innovations/ technological solutions will be explored. Suggestive technological solutions to address challenges in the supply of drinking water are as under:
JJM has made the provision of up to five percent of annual allocation to the states as support activities fund. All states will develop a detailed implementation strategy for taking up support activities as a part of annual action plan. For the effective implementation of JJM following support activities would be conducted: