Jal Jeevan Mission extended till 2028 with enhanced Budget outlay Sitharaman

    New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) The Jal Jeevan Mission, which aims to provide tap water connection to all rural households, has been extended till 2028 with an enhanced Budget outlay, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Saturday.
    The Mission has been allocated Rs 67,000 crore in Budget 2025-26. This marks a significant increase from the revised estimates of Rs 22,694 crore in 2024-25 But the amount earmarked for the mission in Budget 2024-25 was Rs 70,162.90 crore.
    Presenting her eighth consecutive budget, Sitharaman said under the Jal Jeevan Mission 15 crore households, representing 80 per cent of India's rural population, have been provided access to potable tap water connection.
    "To achieve 100 per cent coverage I am pleased to announce extension of this mission till 2028 with an enhanced total outlay," she said. Earlier, the deadline for providing tap water connection to all rural households was 2024.
    The finance minister further said the mission's focus will be on the quality of infrastructure and operation and maintenance of rural piped water supply schemes through "jan bhagidhari" (public participation).
    "Separate MoUs will be signed with states and Union Territories to ensure sustainable and citizen-centric water services delivery," she said.
    Eleven states and Union territories have already achieved complete rural tap water coverage. However, larger states like Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Kerala, and West Bengal are trailing with less than 60 per cent coverage, according to official data.
    Nitin Bassi, Senior Programme Lead, Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) called the extension of Jal Jeevan Mission to 2028 a big step in ensuring the safety of domestic water supply services in rural India, which will also help cover the remaining 20% of the rural households (about 3.9 crores) with tap connections.
    CEEW research highlights that there is a need to ensure the reliability and potability of water supply as well, in addition to creating infrastructure.
    "This extension will work towards that by focusing on the quality of water supply infrastructure, and efficient operations and maintenance through community participation. Additionally, there should be a focus on ensuring the quality of supplied water and strengthening the data monitoring infrastructure," he added.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)