Parliament Question: Status of the Jal Jeevan Mission in Aspirational Districts

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF JAL SHAKTI DEPARTMENT OF DRINKING WATER AND SANITATION LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 169 ANSWERED ON 29/01/2026 STATUS OF THE JAL JEEVAN MISSION IN ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS 169. SHRI RAJIV PRATAP RUDY: SHRI ARUN BHARTI: Will the Minister of JAL SHAKTI be pleased to state: (a) the current status of implementation of the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) across the country including the total number of rural households provided with Functional Household Tap Connections (FHTCs), State/UT-wise including district-wise for Bihar; (b) the number of projects completed and pending along with the reasons for any delays and the financial assistant given/funds allocated and utilised so far under the said mission, State/UT wise including Bihar; (c) the status of implementation of the said mission in the aspirational districts including Jamui district, State/UT-wise including coverage percentage, the specific challenges such as water quality issues (arsenic, fluoride), source sustainability and slow project execution faced in these districts, particularly in Bihar along with the steps taken to achieve the targets and the number of villages certified as ‘Har Ghar Jal’ in Jamui district; (d) the initiatives undertaken to promote community participation, especially women’s involvement in the management and monitoring of water supply systems under the said mission; (e) the measures adopted to address issues related to drought-prone, desert and water quality- affected regions under the said mission; (f) the details of the future plans and the timeline fixed for achieving hundred per cent household tap water supply coverage; and (g) the number of water testing labs set up and women trained for using field-testing kits in Jamui Lok Sabha Constituency? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR JAL SHAKTI (SHRI V. SOMANNA) (a) to (c) Since August 2019, the Government of India is implementing Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) – Har Ghar Jal, in partnership with States/ UTs, to make provision of tap water connection to every rural household of the country. At the start of the mission, only 3.23 crore (16.71%) rural households were reported to have tap water connections. So far, as reported by States/ UTs as on 23.01.2026, around 12.55 crore additional rural households have been provided with tap water connections. Thus, as on 23.01.2026, out of 19.36 crore rural households in Page 1 of 4the country, more than 15.78 crore (81.55%) households are reported to have tap water connections in their homes. Similarly, as reported by States/ UTs on JJM IMIS, as on 15.08.2019, only 21.42 lakh (7.77%) rural households had provision of tap water connection in aspirational districts. Since then, around 1.98 crore additional rural households have been provided with tap water connections under JJM. Thus, as on 23.01.2026, out of 2.75 crore rural households in aspirational districts, more than 2.19 crore (79.70%) rural households have tap water connections representing a significant progress. The State/UT-wise and district -wise status of tap water connections, including those in aspirational districts, along with State-wise details of reported utilization of central and state share under JJM is available in public domain and is accessible through JJM dashboard at: https://ejalshakti.gov.in/jjmreport/JJMIndia.aspx ‘Water’ being a state subject, the responsibility of planning, approval, implementation, operation, and maintenance of drinking water supply schemes/ works, including those under JJM, lies with State/UT Governments. The Government of India supports the states by providing technical and financial assistance. Numerous projects are implemented concurrently at various levels across the States for achieving the envisaged objectives. As such, project-wise details of individual projects/ schemes for rural water supply projects are maintained at the state government level. States have informed that lack of dependable drinking water sources in water stressed, drought prone and desert areas, presence of geo genic contaminants in ground water, uneven geographical terrain, scattered rural habitations, delay in release of the matching State share in some States, lack of technical capacity with implementing agencies, Gram Panchayats and local communities to plan, manage, operate & maintain the water supply schemes, delay in obtaining statutory/ other clearances, etc. are few of problems being faced in the implementation of the mission. No specific challenges have been reported by States/ UTs in implementation of JJM in aspirational districts. To address the challenges holistically and overcome these, Government of India has taken a number of steps, inter alia including implementation of Special Assistance to States for Capital Expenditure through M/o Finance for financial assistance as 50-year interest free loan for capital investment projects; nomination of a nodal officer in the Department for coordinating with Central nodal Ministries/ Departments/ agencies to facilitate the States in obtaining Statutory/ other clearances; setting up of State Programme Management Units (SPMUs) and District Programme Management Units (DPMUs) and implementation of “Nal Jal Mitra Programme” for ensuring availability of skilled local persons at village level to bridge the gap in availability of technical skill sets and of HR for programme management. States have been advised for source recharging, viz. dedicated bore well recharge structures, rainwater recharge, rejuvenation of existing water bodies, reuse of greywater, etc., in convergence with other schemes such as MGNREGS, Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP), 15th Finance Commission tied grants to RLBs/ PRIs, State schemes, CSR funds, etc. Page 2 of 4In Jamui district of Bihar, only 4,522 (1.90%) rural households were reported to have tap water connections in their homes on 15.08.2019. As on 23.01.2026, out of 2.38 lakh rural households, the number of rural households covered with tap water connections is 2.35 lakh (98.65%). 1,216 villages in the district are reported to be HGJ, however, no village is certified so far. (d) The aspects of village level planning and community participation in all decisions pertaining to water supply systems have been included in the design of JJM. Some of the major initiatives taken up under the mission for participation of rural community are listed as under: i.) Around 5.33 lakh sub-committee/ user group of the Gram Panchayats i.e. Village Water & Sanitation Committee (VWSC) or Pani Samiti with at least 50% women members and suitable representation to marginalized sections of society, have been constituted which are involved in the preparation of Village action plan (VAP) for water supply schemes and plan, design, implement, operate and maintain the in-village water supply schemes. ii.) Five women are identified and trained from every village for testing the water samples through Field Test Kits (FTKs) and so far, 24.80 lakh women have been trained. iii.) NGOs/ Community Based Organizations (CBOs)/ Self Help Groups (SHGs)/ Voluntary Organizations (VOs), etc. have also been empaneled as Implementation Support Agencies (ISAs) to handhold and train VWSCs/ Pani Samitis; iv.) Handing over of schemes to community through Jal Arpan thus fostering Jan Bhagidari. The guidelines and initiatives in this regard have been shared with the States/UTs for further implementation. (e) Under JJM, while allocating the fund to States/UTs, 30% weightage is assigned for difficult terrains which inter alia include areas under Desert Development Programme (DDP) and Drought Prone Area Programme (DPAP) for prioritizing the implementation of piped water supply schemes. In addition, provisions have been made for drinking water source development/ strengthening/ augmentation; and infrastructure for bulk transfer of water, treatment and distribution systems in water deficit drought-prone and desert areas without dependable ground water sources, apart from creation of in-village water supply infrastructure. Similarly, while planning water supply schemes under JJM to provide tap water supply to households, priority is also given to habitations affected by chemical contaminants. States/ UTs have been advised to plan and implement piped water supply schemes based on alternative safe water sources for the villages with water quality issues. States/ UTs can utilize up to 2% of their annual allocation of funds under JJM for Water Quality Monitoring & Surveillance (WQM&S) activities, inter-alia, which includes setting up and strengthening of water quality testing laboratories, procurement of equipment, instruments, chemicals, glassware, consumables, hiring of skilled manpower, surveillance by community using field test kits (FTKs), awareness generation, educational programmes on water quality, accreditation/recognition of laboratories, etc. Page 3 of 4(f) To achieve 100 percent coverage through continued implementation of mission with focus on quality of infrastructure and O&M of rural piped water supply schemes for long term sustainability and citizen centric water service delivery, Hon'ble Finance Minister during budget speech 2025 had announced extension of JJM until 2028 with enhanced total outlay. (g) As reported by the State of Bihar on WQMIS, there are three (03) water quality testing laboratories in Jamui district. However, no women have been reported as trained in the use of field-testing kits in the district. The constituency-wise details are not maintained in JJM- IMIS. ***** Page 4 of 4