1. The Prime Minister released the Operational Guidelines of JJM in a function organised at Vigyan Bhawan, which is observed as Good Governance. The Operational Guidelines will help various functionaries involved in the implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission.
2. The event was also graced by the Minister of Defense, the Minister Jal Shakti, the Minister of State Jal Shakti. Officials from various departments, farmers from different states, representatives of UN agencies, NGOs/ trusts, and various stakeholders working in the water sector attended the function.
3. The Union Cabinet on 13.08.2019 approved Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) to provide Functional Household Tap Connection (FHTC) to every rural household by 2024.
4. As per the information available, out of 17.87 Crore rural households in the country, about 14.6 Crore which accounts for 81.67% are yet to have household water tap connections. The total project cost is estimated to be about Rs 3.60 lakh Crore. Central share will be Rs.2.08 lakh Crore. The fund sharing pattern to be 90:10 for Himalayan and North-Eastern States; 50:50 for other States and 100% for UTs.
5. Broad contours of the JJM was circulated to all the States/ UTs giving details of the Mission and expected actions from States/ UTs. A National Level State Ministers’ conference chaired by Hon’ble Minister of Jal Shakti was held on 26/8/2019, wherein modalities of implementation of JJM were discussed at length.
6. As decided by the Government, five regional workshops were organized one each in north, east, west, south and north-eastern regions of the country, wherein all stakeholders in water supply like, State Governments, voluntary organizations, development partners, professionals in water sector, etc. participated.
7. Further, the Department has carried out review of questions raised by Hon’ble MPs in Parliament, for developing a broad understanding of issues in drinking water supply sector as are being faced in different parts of the country with the purpose that, while formulating guidelines, strategy and implementation aspects to the issues at hand get addressed to the extent possible. Similarly, Standing Committee reports and Audit reports were examined in detail to get an overview of the shortcomings in the implementation of NRDWP so as to address the observations in the guidelines.
8. Consultations were also held on implementation aspects of the Mission with other Ministries of Government of India.
9. Considering above aspects, Operational Guidelines of Jal Jeevan Mission has been finalized. The Operational Guidelines was also put up on the portal of Ministry of Jal Shakti, Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation for feedback/ comments from citizens. The salient features of the guidelines are as follows:
I. Time bound completion of schemes taken up under National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) has been proposed by providing FHTC to every rural household. No extension of time or cost escalation will be allowed except for the cost towards retrofitting the same to provide FHTCs.
II. Priority to cover water quality affected habitations under JJM will be given.
III. For the implementation of JJM, following institutional arrangement has been proposed:
(a.) National Jal Jeevan Mission at the Central level;
(b.) State Water and Sanitation Mission (SWSM) at State level;
(c.) District Water and Sanitation Mission (DWSM) at district level; and
(d.) Gram Panchayat and/ or its sub-committees i.e. Village Water Sanitation Committee (VWSC)/ Paani Samiti at village Level.
IV. Extra budgetary resources will be made available for JJM and is proposed to be allocated along with Gross Budgetary Support among States/ UTs as per the allocation criteria.
V. Good performance of the States/ UTs will be incentivized out of the fund not utilized by other States at the fag end of the financial year.
VI. The fund released by Central Government to the State Governments is to be deposited in one Single Nodal Account (SNA) that will be maintained by SWSM along with State matching share to be transferred within 15 days of Central release. Public Finance Management System (PFMS) should be used for tracking the funds.
VII. The physical and financial progress of the mission is proposed to be monitored through IMIS and fund utilization through PFMS.
VIII. No expenditure towards centage charges, O&M cost of the schemes like electricity charges, salary of regular staff and purchase of land, etc. will be allowed out of Central share.
IX. Imbibing the spirit of 73rd Amendment of Constitution of India, Gram Panchayats or its sub-committees will play a crucial role in planning, designing, execution, operations and maintenance of the in-village infrastructure.
Prime Minister releases Guidelines for the Jal Jeevan Mission
