A jan andolan for water | The Indian Express

A jan andolan for water | The Indian Express

Written by Parameswaran Iyer |Updated: August 17, 2019 1:00:09 am

The writes is secretary, Ministry for Drinking Water and Sanitation. Views are personal.

A jan andolan for water

Proposed Jal Jeevan Mission will be a decentralised, community-managed and sustainable water management scheme

For many years, the central and state governments have been making efforts to increase access to safe and adequate drinking water. (Representational Image)

On August 15, during the first Independence Day speech of his second tenure, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the Jal Jeevan Mission, which plans to supply water to all households by 2024. Five years ago, on the same occasion, he had made an equally audacious pronouncement: That India would become open defecation free by October 2, 2019, the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. Having delivered on that promise, the PM has now set another BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) and, without a doubt, an idea whose time has come.