Jal Jeevan Mission: A Catalyst for Women's Empowerment in Rural India, Says PM Modi
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New Delhi, Dec 12 (NationPress) The Jal Jeevan Mission is playing a significant role in empowering more women in India, especially in rural areas, stated Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday.
Initiated in August 2019, the Jal Jeevan Mission is designed to ensure that every rural household has access to functional tap water connections.
PM Modi emphasized that with clean water now available at their doorsteps, women can concentrate on skill development and self-reliance without the burden of traveling long distances to collect clean water.
“This is a positive indication of how the Jal Jeevan Mission is promoting women empowerment, particularly in our rural communities,” PM Modi expressed in a post on X.
“With water readily accessible, women can now devote more time to skill development and self-sufficiency,” he further noted.
From a mere 3.23 crore (17 percent) of rural households having tap water connections in 2019, the initiative has remarkably increased that number by adding 11.96 crore new connections by October 2024.
As of now, over 15.35 crore or 79.31 percent of households have tap water connections according to government statistics.
The data also revealed that about 11 states—Goa, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Haryana, Puducherry, Telangana, Gujarat, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, and Mizoram—have achieved 100 percent tap water connection coverage.
A recent report by the State Bank of India highlighted that rural households nationwide have experienced an 8.3 percentage point reduction in the need to fetch water from outside their homes. This change has resulted in a 7.4 percentage point increase in women’s participation in agriculture and other productive sectors.
The report also pointed out notable advancements in states like Bihar and Assam, where the female workforce has surged by over 28 percentage points.
