THE GIST of Editorial for UPSC Exams : 28 December 2019 (Jal Jeevan Mission)

Jal Jeevan Mission

Mains Paper 2 : Governance
Prelims level : Jal Jeevan Mission
Mains level : Jal Jeevan Mission objectives and challenges

Context:

• The Prime Minister released the Operational Guidelines of JJM in a function organised at Vigyan Bhawan, which is observed as Good Governance, here day. The Operational Guidelines will help various functionaries involved in the implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission.
• 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.

Steps taken by government:

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Consultations were also held on implementation aspects of the Mission with other Ministries of Government of India.
• 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:
• 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.
• Priority to cover water quality affected habitations under JJM will be given.

Following institutional arrangement has been proposed for implementation of JJM:

• National Jal Jeevan Mission at the Central level;
• State Water and Sanitation Mission (SWSM) at State level;
• District Water and Sanitation Mission (DWSM) at district level; and
• Gram Panchayat and/ or its sub-committees i.e. Village Water Sanitation Committee (VWSC)/ Paani Samiti at village Level.

Other measures taken:

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• The physical and financial progress of the mission is proposed to be monitored through IMIS and fund utilization through PFMS.
• 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.
• 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.
• To bring in sense of ownership and pride among rural communities, 5% capital cost contribution towards in-village water supply infrastructure in hilly, forested, and more than 50% SC/ ST dominant population villages, and 10% in the remaining villages is proposed.
• Communities to be rewarded by providing 10% of the in-village infrastructure cost of the scheme which will be maintained by them as a revolving fund to meet any unforeseen expenditure due to break down, etc.
• To handhold and facilitate the implementation of in-village infrastructure and community participation process, Gram Panchayat and/ or its sub-committee, Implementation Support Agencies (ISAs), viz. Self-Help Groups (SHGs)/ CBOs/ NGOs/ VOs, etc. is proposed to be identified and empanelled by state government and engaged by SWSM/ DWSM as per the requirement.
• In order to ensure faster implementation with ‘speed and scale’ in a time-bound manner for providing FHTC in every rural household by 2024, it is proposed to forge partnership with all stakeholders in water sector namely; voluntary organizations, sector partners, professionals in water sector, foundations and CSR arms of various corporates.
• JJM aims at providing potable water in adequate quantity i.e. 55 litre per capita per day (lpcd) of prescribed quality i.e. BIS Standard of IS: 10500 on regular basis. Assured availability of safe drinking water in the household premises will improve the health and thereby socio-economic condition of the rural population and will also bring down the drudgery of rural women, especially girls.

Village action plan:

• Every village is to prepare a village action plan (VAP) which will be essentially having three components namely;
• Water source and its maintenance
• Water supply and
• Grey water management.

District action plan formulated:

• Village action plan will be aggregated at district level to formulate the District action plan which will be aggregated at State level to formulate the State action plan. State action plan will give a holistic view especially covering projects like regional grids, bulk water supply and distribution projects to address the needs of water stressed areas and will also have a plan for ensuring drinking water security in the State.
• SWSM will decide rate contracts and empanel reputed construction agencies/ vendors through centralized tendering and also to prepare design templates for expeditious implementation.
• Mandatory source sustainability measures like rain water harvesting, groundwater recharge and other water conservation measures as along with grey water management (including reuse) are proposed to be undertaken in convergence with MGNREGS and grants under Finance Commission, State Finance Commission, District Mineral Development Fund (DMF), etc. It has been proposed to assess and pool the fund available for drinking water supply from various sources be it, Government such as MPLADS, MLALADS, DMDF or donations whether at State level or village level be strictly utilized as per the approved plans. This helps in preventing creation of parallel water supply infrastructure deviating from the approved plan.
• The guidelines also propose that States will have a definite O&M policy especially to meet with the O&M requirements like monthly energy cost of the PWS scheme, by ensuring cost recovery from user groups and thereby avoiding any unwanted burden on public exchequer.
• JJM envisages a structural change in the provision of drinking water supply services. The service provision should change to ‘utility based approach’ centered on ‘service delivery’. Such a reform is proposed in the guidelines so as to enable the institutions to function as utilities focusing on services and recover water tariff/ user fee.
• Measuring water to ascertain the availability and the quality using sensors based IoT technologies is also proposed in the guidelines.
• Third party inspection is proposed to be undertaken before making any payment to instill accountability.\
• Functionality assessment of the schemes implemented under JJM will be done by Department/ NJJM.

Way forward:

• The guidelines also list support activities like HRD, IEC, Skill Development, etc. to be taken up under JJM.
• Water Quality Monitoring and Surveillance is proposed to be an important component under JJM wherein setting up and maintenance of water quality testing labs by the PHE Department and surveillance activities by community will be taken up so as to ensure that the water supplied is of prescribed quality and thereby definition of functionality under JJM is adhered to.

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Prelims Questions:

Q.1) With reference to the Houbara Bustard, consider the following statements:
1. The population of the Asian houbara bustards extends from northeast Asia, across central Asia, the Middle East, and the Arabian Peninsula to reach the Sinai desert.
2. It is listed as Critically Endangered under IUCN Red List Status.

Which of the statements given above are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) None of the above

Ans: A
Mains Questions:
Q.1) What are the three components of the Village action plan? What are the steps taken by government to achieve Jal Jeevan Mission objectives?