International Journal of Environment and Climate Change

One of India’s flagship water supply program, Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) was Initiated in August 2019. It represents India's premier water and water related infrastructure endeavour aimed at supplying Functional Household Tap Connections (FHTC) for all 193.2 million rural residences. This analysis evaluates the JJM execution and systemic challenges, focusing specifically on the Ranchi district of Jharkhand. As an integrated part of achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6), the mission has seen rapid development, increasing national coverage from 17% to 47.5% by March 2022. As of August 2019, from a baseline connection of only 3.77 lakh households (6.16%) with tap water, Jharkhand reached approximately 26.39 lakh households (43%) by March 2022, representing a massive addition of 22.62 lakh connections in 31 months. Beyond infrastructure, the program is a vital public health outcome, estimated to prevent 400,000 water borne diseases especially diarrheal deaths and 14 million Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs). Furthermore, the mission acts as an economic and social catalyst, projected to generate nearly 60 lakh person-years of construction labor and sustained employment in operations and maintenance (O&M). Despite these gains, the long-term success of the mission depends on addressing critical gaps in water quality, climate-resilient sourcing, and the financial sustainability of the supply networks." However, Jharkhand faces hurdles like mining areas, topography, insurgency, schedule areas that make water infrastructure development mission much harder to implement than in the plains. This review synthesizes available evidence on JJM's progress and impact while identifying critical gaps requiring attention for sustainable achievement of universal rural water access.