Modi launches Jal Jeevan Mission app; says initiative driven by villages, women

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday that the vision of his government’s Jal Jeevan Mission is not only to provide water to people but also to ensure decentralisation. PM Modi said that the initiative is driven by the villages and women across the country. “The main base of the Jal Jeevan Mission is public participation and mass movement. Today, several steps have been taken to make the initiative more powerful and transparent,” the Prime Minister said as he virtually launched the Jal Jeevan Mission mobile application.

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PM Modi said that all details about the mission such as how many households received water, quality of water etc will be available in one place on the mobile application. The application aims to improve awareness among stakeholders and for greater transparency and accountability of schemes under the Jal Jeevan mission. “Details about your village will be available on the application. Water quality monitoring and surveillance framework will majorly help in maintaining the quality of water. Villagers will also be able to check the quality of water in their area,” the Prime Minister further said.

During Saturday's virtual interaction, Modi interacted with gram panchayats and village water and sanitation committees (VWSC), and also launched the Rashtriya Jal Jeevan Kosh. The Rashtriya Jal Jeevan Kosh facilitates contributions for providing tap water connection in every rural household, school, Anganwadi centre, etc. Contributions can be made by any individual, organisation, philanthropist, be it in India or abroad.

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The Jal Jeevan Mission was announced by the Prime Minister in August 2019 to provide clean tap water to all households. When the mission was launched, only 17% (32.3 million) of the country’s rural households had a tap water supply. As of now, tap water supply has been provided in 772,000 schools and 748,000 Anganwadi centres.