Question – 2. Do you think the Jal Jeevan mission will improve water accessibility in rural areas of the country? Comment.

Answer: The Prime Minister announced the Jal Jeevan Mission during the 2019 Independence day speech, which plans to supply water to all households by 2024. It will be a decentralised, community-managed and sustainable water management scheme.

Role of the mission in increasing water accessibility in rural areas

• Jal Jeevan Mission aims at ensuring potable water supply in adequate quantity at the rate of 55 litres per person per day and of prescribed quality to every rural household of the country through Functional Household Tap Connections (FHTC) by 2024.
• The Jal Jeevan Mission’s first preference will be to have community managed single village ground water-based schemes, wherever sufficient quantity and good quality of groundwater exists.
• JJM focuses on integrated demand and supply-side management of water at the local level. JJM looks to create a jan Andolan for water, thereby making it everyone’s priority.
• The provision of a basic quantity of drinking water in rural India has been achieved through hand pumps, dug wells, household water supply (HWS), etc.

Thus, integrated approach to decentralised, community managed, and sustainable water management is the backbone of the government’s plan to ensure that every household gets the benefits of water supply.

The Jal Jeevan mission, if implemented effectively, will improve water accessibility in rural areas of the country.

Tags: GS 2 ( Polity and Governance)
By – Prashant Tiwari