The National Conference held on February 20th, 2024 focused on the status of two flagship national missions – the Jal Jeevan Mission and Swachh Bharat Mission- Grameen.
- These missions aim to provide tap water connection to every rural household and achieve open defecation free status across India’s villages respectively.
- The conference reviewed progress made so far, implementation challenges, and laid out strategies for achieving targets by 2024.
Jal Jeevan Mission: Ensuring Water Security
- Launched in 2019, the mission aims for functional household tap connections (FHTCs) with 55 litres per capita per day supply by 2024.
- So far, over 60 million FHTCs provided. Goal to cover remaining rural households on ‘mission mode’.
Key Strategies Discussed
- Decentralized planning at district and village levels based on local water resources
- Converging various schemes under National Rural Drinking Water Programme
- Increased budget allocation – $50 billion+ invested over 5 years
- Promoting community ownership of water supply infrastructure through panchayats
- Real-time monitoring via Jal Jeevan Mission dashboard
Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen: Towards Open Defecation Free Villages
- Launched in 2014 to eliminate open defecation by improving access to household toilets and community sanitation infrastructure.
Key Updates
- Over 110 million household toilets constructed in rural India
- Verified over 634,000 villages as open defecation free
- Significant gains seen in usage of toilets, safe sanitation practices
Strategies Outlined
- Leveraging additional funds through corporate donations and CSR
- Deploying innovative solutions like internet-of-things sensors to verify ODF status
- Setting up Faecal Sludge Management systems to ensure waste disposal
Case Examples
Internet-of-Things Enabled ODF Verification in Haryana
- Low-cost IoT sensors on toilet systems confirm usage levels
- Dashboards provide village/district level ODF confirmation in real-time
- 95% accuracy achieved; now exploring integration in all villages
‘One Home, One Toilet’ Campaign in Rajasthan
- Mass mobilization through localized household visits
- Suraksha Chakra model employed for community monitoring
- Over 2 million household toilets constructed in 6 months
Key Challenges Ahead
- Ensuring sufficient operations and maintenance funds with panchayats
- Retrofitting existing defective toilet infrastructure
- Managing safe containment and disposal of fecal waste matter
- Monitoring actual sustained usage of toilets in declared ODF villages
- Providing FHTC connections in remote habitations
Recommendations from Niti Aayog
- States must utilize 80% of available funds to stay on track
- Convergence with MGNREGA for cost-effective infrastructure creation
- Leverage emerging technologies for monitoring at lowest governance levels
- Facilitate self-sufficient revenue models for long-term viability
Key Performance Metrics for Flagship Sanitation Missions
| Parameter | Baseline (2019) | Current Status (2024) | Target (2024) |
| FHTCs provided under Jal Jeevan Mission | 1.16 million | 60 million | All rural households |
| Villages verified ODF under SBM-G | less than 0.1 million | 0.64 million | All villages |
| Rural household toilets built under SBM-G | fewer than 100 million | 110 million | Needed to achieve ODF |
| Percentage of rural population with tap water access | 16% | Over 50% | 100% |
Key Strategies Discussed under Jal Jeevan Mission
- Decentralized planning at district and village levels based on local water resources
- Converging various schemes under National Rural Drinking Water Programme
- Increased budget allocation – $50 billion+ invested over 5 years
- Promoting community ownership of water supply infrastructure through panchayats
- Real-time monitoring via Jal Jeevan Mission dashboard
- Utilizing geo-tagging to map village water assets
- Priority to water quality surveillance and testing especially for chemical contaminants
- Deploying solar-based water supply systems with treatment plants in remote areas
Strategies Outlined under Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen
- Leveraging additional funds through corporate donations and CSR
- Deploying innovative solutions like internet-of-things sensors to verify ODF status
- Setting up Faecal Sludge Management systems to ensure waste disposal
- Undertaking IEC campaigns involving local role models to drive behavior change
- Exploring bio-remediation approaches for cleaning contaminated water bodies
Key Challenges Ahead
- Ensuring sufficient operations and maintenance funds with panchayats
- Retrofitting existing defective toilet infrastructure
- Managing safe containment and disposal of fecal waste matter
- Monitoring actual sustained usage of toilets in declared ODF villages
- Providing FHTC connections in remote habitations
- Tackling chemical contamination in drinking water
- Obtaining real-time data on functionality of water and sanitation infrastructure
Significant momentum achieved in both flagship missions, but the hardest miles lie ahead. Mission mode focus, community involvement and technology innovations will continue driving implementation over the last lap.
