Jal Jeevan Mission rollout

Context

The Jal Jeevan Mission’s target year has been officially revised from 2024 to 2028, as confirmed by the Union Water Resources Minister on June 26, 2025. The delay is attributed to infrastructure gaps, increased household demand, and the insufficiency of groundwater sources.

What is Jal Jeevan Mission?

Launched in August 2019, the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) is a flagship scheme of the Government of India that aims to provide functional household tap connections (FHTCs) to every rural household.
Each household is to receive 55 litres per capita per day (lpcd) of safe and adequate drinking water that meets BIS:10500 standards (drinking water quality).
When the scheme was launched, India had only about 2 crore (16%) rural households with piped water connections.
The target was to cover all 19.3 crore households by 2024.
Current Progress: As of June 2025, about 80% coverage has been achieved, with 6 crore rural households receiving tap connections; however, around 4 crore additional households were added after 2019, increasing the target base.
Challenges: Key challenges include groundwater shortages, contractor execution delays, infrastructure bottlenecks, and underutilisation of allocated funds, especially in complex terrain and water-stressed regions.