Vini Mahajan is the Union Secretary in the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation.
New Delhi:
As many as eight states and union territories have already achieved ‘Har Ghar Jal’ status, under the central government’s ambitious Jal Jeevan Mission, which promises to provide piped water to every rural household. Vini Mahajan, Secretary, Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Jal Shakti, said in an interview that today there is no state which has less than 30 per cent coverage. He said the focus is now on the 13 states that account for the majority of the balance of work, and that one of the biggest achievements of the program is bringing piped water to 84% of government schools in rural India.
Here are edited excerpts from the interview:
When the Ministry of Jal Shakti was formed in 2019, speculations were rife about its functioning considering water as a state subject. The target itself was seen as ambitious, as the coverage of households with piped water was less than 20%. What has been the progress of the program so far?
Water is a state subject under the Constitution of India. Different states have approached it in different ways and have different priorities. When PM Narendra Modi said in his Independence Day address in 2019 that the country would move fast and on a large scale, and ensure drinking water to every rural household, the country’s states were in very different places. There were states with less than 1% coverage, and there were states that went up to 99%. The states have different agro-climatic conditions, with some being water deficient and others having sufficient water but large parts of the country are contaminated with the presence of arsenic and fluoride. That’s why the challenge was to reach every house in every village. There are 26 lakh villages in the country and the number of rural households is estimated at 194 million. When we started on August 15, 2019, there were 3.23 crore rural households in the country who reported piped water supply. The task was huge, but the good news is that the program saw a combination of factors that resulted in some amazing results in a short amount of time. These factors started with political will, starting from the highest level and reaching the villages. The village communities were aligned with this vision. Huge funds were made available as per the requirement. We are talking about orders worth Rs 3.6 lakh crore which were expected to be received in 2019. States have also contributed their share. There was a need to engage with communities and foster good partnerships. We are proud that the coverage which was less than 17% in 2019 has now increased to more than 60%. In such a short span of time, more than 8.5 crore rural households have got tap connections. These figures are like giving tap water connections to the entire population of the United States or covering Japan year after year. And, it is not about taps alone, as the program says there will be a minimum quantity of regular water, which is 55 liters per person per day, that will meet the quality norms.
Traditionally fetching water has been seen as a woman’s burden, and Jal Jeevan Mission was focused on reducing this. Can you tell us how this program is meaningfully changing the lives of women at the grassroots level?
The mission sees women not only as beneficiaries of the program but definitely on the ground as leaders. At the conceptual stage itself, it was emphasized that every village should have a water committee or a village water and sanitation committee, in which at least half of the members should be women and also ensure adequate representation of people from disadvantaged sections. Through the oversight of the implementation phase, women have a very important role to play. The issue of water quality is important, as contaminated water can lead to outbreaks of cholera or dysentery, so it was emphasized that at least five tests per village were to be conducted using field-testing kits that came with the programme. Women should be trained. Undoubtedly, the program has had the biggest impact on the lives of women. Historically, traditionally, the responsibility of arranging drinking, cooking and other domestic purposes lay with the woman, even if water was available at her home or she had to walk miles. Girls start doing this at an early age. Now it is such a pleasure that when you go to the ground, the women of the water committees come forward and talk about their work. When you talk about water, it gets fully charged. When you ask them if there should be a user fee, it’s always a clear yes. We have this network of women’s self-help groups in the villages, and they play an important role because whatever the panchayat decides, they collect from each household, say Rs.30 a month, and they make sure that There’s a pump operator, and the scheme works well. 18 crore women have already benefited from not having to go out to fetch water. They can use this time to study, spend time with their kids, or even do some economic activities and they can talk about it.
For example, how is the central management doing to resolve subtle issues related to payment to contractors or even staff shortage at the local level? What efforts are being made to remove the underutilization of funds?
I think our experience dealing with JJM has been very pleasant with the states and agencies where we are working together. They reach out to us whenever they have a problem. For example, when there is a major scheme where you are bringing water from a dam or a river, you may be crossing a railway line, or a national highway, or environmental clearance is required. Whenever states approach us with such delays, we respond promptly wherever possible with fast-tracking. All government departments have put in place fast-tracking mechanisms and nodal persons to accomplish this. One problem was that with global factors the contractors were facing inflation issues. Pipes are a very important component of all water projects. We worked closely with the Ministry of Steel on this to reach out to the contractors so that they understand the sensitivities involved. The other important effort is working with the states to make sure there are no financial constraints, so if the states were not getting money from their finance department, they would let us know, and we would reach out and make sure that money be issued. The Government of India has been generous in funding, but we have to acknowledge that the departments working as part of this program in the states have never done so much work, so this is not a huge amount of work to be done without spending anything. There is huge growth. compromise on quality. Year after year the expenditure on the program is doubling. Rs 92,000 crore last year from Rs 10,000 crore initially. We are confident that the efforts being made across the country are paying off.
Successive governments have made efforts to bring water closer to the population. What has been different since 2019? Is there a greater focus on evaluation and outcomes, particularly data collection?
Therefore, great efforts have been made to bring water closer to the population. But there is a difference. Some of them are technical parameters. Now the ambition is to ensure 55 liters per person per day, as against 40 liters earlier. Earlier we used to be satisfied by getting water near homes, now we are not satisfied with less than water at home, which includes public institutions like schools and anganwadis. A massive effort was launched in 2020 to cover schools. From five per cent coverage of government schools, we have gone up to 88 per cent, and from two per cent coverage of anganwadis, we have gone up to almost 84 per cent. This means that 11.5 crore school children have got the benefit of piped drinking water facilities. An all-out effort is being made to ensure that water reaches homes and institutions and definitely empower the local communities. The other focus is academic. We have professor chairs in IITs and IIMs. We have Indian and foreign development partners. One can drill down to the dashboard and check the status of this program in any village. So all the information is out there. The intention is to ensure that there is complete transparency, and make the data available to anyone who is interested. Speed, scale, sustainability and whole government approach, besides building on the lessons of the past to learn what worked and what didn’t.
What are the goals set for JJM for the coming year?
Around eight states and union territories have already achieved the status of Har Ghar Jal, which means every rural household is covered here. We are dealing with others who do not have it. There are two in the top 90 percent and two others in the top 80 percent. Basically, when we started looking at the details that needed attention, we found that out of 34 states and union territories, there were 13 that had 95 per cent of the balance of work. The good news is that there is none at the low level. This means that there is no state or union territory with less than 30 per cent coverage. That’s why all the states have moved forward. So, we are in a position where there is a lot of work going on across the country. Senior retirees are visiting villages to see what is going well and what corrective action is needed. At the state level, we decide on the action plan, and we tell them whether you can scale up the work. There is a lot of micro-engagement, but certainly not to the point of eroding the authority of the state. After all, the states are responsible for this topic, and they are doing a great job.