Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with gram panchayats, and village water and sanitation committees (VWSC) on the Jal Jeevan Mission on Saturday at 11 a.m. through video conferencing, his office said.
He will also launch the Jal Jeevan Mission app for improving awareness among stakeholders and for greater transparency and accountability of schemes under the mission, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said in a statement on Friday.
He will also launch the Rashtriya Jal Jeevan Kosh, where any individual, institution, corporate or philanthropist, be it in India or abroad, can contribute to help provide tap water connection in every rural household, school, anganwadi centre, ashramshala, and other public institutions.
Nationwide gram sabhas on the Jal Jeevan Mission will also take place during the day, the PMO said.
The gram sabhas will discuss planning and management of village water supply systems and also work towards long-term water security, it said.
'Pani samitis' play a key role in planning, implementation, management, operation and maintenance of village water supply systems, thereby providing clean tap water to every household on a regular and long-term basis.
Out of over six lakh villages, pani samitis/VWSCs have been constituted in around 3.5 lakh villages. More than 7.1 lakh women have been trained to test the quality of water by using field test kits.
On August 15, 2019, Prime Minister Modi announced the Jal Jeevan Mission to provide clean tap water to every household and at the time of launch of the mission, only 3.23 crore (17 %) rural households had tap water supply.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, in the last two years, more than five crore households have been provided with tap water connections, the statement said. As on date, about 8.26 Crore (43 per cent) rural households have tap water supply in their homes, it said. Every rural household in 78 districts, 58,000 gram panchayats and 1.16 lakh villages are getting tap water supply, the PMO said.
Till now, tap water supply has been provided in 7.72 lakh (76 per cent) schools and 7.48 lakh (67.5 per cent) anganwadi centres, it added.
“To realise the prime minister's vision of 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayas', and following the 'bottom up' approach, the Jal Jeevan Mission is implemented in partnership with states with a budget of Rs. 3.60 lakh crore. Further, Rs. 1.42 lakh crore has been allocated to panchayati raj institutions as a tied grant under 15th Finance Commission for water and sanitation in villages for the period 2021-22 to 2025-26,” the statement said.
