Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s flagship ‘Har Ghar Nal Se Jal’ scheme has so far provided tap water connections to nearly 4 crore rural households — over 20% of its target — since its launch in 2019. The scheme aims to provide a functional household tap connection (FHTC) to every rural household by 2024. To date, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Goa, and Telangana have already achieved this feat successfully, according to the data provided by the Ministry of Jal Sakti. With the scheme, PM Modi looks to provide citizens of the country with water supply connectivity.
There are 19.19 crore rural households in the country, 37% of which, or 7.17 crore, have tap water connections as of today. The number of households with a functional tap water connection was at a mere 3.23 crore in August 2019 — before the scheme was launched by the Prime Minister. With Telangana, Goa, and Andaman and Nicobar Islands connecting all households with tap water connections, India now has a total of 55 districts, 43,404 panchayats, and 84,565 villages with tap water connections at every house. However, the scheme is still short of its target.
One of the largest states in the country, Uttar Pradesh has 2.63 crore households, of which only 10% have tap water connections. Poll-bound West Bengal is the worst-performing large state with only 8.75% of its 1.63 crore households having tap water connection. Meanwhile, Bihar and Maharashtra fare far better with 68.69% and 63.36% of their 1.96 crore and 1.42 crore households having tap water supply. Bihar and Maharashtra have the highest proportion of households with tap water supply across the country.
Looking at the progress made after the launch of the scheme, Telangana has the best record with water supply reaching 38.37 lakh houses or 70.99% of its target, followed by Bihar with 1.32 crore houses or 67% of its target.
Where India’s states, Union Territories stand on tap water connections
First published on Financial Express Online on March 29, 2021, 2:21 PM
