Context: 

The aim of the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM)  to provide piped water to every rural household by 2024 may not be achieved  in the stated time limit.

About Jal Jeevan Mission:

• It envisions providing 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 gray water management, water conservation, and rain water harvesting. 
• The Jal Jeevan Mission is based on a community approach to water and will include extensive Information, Education and communication as a key component of the mission. 
• JJM looks to create a jan andolan for water, thereby making it everyone’s priority.
• A fully functional tap water connection is defined as a household getting at least 55 liters of potable water per capita per day all through the year.

Issues faced:

• Lagging Targets: 
  • Budget apportioned ₹69,684 crore, a 27% increase, from financial year 2022. This shows the scale of incomplete work.
  • The JJM dashboard on the Jal Shakti Ministry website says that as of February 2023, over 11 crore households, or about 57% of the targeted, now have tap water. 
  • While that is an impressive jump in percentage points for three years, it will be difficult with only 12 months to go to ensure that the remaining 47% are connected.

• Skewed coverage of scheme:

• • Only the States of Goa, Gujarat, Haryana and Telangana have reported 100% coverage of eligible households with piped water, with Punjab and Himachal Pradesh nearly there at over 97%. 
  • Excluding these, only 10 other States or Union Territories have reported over 60% coverage. 
    • Large, populous States such as Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan have reported only 30% coverage.

• Water quality:

• • Local reports suggest that despite having a tap connection, several village households revert to their local groundwater resources as the quality of supplied tap water is inadequate.
  • Several institutions like anganwadis, schools have reported high levels of chlorine as well as problems with bacterial contamination.
  • Only three fourths of them reported water seven days a week, and, on average, households were getting water for only three hours a day (A sample survey by the Ministry of Water Resources).

• Funding issue: States like Bihar have stated that most of their connections were provided for under State funds and not under the JJM.

Conclusion:

• Functional, permanent tap water is a basic necessity and rather than aim to reach just a numerical target.
• The government should try to evaluate the extent of quality, consistent adoption of tap water in rural India. 
• While planned as a bottom up scheme, the Centre must ensure that States with the lowest adoption and largest population be assisted with improving numbers, rather than only facilitating States that are close to the finishing line.

News Source: The Hindu