PM announces Jal Jeevan Mission Scheme for households

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the government will launch a Jal Jeevan Mission to bring piped water to households. The announcement was made dueing his 6th Independence Day (August 15) address from Red Fort.

About Jal Jeevan Mission

Concerned Authority: Under Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation.

Need: Half of country’s households do not have access to piped water. Therefore, there is a need to quadruple water conservation efforts in next 5 years as to what was done in the last 70 years.

Cost: Both centre and states will work towards achieving Jal Jeevan Mission’s objective. The expenditure on scheme would cost around more than Rs.3.5 lakh crore in coming years.

Objective: It seeks to converge with other Central and State Government Schemes to achieve its objectives of sustainable water supply management across India.

Focus Areas: JJM will focus on integrated demand and supply-side management of water at local level, including creation of local infrastructure for source sustainability such as groundwater recharge, rainwater harvesting, and management of household wastewater for reuse in agriculture.

People’s Mission: Just like Swachhta Mission it would be a people’s mission. It is a movement towards water conservation that will take place at grassroots level and will integrate people from all walks of life.

Other Efforts by Government

Government has resolved to provide piped water to all households by 2024 and for his purpose it has clubbed all erstwhile water related ministries under one new Jal Shakti Ministry.

In July 2019, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that government has identified 1592 Blocks (spread across 256 districts) which are critical and over exploited, for Jal Shakti Abhiyan (JSA).

Month: Current Affairs - August, 2019