The Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday approved the restructuring of the Jal Jeevan Mission, the Centre’s rural drinking water scheme, which in its next phase will focus on verifiable last-mile delivery rather than infrastructure creation alone, according to an official statement.
The programme, called Jal Jeevan Mission 2.0, will introduce structural changes including a unified national digital framework aimed at improving governance and transparency.
The Cabinet approved public expenditures $8.69 lakh crore for the programme, including a central share of $3.59 crore, up from $Rs 2.08 lakh crore was approved when the scheme was launched in 2019-20.
The scheme aims to provide tap water connections to all 193.5 million rural households in India by the end of 2024. According to the programme’s dashboard, 158.2 million households, or 81.5% of the total, currently have a functional tap connection. Baseline coverage was approximately 16.72% when the mission was launched.
The program was extended until December 2028 last year. However, during 2025-26, the Center has curtailed its release of funds to state governments under the scheme amid concerns over poor service and irregularities. The Union budget has been allocated for FY26 $67,000 crore for the programme, but this has been reduced to $Rs 17,000 crore in revised estimates.
The revamped scheme is expected to start working to connect the remaining families amid stricter scrutiny using IT tools. “The restructuring will focus on transparency in work execution and will establish a locally accountable governance model,” said an official who requested anonymity.
The restructured mission will shift from an infrastructure-focused approach to one of sustainable service delivery and strong institutional accountability, the statement said. For effective governance, the Jal Shakti Ministry will launch a national digital framework called Sugalam Bharat, under which every village will be tagged with a unique service area identifier.
The digital system will allow accurate mapping of the entire length of the water supply system, from source to home. “To ensure transparency and accountability, gaon panchayat and village water and sanitation committees should be involved in the formal commissioning and handover of schemes through Jal Arpan,” the cabinet statement said.
In order to responsibly manage the program locally, which includes major water engineering projects, the gram panchayat must certify the completion of the works and declare itself ‘har ghar jal’ only after “ensuring that adequate operation and maintenance mechanisms are established within the village by the state government,” an official said.
Community ownership and participation are crucial to operational efficiency and sustainability of the source, the statement said, as community-led maintenance and review events will be held, “to incorporate the local cultural spirit,” according to the statement.
Estimates cited by the government and attributed to the World Health Organization indicate that improved access to water under the program has saved women about 50.5 million hours of work per day and could help prevent up to 400,000 deaths from diarrhoea.
