Independent JJM Review Finds 86.5% of Rural Homes Have Working Taps; States Urged to Close Gaps

A tap on the wall of a rural home counts as a connection. Whether water comes out of it is a separate question, and that is the one India's latest national review of the Jal Jeevan Mission set out to answer. The Functionality Assessment 2024, run by the Department of Drinking Water & Sanitation through an independent third-party agency, found that 98.1% of households in the surveyed villages had a tap connection. Only 86.5% had a connection that actually worked.

The agency used standard statistical sampling. It covered 19,812 villages already declared Har Ghar Jal, which means every household there is supposed to have a tap. In those villages it looked at 2,37,608 households across 761 districts in 34 States and Union Territories.

The figures for households that do have connections show where the shortfalls lie. About 80.2% received water in adequate quantity. About 83.6% received it regularly, in line with the supply schedule. Only 76% received water that met the prescribed quality standards. Put another way, roughly one connected household in four was not getting water that met the standard. The detailed national and State-wise report has been published on the Jal Jeevan Mission portal.

The department describes the findings as a shift in what the mission must now do, from building coverage to delivering reliable, safe and regular supply. The infrastructure targets have largely been met. The data points instead to source sustainability, upkeep of the systems and monitoring of water quality as the areas needing work.

The money behind the mission is substantial. In August 2019 the Union Cabinet approved JJM for 2019-20 to 2023-24 with a central outlay of ₹2.08 lakh crore, nearly all of which has been utilised.

Responsibility for what happens next sits largely with the States. Water is a State subject, so planning, implementation, operation and maintenance of drinking water schemes rest with State and UT governments. The Centre supplies financial and technical support. States are expected to take corrective steps, such as repairing faulty components, filling infrastructure gaps and improving operations and maintenance systems, so that tap supply is restored or sustained.

The review also touches on how villages earn the Har Ghar Jal label. Under mission guidelines, a village is certified only after all households have tap connections. Certification involves a completion certificate issued to the Gram Panchayat, a Gram Sabha resolution formally declaring Har Ghar Jal status, and an upload of documents and a Gram Sabha video to the JJM-IMIS dashboard.

The government has warned that misreporting or failure to follow the guidelines will draw strict action. States and UTs have been directed to start disciplinary, contractual and legal proceedings against officials, implementing agencies and third-party inspection agencies wherever violations are found. The question to watch is whether States turn the published gaps into repairs, and whether any proceedings follow over certification.