The government’s ambitious Har Ghar Jal initiative to provide all rural households in India with potable water connections by 2024 under its flagship Jal Jeevan Mission is likely to fall short of its target. Only 75% of village homes are likely to have taps delivering drinking water by April 2024, The Hindu has learnt from multiple sources and an analysis of publicly available data.
Despite the scheme having been announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from the ramparts of Red Fort as part of his Independence Day address in 2019, a time when only 16% of rural households had tap water, officials say that a slew of challenges — such as the COVID-19 pandemic, a dearth of qualified manpower in States, the scale of the exercise, State-specific issues and even the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war — meant that the project only picked up speed in several States in 2022.
“While the pandemic led to delays, the Ukraine war resulted in major shortages of steel and cement, [which are] critical to the manufacture and connection of metal pipes. This led to major price revisions and considerable time was lost in renegotiating contracts and improving supply,” a senior official told The Hindu on condition of anonymity. “There was also a huge problem in many States of not finding enough skilled manpower to make tanks, cisterns and water connections of an acceptable quality. There are States, for instance Rajasthan, where actual availability of water is a challenge. In West Bengal and Kerala, there are problems with water contamination. So ensuring adequate water quality is an issue. It is not enough to just provide a piped connection,” the official added.
