Frequently asked questions (FAQs) on Jal Jeevan Mission

Q. What was the need to launch the Jal Jeevan Mission?

With the growing population and expanding economic activities in the country, there is an increase in demand for water. With finite availability of water and competing demands, drinking water management has become a complex issue. The widening demand-supply gap is further compounded by other challenges, like groundwater depletion due to over-extraction, poor recharge, low storage capacity, erratic rainfall due to climate change, presence of contaminants, poor operation and maintenance (O&M) of water supply systems, etc. 

These challenges have put further pressure on the rural population, which have catered to their water needs using traditional knowledge and their water wisdom. Therefore, there is a need to provide piped water supply to the rural population to not only improve the health and socioeconomic condition of local communities but also bring down the drudgery of rural women and girls.

As per Integrated Management Information System (IMIS) maintained by Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DDWS), as on 31.3.2019, about 18 percent, i.e. 3.28 crore out of the total 17.87 crore rural households in the country have tap water connection. Thus, about 14.60 crore households are without tap water connection and are planned to be covered in partnership with States/ Union Territories (UTs) under the JJM by 2024.

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Watch the video to understand the need of Jal Jeevan Mission, its objectives, components, strategy and action plan to be implemented for the successful completion of the programme.

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Q. What are the objectives of Jal Jeevan Mission?

The broad objectives of the Mission are to provide FHTC to every rural household, schools, anganwadi centres, GP buildings, health centres, wellness centres and community buildings and to monitor FHTC; to prioritize provision of FHTCs in quality affected areas, villages in drought-prone and desert areas, Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) villages, etc.; to promote and ensure voluntary ownership among local community by way of contribution in cash, kind and/ or labour and voluntary labour (shramdaan);  to assist in ensuring sustainability of water supply system, i.e. water source, water supply infrastructure, and funds for regular O&M; to empower and develop human resource in the sector such that the demands of construction, plumbing, electrical, water quality management, water treatment, catchment protection, O&M, etc. are taken care of in short and long term; and to bring awareness on various aspects and significance of safe drinking water and involvement of stakeholders in manner that make water everyone's business.

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Q. Jal Jeevan Mission has eight components, what are these?

The following components are supported under JJM:

1. Development of in-village piped water supply infrastructure to provide tap water connection to every rural household;
2. Development of reliable drinking water sources and/ or augmentation of existing sources to provide long-term sustainability of water supply system;
3. Wherever necessary, bulk water transfer, treatment plants and distribution network to cater to every rural household;
4. Technological interventions for removal of contaminants where water quality is an issue;
5. Retrofitting of completed and ongoing schemes to provide FHTCs at minimum service level of 55 lpcd;
6. Greywater management;
7. Support activities, i.e. IEC, HRD, training, development of utilities, water quality laboratories, water quality testing & surveillance, R&D, knowledge centre, capacity building of communities, etc.; and
8. Any other unforeseen challenges/ issues emerging due to natural disasters/ calamities, which affect the goal of FHTC to every household by 2024, as per guidelines of Ministry of Finance on Flexi Funds.

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Q. What strategy will the government adopt to implement JJM?

Community led partnership with States/ UTs will be the strategy for achieving the objectives of JJM.

Communities can therefore, make the best of this opportunity and ensure that every rural household has FHTC of prescribed quality (BIS:10500) and on regular basis as may be decided by the Gram Panchayat and/ or its subcommittee, i.e. VWSC/ Paani Samiti/ User Group, etc. State Government and its Departments are to play the role of facilitator. The government believes that this approach will bring long-term sustainability in the sector.

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Q. Is there any action plan to implement JJM?

Yes, to implement JJM, action plans will be prepared at each level, that is, village, district and state. 

1. Village Action Plan (VAP): It will be prepared by Gram Panchayat or its sub-committee with support from - implementation support agency (ISA), Public Health Engineering Department (PHED)/ Rural Water Supply (RWS) Department, District Water and Sanitation Mission (DWSM) based on baseline survey, resource mapping and felt needs of the village community. The VAP will be approved in the Gram Sabha, when 80 percent of the village community present in the meeting agree to the prepared plan. VAP will then be submitted to DWSM for further action.
2. District Action Plan (DAP): DWSM will be responsible for its preparation and finalization.
3. State Action Plan (SAP): It needs to be prepared with an objective of achieving overall state drinking water security in such a way as to avoid arranging water supply through tankers/ trains, handpump installation, etc. in any village. The SAP will be prepared and finalized by State Water and Sanitation Mission (SWSM) with the help of PHED/ RWS Department based on DAPs.

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Q. Are there any scheme(s) subsumed into JJM?

Yes, several schemes under the erstwhile National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) have been subsumed into JJM. These schemes are given below:

1. Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project for low income States (RWSSP-LIS): The project was started in 2014 for a period of six years till March 2020, with an objective to improve piped water supply and sanitation services for selected rural communities in Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh through decentralized delivery systems and to increase the capacity of states to respond promptly and efficiently to an emergency situation.
2. National Water Quality Sub-Mission (NWQSM): The mission is being implemented since March 2017 to provide safe drinking water to the identified 27,544 arsenic and fluoride affected rural habitations, however, it will come to an end on 31 March, 2021 and the funds left with the states for the mission will be adjusted with JJM.
3. Japanese Encephalitis – Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (JE-AES): Centre has identified 60 districts which are the most affected with JE-AES and funds have been allocated to affected states under NRDWP.  Earlier, the JE-AES component had 2 percent of NRDWP allocation, however, due to increase in the budget of JJM, it will now be 0.5 percent of the annual allocation to the state and activities will be carried out in the affected areas as per existing policy.
4. Swajal: It is being implemented in aspirational districts and the ongoing schemes under it will continue under the existing guidelines and completion will be ensured within the stipulated time of completion. All other new schemes in these aspirational districts will be taken up under JJM.
5. Water Quality Monitoring and Surveillance (WQM&S) is now subsumed under JJM and will receive up to 2 percent of JJM funds.
6. Support activities: All the erstwhile NRDWP support activities are subsumed under JJM and will receive up to 5 percent of JJM funds.

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Q. What institutional mechanism would be set up for the implementation of JJM?

For the successful implementation of JJM, four-tier institutional mechanism would be set up:

	Tier	Mission	Role
i.	National level	National Jal Jeevan Mission (NJJM)	Headed by a senior officer with a directorate, NJJM will provide policy guidance financial assistance and technical support to states and coordinate with other ministries and departments for convergence.
ii.	State level	State Water and Sanitation Mission (SWSM)	Headed by Chief Secretary with Principal Secretary in-charge of PHED/RWS Department as Mission Director, SWSM would be responsible for coordination, convergence and policy guidance at the state level.
iii.	District level	District Water and Sanitation Mission (DWSM)	Headed by Deputy Commissioner/District Collector, DWSM will ensure preparation of village action plan; finalise a district action plan; provide administrative approval of in-village water supply schemes; ensure availability of funds for source sustainability and greywater management; approve cost estimates finalised by other committees; coordinate with Gram Panchayats; identify individuals to be trained as master trainers at state level; approve, share reports, success stories, best practices on JJM IMIS; conduct campaigns; etc.
iv.	Gram Panchayat level	Paani Samiti/Village Water & Sanitation Committee (VWSC)/ User group	Under JJM the community will play a lead role in planning, implementation, management, operation and maintenance of in-village water supply infrastructure thereby leading to FHTCs to every rural household. The committee will be headed by Sarpanch/ Up-Sarpanch/ Gram Panchayat member/ traditional village head/ senior village leader as the Gram Sabha may decide and may consist of 10-15 members: up to 25% elected members of Gram Panchayat,  50% women members and remaining 25% representatives of weaker sections of the village.

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Watch the video provides information on the roles and responsibilities for the scheme, the broader plan for providing FHTCs to all rural households, infrastructure work to be taken up and estimated funds for the programme.

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Q. How does the government plan to provide the FHTC connection to every rural household?

The plan is to provide FHTC in every household with three delivery points (taps), viz. kitchen, washing & bathing area and toilet, to keep water clean and prevent misuse. Out of the three, only one tap per household will be funded under JJM.

In this regard, State Governments/ UT Administration will implement the mission based on the finalized SAP with timelines to cover all the villages of the respective State/ UT. Each village will be assessed on existing water supply infrastructure by DWSM in consultation with Gram Panchayat and/ or its sub-committee and ISA. Based on the same, FHTCs will be provided to every rural household by creating in-village water supply infrastructure including source development under any one of the following suggested categories, viz.

1. Retrofitting of ongoing schemes taken up under erstwhile NRDWP for the last mile connectivity;
2. Retrofitting of completed rural water supply schemes to make it JJM compliant;
3. Single Village Scheme (SVS) in villages having adequate groundwater/ spring water/ local or surface water source of prescribed quality;
4. Single Village Scheme (SVS) in villages having adequate groundwater that needs treatment;
5. Multi Village Scheme (MVS) with water grids/ regional water supply scheme; and
6. Mini solar power-based piped water supply in isolated/ tribal hamlets.

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Q. Under JJM, water supply infrastructure will fall under two categories, what are they? 

Broadly, water supply infrastructure work will fall in two categories, i.e.

• Creation of in-village infrastructure including source development/ strengthening/ augmentation and greywater management: It will be created through Single Village Scheme (SVS)/ Multi Village Scheme (MVS)/ solar power-based stand-alone schemes for scattered areas. The Gram Panchayat and/ or its subcommittee will be responsible to plan, implement, manage, operate and maintain this. It will include protection of drinking water source(s) as well as treatment and reuse of greywater.
• Infrastructure for bulk transfer of water, treatment and distribution systems: In villages with water quality issues and paucity of surface water sources, especially in drought-prone and desert areas, an approach to transfer bulk water from long distance will be adopted. It will be planned, implemented and monitored by the PHED/ RWS Department/ Board/ Agency as decided by the SWSM/ State Government. The components for transfer of water consists of head work, intake work, tube well, pumping station, trunks/ mains/ lateral distribution network, treatment plants, Elevated Storage Reservoir (ESR), sumps, bulk meters, substations for handling bulk water supply, etc.

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Q. It is suggested that a number of ongoing Central and State funded water security schemes are being converged with JJM. Which are those?

Suggested names of ongoing Central government schemes that can be converged are:

Name of the scheme	Central/State Government Department	Components that can be converged
Swachh Bharat Mission - Grameen (SBM-G)	Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, M/o Jal Shakti	Greywater management – soak pits (individual/ community), waste stabilization ponds, etc.
MGNREGS	M/o Rural Development	All water conservation activities under Natural Resource Management (NRM) component
Watershed Development Component (WDC) of PMKSY	D/o Land Resources	Watershed management/ RWH/artificial recharge, creation/ augmentation of water bodies, etc.
Repair, Renovation and Restoration of water bodies	D/o Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation	Restoration of larger water bodies
Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY)	M/o Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare	Watershed related works
Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY)		Provision of micro-irrigation for various water-intensive crops to reduce drawl of water from aquifers
Compensatory Afforestation fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA)	M/o Environment, Forests and Climate Change	Afforestation, regeneration of forest ecosystem, restoration and strengthening of springs, watershed development, etc.
Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Kendra (PMKVK)	M/o Skill Development and Entrepreneurship	Skill development, training, etc. for human resources required for rural water supply schemes
Samagra Shiksha	M/o Human Resource Development	Provision of drinking water supply in schools
Aspirational districts programme	NITI Aayog	Water conservation activities taken up under discretionary funds with District Collector
District Mineral Development Fund (DMDF)	State	Water conservation activities on large scale
MPLAD	Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI)	In-village infrastructure
MLALAD	State
Grants under Article 275 (1) of the Constitution/ Tribal Sub Scheme (TSS)	Ministry of Tribal Affairs and State
National Rural Livelihoods Mission/ State Rural Livelihoods Mission	M/o Rural Development	Developing women entrepreneurs and SHG led enterprises for water supply services

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Q. How much of funding will be required for the implementation of JJM?

The total estimated cost of JJM is Rs.3.60 Lakh Crore with Central and State share of Rs.2.08 Lakh Crore and Rs.1.52 Lakh Crore respectively.

The fund sharing pattern between the Centre and State is 90:10 for Himalayan (Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh), north-eastern states and Union Territories with legislature, while it is 100:0 for Union Territories without legislature. For the remaining states, the fund sharing pattern will be 50:50. Accordingly, the tentative outlay over the five years is as follows:

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Q. What is the criterion of allocation of fund?

Central financial assistance for Jal Jeevan Mission will have two sources namely Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) and Extra Budgetary Resources (EBR). The criteria and weightage thereof, to be followed for fund allocation under JJM for both the budgetary resources will be as under:

Criteria	% weight
Rural Population (as per last Census)	30
Rural SC and ST population (as per last Census)	10
States under DDP, DPAP, HADP and special category Hill States in terms of rural areas	30
Population (as per IMIS) residing in habitations affected by chemical contaminants including heavy metals (as on 31st March of preceding financial year)	10
Weightage for balance individual household connections to be provided	20

Up to 5 percent and up to 2 percent of such allocated fund to a State/ UT will be utilized for support activities and WQM&S activities, respectively. Balance will be utilized to provide FHTCs to rural households. Funds for SCs and STs will be earmarked in the State at least in proportion to their population.

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Q. Can communities/NGOs/institutions contribute in any form to JJM?

In order to instill the ‘sense of ownership’ among the community/ user groups for better implementation and long-term operation & maintenance of the scheme as well as bringing in transparency, GP/ VWSC/ Paani Samiti will implement the in-village piped water supply infrastructure and related source development. Communities will contribute towards 10 percent of the capital cost in cash and/or kind and/or labour in all villages except for hilly and forested areas/ NE and Himalayan States and villages having more than 50 percent SC and/or ST population, where community contribution would be 5 percent of the capital cost.

To assist the village community for in-village water resource management and water supply related infrastructure, NGOs, Voluntary Organizations/ women SHGs under NRLM/ SRLM, etc. will be associated as partners to facilitate the communities in awareness creation, capacity building, planning & implementing the schemes. They would also mobilise the local communities, firm up their aspirations and handhold them for resource mapping as participatory approach and decentralized planning will hold the key for long term sustainability and operation and maintenance of the system.

In order to facilitate donations/ contributions from various individuals, corporate/ industrial houses, charitable institutions, etc., Rashtriya Jal Jeevan Kosh is being set up under NJJM, which will serve as a receptacle for charitable contributions/donations and CSR fund to achieve goals of JJM.

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Watch the video to understand the contribution of communities and NGOs, schemes subsumed into programme and the plan for rural areas where tap water is not feasible.

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Q. How water will be provided to households where tap water connections are not feasible?

In such areas, local innovations/ technological solutions will be explored. Suggestive technological solutions to address challenges in the supply of drinking water are as under:

1. Solar energy based stand-alone water supply systems for scattered/ isolated/ tribal/ hilly villages.
2. Community Water Purification Plant (CWPP) in groundwater contaminated areas.
3. In cold deserts, solutions may be explored to enhance and store run-off water in small tanks - traditional water harvesting structure, i.e. Zings of Ladakh. Further, artificial glacial reservoirs may be created by diverting the run-off to freeze & store as glacier.
4. In hard rock areas, bore-blast technique, fracture seal cementation, stream blasting, etc. may be explored.
5. In hilly areas, adopting spring-based sources, rain water harvesting and standalone bore-well systems (if feasible) will be explored.
6. In coastal areas, energy efficient small desalination plants with high recovery ratio will be explored, along with construction of sub-surface dykes in rivers.
7. Use of Internet of Things (IoT), Geographic Information System (GIS) software, etc., will be required for planning and monitoring.

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Q. What all support activities would be conducted for effective implementation of JJM?

JJM has made the provision of up to five percent of annual allocation to the states as support activities fund. All states will develop a detailed implementation strategy for taking up support activities as a part of annual action plan. For the effective implementation of JJM following support activities would be conducted:

1. Information, Education and Communication (IEC) among local communities
2. Human Resource Development (HRD)
3. Public utility and leadership development
4. Training and skill development
5. Mobilization of local communities
6. Third party inspection
7. Change management
8. Key Resource Centres (KRCs)
9. Knowledge centre
10. Documentation of best practices, success stories, publications, etc.
11. Conducting conferences, seminars, workshops, review meetings, exposure visits on JJM
12. IMIS support and related IT infrastructure.

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If you wish you to read the operational guidelines of the scheme provided by the government, you can download it from below.