Jal Jeevan Mission: 34.67 % rural households yet to be connected with tap water supply — deadline is Dec, 2024

The nationwide Jal Jeevan Mission was launched in 2019 with an aim to assist the state governments to provide tap water connections to all rural houses by December, 2024. As of July 31, 34.67 % of rural houses are yet to be covered under the scheme. Details here.

As per the data shared today, on August 3, by the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti in the Lower House, out of 1,942.54 lakh rural households, 1,268.96 lakh — which in percentage, translates as 65.33 per cent having a tap water connection. This means that 67,358,000 households or 34.67 per cent of the total rural households still don’t have tap connections.

The data was shared in response to a question raised in the ongoing Monsoon Session about the coverage of rural houses under Jal Jeevan Mission since its inception in 2019.

Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM)-Har Ghar Jal was launched to enable every rural household across all districts in the country to have assured potable water through tap water connection. The deadline set for every rural household to have a functional tap connection is December, 2024, which is 516 days away.

“At the time of announcement of Jal Jeevan Mission, 3.23 crore rural households were reported to have tap water connections in the country,” Prahlad Singh Patel, the Minister of State of Jal Shakti responded.

“9.46 crore additional rural households have been provided with tap water connections. Thus, as on July 21, 2023, out of 19.43 crore rural households in the country, around 12.69 crore (65.33 per cent) households are reported to have tap water supply in their homes,” he added.

The states which have achieved a 100 per cent coverage include Andaman and Nicobar(0.62 lakh), Dadar and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Dui(0.85 lakh), Goa(2.63 lakh), Gujarat(91.18 lakh), Haryana(30.41 lakh), Himachal Pradesh(17.09 lakh), Puducherry(1.15 lakh), Punjab(34.26 lakh) and Telangana(53.98 lakh).

Amongst the states with below 50 per cent coverage are Lakshadweep(0.34 per cent), West Bengal(34.58 per cent), Jharkhand(39.30 per cent), Rajasthan(41.56 per cent), Kerala(49.97 per cent).

Madhya Pradesh has covered 51.32 per cent of its rural households under JJM, Assam — 52.94 per cent, Chhattisgarh — 52.94 per cent and Uttar Pradesh — 54.96 per cent.

Under a series titled Paani Yatra, Gaon Connection had reported in May, 2022 that how under the Central government’s Har Ghar Jal scheme of Jal Jeevan Mission, villages in Uttar Pradesh’s drought-prone region of Bundelkhand have been connected with water pipelines and taps installed in rural households but there is no water in them.