Bejoy K. Thomas
Devesh Kumar Ray
Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) was launched in 2019 with the aim of providing functional household tap connection (FHTC) to every rural household with at least 55 litres per capita per day.
The programme was originally planned to be completed by 2024. This year’s Budget extended JJM until 2028 with an allocation of ₹67,000 crore for the coming year. While the programme was able to achieve impressive coverage in the initial years, there have been concerns in the recent months on how realistic was the 2024 target and the programme’s efficacy in delivering safe water and ensuring resource sustainability.
Data from various government sources are indicative of the difficulties in defining and tracking progress on water access. The JJM Dashboard provides real time data on FHTC and updates regarding the programme are available for public view.
In addition, water access data are available through the decadal census and two nationally representative sample surveys, all undertaken by the government. The nationally representative survey data are from National Family Health Survey (NFHS) for which the latest available data is from 2019-21 and the surveys of the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO). NSS has collected data on water access in its 78th (2020-21) and 79th rounds (2022-23).
Census data are dated, and the last available figures for 2011 showed that 30.8 per cent of rural households could access tap water.
There is no data precisely on FHTC in NFHS or NSS. The closest indicator in both NFHS and NSS is whether the household has water piped into dwelling, yard or plot.
NFHS 2019-21 field data collection coincided with the initial phase of JJM. The survey showed that 32.9 per cent of Indian households accessed piped water (53.6 per cent urban households and 22.6 per cent rural households).
State variations
The variation between States was huge with Assam having 3.7 per cent rural household coverage, Karnataka 38.3 per cent and Maharashtra 46.6 per cent.
Interestingly, in Kerala, a State that otherwise has impressive social and welfare indicators, only 20 per cent of rural households had piped water access in 2019-21, well below the national average,
Nevertheless, 60.2 per cent households used water from improved and sustainable sources such as protected dug well, protected spring or rainwater, indicating the role of traditional and natural sources.
NSS 78th round, which partly overlapped with Covid, reported 35.5 per cent of the population as having access to piped water, with 24.8 per cent of rural population covered with piped water. Both 78th and 79th rounds showed that almost all of India could access improved sources of drinking water.
The latest available figures (2022-23) indicate that 94.9 per cent rural households had access to improved principal sources of drinking water. The definitions and indicators used across these data sources vary and hence a proper comparison between them is not possible. Field studies have also shown discrepancies that makes data interpretation difficult.
According to the JJM Dashboard, until the beginning of February 2025, 15.44 crore households have been covered under the programme, which amounts to 79.74 per cent of rural households, an impressive jump from 3.23 crore households, or 16.8 per cent of rural households, when the programme began about six years ago.
However, there has been a slowdown in the progress of the project in the recent months, making inevitable a revision in the target date of completion. FHTC coverage has been increasing during the period, but at a diminishing rate indicating the challenges involved in this ambitious project. As many as 55.62 per cent households were covered by December 2022, and 72.34 per cent by December 2023, but by December 2024, the coverage increased only to 79.48 per cent.
The extension of JJM is reflective of the difficulties in ensuring FHTC to backward areas and aspirational blocks, putting in place the necessary infrastructure and making investments in maintenance.
Conservation issues
There are several insights from the JJM experience so far, for looking at water access, data collection and implementation.
Water access has to be viewed not just in terms of availability, but reliability, quality and sustainability as well.
While efforts are on under JJM to monitor and improve quality of water supplied, there is a long way to go. Source sustainability is an objective of JJM but ensuring that will be challenging with demand fast outpacing replenishable sources of supply and water conservation efforts.
Public provisioning through FHTC can be a broad policy goal, but cannot come at the expense of other goals of water management, including conservation and sustainability. Kerala, which has been consistently lagging behind in JJM’s FHTC target, has a large number of private, traditional wells, that can store and provide adequate water. An overwhelming focus on FHTC might result in inadequate attention to these resources, leading to their decline in the long run.
Integration across different agencies involved in data collection is necessary. Definitions and indicators used by Census, NFHS, and HCES need to be comparable with each other, and with data collected by projects such as JJM, so that progress can be monitored more effectively.
At the ground level, JJM has its own verification mechanisms such as village level certification by Gram Sabhas. Adding independent field surveys and research to this can provide critical inputs in assessing the effectiveness and sustainability of the programme.
Thomas is Associate Professor at Centre for Water Research, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Pune. Ray was a visiting student at IISER Pune. Views are expressed personal
