Jal Jeevan Mission: Modi Announces Rs 3.5 Lakh Crore Spend To Secure Water For Indians

The government will spend over Rs 3.5 lakh crore on the Jal Jeevan Mission in an effort to ensure the availability of water for all Indian households, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, in his Red Fort address on the occasion of India’s 73rd Independence Day. He added that efforts for water conservation need to be quadrupled in the next five years to safeguard the country’s water needs.

As part of the mission, the government will promote rainwater harvesting, sea and waste water treatment, micro irrigation, the rejuvenation of water sources, and enhance citizen awareness on water issues, Modi said.

The Jal Jeevan Mission was unveiled in Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s budget speech last month, in which she allotted Rs 9,150 crore for a ‘Nal Se Jal’ programme, to provide piped water supply for all.

This is the fourth water policy initiative by the Modi government in the last five years, after the Namami Gange (National Mission for Clean Ganga) project; river interlinking to create inland waterways; and Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sanchai Yojna aimed at boosting irrigation in a nation where nearly two-thirds of farmland is watered by monsoons.

The four plans together come as a $270-billion opportunity over the next 15 years, according to a Bank of America Merrill Lynch report published earlier this year. The report however, had pointed out that finding funds for these projects may prove to be a challenge considering India's fiscal math.

The Jal Jeevan Mission - which now seems to encompass more than the ‘Nal Se Jal’ scheme will be carried out as a joint initiative by the central and state government, which will work towards improving ‘per crop, more drop’ micro-irrigation, harvesting rainwater, water conservation and treating sea and waste water.

“The country cannot wait any longer to address water-related issues,” Modi said. We cannot leave our community in the grips of filth, illiteracy and disease, the prime minister said, adding that like his flagship ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan’, the newly announced water mission will also need the citizen’s involvement.