Jal Jeevan Mission · Lablypedia

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Independence Day speech on August 15, 2019, addressed the goal of providing potable water connections to rural households across India by 2024 under a budget of 3.60 lakh crores. In this the central government share is 2.08 lakh crore. The scheme envisages cost sharing in the ratio of 100:0 between Central Government-Union Territories, 90:10% between Central Government-North Eastern States/Himalayan State Governments and 50:50% between Central Government and other state governments.

History

In 1972, Central government assistance to states for rural water supply under the "Accelerated Rural Drinking Water Supply Scheme" launched.
In 2009, the project was renamed as "National Rural Drinking Water Program" (NRDWP), making it a joint project between the central and state governments. One of the NRDWP's objectives is to "ensure that all households have access to safe and adequate drinking water as much as possible, a goal proposed to be achieved by 2030 in collaboration with the United Nations".
As of now, the target is planned to be achieved by 2024 through the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM). As per the information in DDWS, as on 31.3.2019, only 18.33% of rural households i.e. 3.27 crore out of total 17.87 crore rural households in the country have piped water connection.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the scheme in 2019 Union budget. In August 2019 National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) was restructured by Modi government as Jal Jeevan Mission.
Since its inception, the scheme has significantly improved household clean tap water availability in India. The government has also published website based dashboard to track the progress details of the mission.
In August 2022, Goa and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu became the first 'Har Ghar Jal' certified State and UT respectively with 100% tap-water access.

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Jal Jeevan Mission 2.0

Jal Jeevan Mission 2.0 (JJM 2.0) is the extended and restructured phase of India's rural drinking water programme, approved by the Government of India on 22 March 2026. It builds upon the original Jal Jeevan Mission (launched in 2019) and aims to ensure tap water to rural household by 2028.

On 1 April 2026, Central Government released ₹1,561 crores under JJM 2.0 for five states, including ₹792.93 crore to Uttar Pradesh, ₹536.53 crore to Chhattisgarh, ₹154.02 for Madhya Pradesh and the remaining amount for Odisha and Maharashtra.

On 31 August 2026, four states; Assam, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and Nagaland — achieved 100% functional household tap connection coverage in their urban areas under Jal Jeevan Mission (Urban), marking a significant milestone as all four had previously ranked among India's lowest-coverage states when the mission launched in 2019.

Impact

Rural India is now saving 5.5 crore hours a day in water fetching through this project, increasing labor participation and productivity, especially from women.
The World Health Organization says nearly 400,000 deaths from diarrheal diseases are prevented because of a safely managed drinking water program for all households in the country.
About 1.36 lakh child deaths can be prevented by providing safe drinking water to all rural households.

Criticism

A report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, tabled in the Gujarat Legislative Assembly on 11 September 2026, found that 88.64% of water samples tested in 48 villages across the state were unfit for consumption under the mission.
The audit, covering implementation in the state from 2019–20 to 2023–24, also flagged delays of 3 to 25 months in several bulk pipeline projects and financial irregularities including ₹54.32 crore in excess contractor payments attributed to incorrect price-index calculations and ₹28.79 crore spent on items such as staff quarters and office buildings that it deemed inadmissible under the scheme.

Statistics

Rural tap water connection % barchart