Har Ghar Jal

• 20 Aug 2022

For Prelims: Har Ghar Jal, Gram Sabha, Jal Jeevan Mission, Gram Panchayats, Village Water and Sanitation Committee (VWSC), Functional Tap Connection (FHTC), Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY).

For Mains: Impact of Jal Jeevan Mission.

Why in News?

Recently, Goa and Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu (D&NH and D&D) became the first ‘Har Ghar Jal’ certified State and UT in the country respectively.

• The people from all the villages have declared their village as Har Ghar Jal through a resolution passed by Gram Sabha, certifying that all households in the villages have access to safe drinking water through taps.
• Village Water and Sanitation Committee (VWSC) or paani Samiti has been constituted in all the 378 villages of Goa and 96 villages of D&NH and D&D.
  • It is responsible for the operation, maintenance, and repair of water supply infrastructure developed under ‘Har Ghar Jal’ programme.

What is Jal Jeevan Mission?

• About:
  • Jal Jeevan Mission, a central government initiative under the Ministry of Jal Shakti, aims to ensure access of piped water for every household in India.
  • Jal Jeevan Mission, is envisioned to provide safe and adequate drinking water through individual household tap connections by 2024 to all households in rural India.
  • The programme will also implement source sustainability measures as mandatory elements, such as recharge and reuse through grey water management, water conservation, rain water harvesting.
  • The Jal Jeevan Mission will be based on a community approach to water.
    • The mission will include information, education, and communication as key components.
    • The mission is meant to create a people's movement for water, making it everyone’s priority.
    • Further, the Har Ghar Nal Se Jal programme was announced by Finance Minister in Budget 2019-20.
      • It forms a crucial part of the Jal Jeevan Mission.
      • The programme aims to implement source sustainability measures as mandatory elements, such as recharge and reuse through grey water management, water conservation, and rainwater harvesting.
• Mission:
  • To assist, empower and facilitate:
    • States/ UTs in the planning of participatory rural water supply strategy for ensuring potable drinking water security on a long-term basis to every rural household and public institution.
    • States/ UTs for creation of water supply infrastructure, so that every rural household has a Functional Tap Connection (FHTC) by 2024 and water in adequate quantity of prescribed quality is made available on regular basis.
    • Gram Panchayats (GPs)/ rural communities to plan, implement, manage, own, operate, and maintain their own in-village water supply systems.
    • States/ UTs to develop robust institutions having a focus on service delivery and financial sustainability of the sector by promoting a utility approach
      • Further enhancing capacity building of the stakeholders and creating awareness in the community on the significance of water for improvement in quality of life.
• Objectives:
  • To provide Functional Tap Connection (FHTC) to every rural household.
  • To prioritize the provision of FHTCs in quality affected areas, villages in drought-prone and desert areas, Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) villages, etc.
  • To provide functional tap connection to Schools, Anganwadi centres, GP buildings, Health centres, wellness centres, and community buildings
  • To monitor the functionality of tap connections.
  • To promote and ensure voluntary ownership among the local community by way of contribution in cash, kind and/ or labour, and voluntary labour (shramdaan)
  • To assist in ensuring the sustainability of the water supply system, i.e., water source, water supply infrastructure.

Note: In the Budget 2021-22, Jal Jeevan Mission (Urban) has been announced under the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry to provide universal coverage of water supply to all households through functional taps in all statutory towns in accordance with Sustainable Development Goal- 6.

UPSC Civil Services Examination Previous Year Question (PYQ)

Prelims

Q. Consider the following statements: (2020)

1. 36% of India’s districts are classified as “overexploited” or “critical” by the Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA).
2. CGWA was formed under the Environment (Protection) Act.
3. India has the largest area under groundwater irrigation in the world.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct.

(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 2 only
(d) 1 and 3 only

Ans: (b)

Exp:

• Based on groundwater levels, areas across the country are split into three categories: Over-exploited, Critical and Semi critical. The first refers to groundwater being extracted more than what’s recharged i.e. extraction is more than 100%. Critical where the groundwater taken out is 90-100% of what’s recharged and semi-critical where extraction rate is 70%-90%.
• As per the report ‘National Compilation on Dynamic Groundwater Resources of India, 2017’ of CGWA, out of the total 6881 assessment units (Blocks/ Mandals/Talukas) in the country, 1186 units in various States (17%) have been categorized as ‘OverExploited’, 313 units (5%) are ‘Critical’, and 972 are semi-critical units (14%). Hence, statement 1 is not correct.
• Note: As per National Compilation on Dynamic Groundwater Resources of India 2020, Out of the total 6965 assessment units (Blocks/ Mandals/ Talukas/ Firkas) in the country, 16 % have been categorized as ‘Over-exploited, 4 % as Çritical, 15 % as Semi-critical and 64 %) as ‘Safe‘ units. Apart from these, there are 97 (1%) assessment units, which have been categorised as ‘Saline’.
• The Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) was constituted under Section 3(3) of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 to regulate, control development and management of ground water resources. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
• As per report of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of UN, the countries with the largest extent of areas equipped for irrigation with groundwater, in absolute terms, are India (39 million ha), China (19 million ha) and the USA (17 million ha). Hence, statement 3 is correct. Therefore, option (b) is the correct answer.

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Mains

Q. What is water stress? How and why does it differ regionally in India? (2019)

Source: PIB