Taking Water to Every Home and Soul

Published: 8th Jun, 2021

Under the Jal Jeevan Mission which aims to provide tap water connection to every rural household of the country by 2024, more than 3.73 Crore household tap connections were provided in one year.
- Tashigang, a village in Lahaul and Spiti, has got its first household tap water connection in September 2020.
- This village situated at 15,256 feet above sea level has the rare distinction of being the highest polling booth in the world. This bears testimony to the philosophy of the Prime Minister’s vision of “Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas”.
Financial allocation: The allocation of the Department of Drinking Water & Sanitation has been increased from Rs. 21,518 Crore in 2020-21 to Rs. 60,030 Crore in 2021-22.
The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan 2.0 is an equally important program that resulted in averting more than 300,000 deaths (diarrhea and protein-energy malnutrition) between 2014 and October 2019 as per the study conducted by WHO.
The “Environmental impact of the Swachh Bharat Mission on Water, Soil, and Food" study by UNICEF, found that, in terms of fecal contamination, non-ODF villages were, on average, 11.25 times more likely to have their groundwater sources contaminated (12.7 times more from contaminants traceable to humans alone).
While, the sanitation coverage rose from 38.7% at the time of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’s inception to 100% by October 02, 2019, the larger challenge of a holistic sanitation coverage remained.
Allocation of more than 1.40 lakh Crore for SBM Phase II is an attempt to address the challenge of holistic waste management by focusing on various aspects of waste management in rural India.
The other three impact areas of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan 2.0 are Bio-degradable Solid waste Management, Greywater management, and Faecal Sludge Management.
Atal Bhujal Yojana aims to facilitate sustainable groundwater management with an emphasis on community participation and demand-side interventions for sustainable groundwater management in identified water-stressed areas in 8,353 Gram Panchayats in 78 districts of seven states in the country.
The Yojana came at a precarious time for the country, about 22% of our groundwater resources are in the critical or over-exploited category. With annual withdrawal exceeding annual replenishment of groundwater, demand-side management was the call of the hour.

Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Key Intervention Areas

Water Conservation and rainwater harvesting
Recharge and Reuse Structures
Renovation of traditional water bodies/tanks
Watershed Development
Intensive Afforestation

Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana was implemented as it was found that if only the agriculture sector saves 10% water by water-efficient practices, water would be available to all for the next 50 years.