Lucknow, May 28 (IANS) The Jal Jeevan Mission, a Central flagship scheme, has become a major source of income for women in Uttar Pradesh as they have become key ‘drivers’ in ensuring supply of clean tap water in more than 90,000 villages in the state. This has also resulted in their large-scale employment and turning the opportunity into a major source of employment.

The Yogi Adityanath-led government optimised the Field Testing Kit (FTK) campaign under the Jal Jeevan Mission, to harness the potential of thousands of women volunteers.

By connecting special groups of women across more than 97,000 villages, the state government ensured that clean drinking water supply is available to village households while women volunteers become technically capable to handle the water supply and its quality testing.

The honorarium received for testing the purity of water in villages has opened new avenues of additional income and self-employment for rural women.

Prabhas Kumar, Special Secretary and Executive Director of Namami Gange and Rural Water Supply Department, stated, “Under this mission, groups of 05 women each have been provided with Field Testing Kits in almost all Gram Panchayats and revenue villages across the state. At present, trained women in approximately 97,070 villages of the state are actively carrying out water quality testing work.”

“These women are regularly testing water samples from drinking water sources and household taps in their respective areas. The continuity of this quality testing process can be gauged from the fact that around 63,700 water quality samples have already been tested so far in the current financial year,” he added.

At the village level, these women are identifying harmful chemicals and bacteria in pipelines, tube wells and other drinking water sources through FTKs. In case of suspicious or contaminated water sources, they immediately inform the department so that various water-borne diseases caused by contaminated water can be prevented without delay.

Earlier, the procedure was lengthy and cumbersome but now with the Field Testing Kits, it has become possible to take immediate action as soon as contaminated water sources are identified.

This program has not only ensured the purity of water, but is also becoming a means of economic empowerment for rural women.

The women associated with Field Testing work are being paid honorarium according to the prescribed rates for the testing work carried out by them. They are being paid Rs 20 per test, with a maximum payment of Rs 400 for up to 20 tests.

This arrangement has become an excellent medium for women living in rural areas to earn additional income and connect with self-employment.

Notably, during the launch of Jal Jeevan Mission, in 2019, only 3.23 crore households had access to tap water. Since then, 12.48 crore additional households got tap water connections till last year, making it one of India’s fastest infrastructure expansions.

–IANS

mr/pgh