Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious scheme of providing piped water to every household in the country has been a massive success, as it has exceeded its target since its inception. The Modi government is set to achieve 100 percent coverage under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) by 2024; so far, five states including Gujarat, Telangana, Haryana, Goa and Punjab have reported full coverage. Union Territories (UTs) like Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Puducherry too have reported 100 percent coverage. Himachal Pradesh at 98.87 percent, followed by Bihar at 96.30 percent and Mizoram are also poised to achieve saturation in the near future. For decades, access to clean and safe piped water has been a luxury, thanks to successively incompetent Congress-led regimes.
A fully functional tap water connection is defined as a household getting at least 55 litres of per capita, per day of potable water, all through the year. Currently, about 12.3 crore rural households or 64 percent have piped water connections, up from 3.2 crore or about 16.6 percent from 2019 when the scheme was launched. This means the number has almost quadrupled after the launch of the JJM scheme on August 15, 2019.
Jal Jeevan Mission is working in partnership with various states. Many states are using a sensor-based service delivery monitoring system to monitor the functionality of the water supply. It basically means ensuring potable water in adequate quantity and of prescribed quality to every rural household on a regular and long-term basis. JJM mandates the training of five persons in every village, especially women, in using field test kits, so that water can be tested there. While implementing JJM, states give priority to water quality-affected areas, villages in drought-prone and desert areas, Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe majority villages, aspirational districts and Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana villages.
The gigantic task of taking potable water to all rural households got a further leg up with the 15th Finance Commission’s grant of Rs 30,375 crore to rural local bodies. Overall, the allocation for JJM stands much higher at Rs 3.35 lakh crore, to be spent over the next few years. The grant is being utilised for two components — first, the supply of drinking water, rainwater harvesting and water recycling; and second, for sanitation and the maintenance of an open defecation-free status. Clearly, for the Modi government, big bang reforms and the provision of basic amenities and sanitation run in parallel. Goa has already earned the enviable distinction of becoming the first “Har Ghar Jal” state in the country, as it successfully provides 100 percent functional household tap connections (FHTCs) to over 2.30 lakh rural households.
The “Nal Se Jal” scheme is based on a unique model under which villagers decide for themselves how much to pay for the water they consume. For example, large families will pay more as their consumption will be higher, while poor families or those with no earning members will pay less. Under this scheme, the Modi government will provide a minimum of 55 litres of water per person per day, which is commendable for the sheer size of the task at hand. The inspiration for this model came from Gujarat’s potable water supply scheme implemented by the Water & Sanitation Management Organisation (WASMO). The WASMO scheme helped 79 percent of rural households in Gujarat get a potable water supply, which is the second-highest number in the country, after Goa.
In Gujarat, “paani samitis” (water committees) have been set up in every village, which decide the amount of tariff to be charged from the consumers. The final approval is given by the Gram Sabha. The committees comprise 10 to 15 elected members of the panchayat, of which 50 percent are women. “Bank Mitras”, largely women, have made the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) one of the biggest financial inclusion schemes worldwide. Similarly, the “Nal Se Jal” scheme also deploys women in large numbers and will have villagers bear 10 percent of the capital cost of a project under the scheme, either in cash or in kind (in the form of labour). Once the project is completed, the villagers will get their money back and the responsibility for its maintenance and operation will be handed over to them. This decentralised model would help in giving a sense of ownership to the villagers and encourage community participation. While the Central government is there for providing most of the funds and hand-holding, it is the villagers who will decide what they want.
The fact that cleanliness, sanitation and access to the basics are at the core of PM Modi’s development mantra is also exemplified by the “Blue Flag” tag received by over eight Indian beaches, in the very first attempt. In order to qualify for this tag, 33 stringent criteria relating to environmental standards, bathing water quality, educational, safety, services and accessibility standards must be met by the beaches. These beaches are now considered among the cleanest in the world and this is a recognition of India’s drive towards a clean environment and conservation.
If there is one leader who has made water management and a clean environment the fulcrum of his governance, it is Narendra Modi. People are far more aware now with regard to the environment, which is evident from the fact that 5.16 crore people came together to form an 18,000 km long human chain across the state of Bihar in 2020, in support of the Jal-Jeevan-Hariyali (Water-Life-Greenery) campaign recently.
Besides the “Har Ghar Jal” mission, the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), the national body leading the efforts for the cleaning and rejuvenation of river Ganga, has seen significant progress with the “Namami Gange” project, with almost the entire outlay of the budgeted Rs 20,000 crore, spent. The project is not just about cleaning but also aims at improving the ecology, conserving biodiversity, protecting wetlands and springs and enhancing India’s water security. When the project started, around 3,000 MLD (million litres per day) of sewage was being dumped into the Ganga, with a treatment capacity of less than 1,000 MLD. But now, the treatment capacity exceeds 2,000 MLD and is likely to reach 3,300 MLD in the next two years. In Uttarakhand, almost the entire required capacity has been created, with four STPs in Haridwar (68 MLD), Rishikesh (26 MLD) and Muni Ki Reti (7.5 and 5 MLD) being commissioned during the last few months, during the lockdown. Similarly, STPs are being completed in Kanpur, Prayagraj and Patna. All along the 2,500 km stretch of the Ganga, sewage capacity is being created. This includes areas like Patna where there was almost no sewage treatment capacity earlier.
The Modi government’s idea is not to build and forget. There is a built-in component for operations and maintenance in all his projects for 15 years. The BJP government under PM Modi has moved beyond the construction era and entered the performance-based era. Besides the above, “Ganga Avalokan” was also inaugurated by PM Modi, which is the first museum on Ganga, aimed at showcasing the biodiversity, culture and rejuvenation activities done in the river. The museum is situated at Chandi Ghat, Haridwar.
It would suffice to say that for PM Modi, clean water is more than just a mission statement. Water scarcity affects every continent and about 2.8 billion people around the world, for at least one month, every year. Globally, more than 1.2 billion people lack access to clean drinking water. Hence, PM Modi’s clarion call for water conservation and rejuvenation is both timely and much needed, as India takes giant strides towards uninterrupted water sufficiency.
Once the Modi government’s objective to provide piped potable water to all of India becomes a reality through JJM, it would succeed in averting close to 400,000 deaths from diarrhoea, a modelling study by the World Health Organisation (WHO) has claimed. Additionally, this would avoid 14 million Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) from diarrhoea, save close to $101 billion and 66.6 million hours every day of time that would have otherwise been spent — predominantly by women — collecting water, the study noted. A DALY represents the loss of the equivalent of one year of full health and is a way to account for the years of life lost due to premature mortality (YLLs) and the years lived with a disability (YLDs), due to prevalent cases of a disease or a health condition, in a population.
Currently, a potable water connection is being provided every second. Investing in water and sanitation results in many benefits, including economic, environmental, quality of life and health benefits. Every dollar invested in sanitation interventions gives a $4.3 return in the form of reduced healthcare costs. Jal Jeevan Mission is a sterling example of how ‘Modinomics’ has married progress and equity with last-mile delivery, thereby democratising the fruits of economic growth and prosperity.
Sanju Verma is an Economist, National Spokesperson of BJP and Bestselling Author of “The Modi Gambit”. Views expressed are personal.
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