New Delhi, Oct 26 (IANS) India has achieved a major milestone under the Jal Jeevan Mission, with over 81 per cent of rural households now having access to clean tap water, official data showed on Sunday, adding that more than 15.72 crore rural homes are receiving safe drinking water through household taps (as of October 22) — marking a significant step towards universal water security in rural India.

Under the Mission, the government approved support to states and union territories with a central outlay of Rs 2,08,652 crore, which has been largely utilised, the data showed.

The Mission was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 15, 2019 with the vision of providing tap water to every rural household.

At that time, only 3.23 crore households (16.71 per cent) had access to tap water. Since then, 12.48 crore additional households have been connected, marking one of the fastest expansions of basic infrastructure in rural India.

The Jal Jeevan Mission continues to make steady progress towards ensuring safe and adequate drinking water for every rural household in India.

Tap water has reached all households, schools, and Anganwadi centres in 192 districts, of which 116 districts have been officially certified through Gram Sabha resolutions after verification.

While 1,912 blocks have reported full coverage, with 1,019 certified, 1,25,185 Gram Panchayats have reported, and 88,875 have achieved certification. Around 2,66,273 villages have reported, with 1,74,348 certified under the Har Ghar Jal initiative.

Eleven states and union territories Goa, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Dadra & Nagar Haveli & Daman & Diu, Haryana, Telangana, Puducherry, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Mizoram, and Arunachal Pradesh, have achieved full tap water connectivity for all rural households, according to the data.

Tap water supply has been ensured in 9,23,297 schools and 9,66,876 Anganwadi centres across the country.

‘Reported’ means water supply department of State/ UT has confirmed that water is being supplied through taps to all households, schools and Anganwadi Centers in that administrative unit. ‘Certified’ means that the Gram Sabha has passed the resolution after ascertaining the claim of water supply department that all the households, schools and Anganwadi Centers are getting the tap water supply in village.

Under the Jal Jeevan Mission, a robust system for quality assurance and monitoring has been implemented to ensure safe drinking water in rural areas.

During 2025–26 (as on October 21, 2025), a total of 2,843 laboratories (2,184 institutional and 659 WTP-based) tested 38.78 lakh water samples across 4,49,961 villages in the country.

To promote community-level participation, 24.80 lakh women have been trained to test water quality using Field Testing Kits (FTKs) in 5.07 lakh villages, according to the data.

—IANS

na/