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Jal Jeevan is ‘women-driven’ plan of decentralisation: PM
New Delhi: The mass participation of women is crucial to the success of the government’s aim to provide tap water in every household in the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday
New Delhi: The mass participation of women is crucial to the success of the government’s aim to provide tap water in every household in the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday.
He launched the Jal Jeevan Mission app on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. The app is expected to boost awareness and increase transparency and accountability of the government’s water and sanitation schemes.
“This (Jal Jeevan Mission) is a village-driven, women-driven movement. Its main base is a mass movement and public participation,” Modi said. “It has been my constant effort that this thinking of gram swaraj (village republic) should move forward towards accomplishment.”
From India’s Independence in 1947 to 2019, only 30 million households had access to tap water, he said. “Since the launch of Jal Jeevan Mission in 2019, 5 crore households have been connected with water connections,” Modi said. “Today, water is reaching every household in about 1.25 lakh villages in about 80 districts of the country. In the aspirational districts, the number of tap connections have increased from 31 lakh to 1.16 crore.”
Modi also launched the Rashtriya Jal Jeevan Kosh, a government charitable trust. “Any individual, institution, corporation, or philanthropist, be it in India or abroad, can contribute to help provide tap water connection in every rural household, school, anganwadi (day care) centre, ashram shala, and other public institutions,” the government said in a statement.
The Prime Minister spoke with members of village councils and water committees from across the country to assess the issues they face to make clean water available.
Girijakant Tiwari of Umaree village in Banda district of Uttar Pradesh said safe and clean water is now available in his village, which has improved the lives of women.
Sudha from Vellery in Tamil Nadu told Modi that all houses in her area have received a piped water connection. The availability of water improved their lives, giving them time for other productive activities, including construction of check dams and ponds, she told the Prime Minister.
Modi also stressed on the need for cleanliness, highlighting the government’s flagship scheme, Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0, which was launched earlier this week.
