NEW DELHI, INDIA / RankWire.AI / – Prime Minister Narendra Modi has emphasized India’s experience in water governance as a valuable model for nations within the Global South. On October 6, he shared an article that examined reforms initially implemented in Gujarat and later scaled through national initiatives. The article states that dependable water services rely on effective governance, strategic planning, and community involvement alongside infrastructure development. It details how India combined public investments with community management and institutional reforms. This focus arrives amid increasing pressure from rising demand, climate change impacts, and unequal access to safe water in many developing countries.
The article reflects on approximately 25 years of policy evolution in water management, extracting several lessons from India’s approach. It highlights the importance of robust institutions, integrated water resource management, community ownership, and proactive planning for large-scale delivery. Furthermore, it describes a framework centered on political leadership, public financing, partnerships, and civic participation. These principles underpin various programs addressing drinking water, sanitation, groundwater, and conservation. Narendra Modi noted that sustainable water security depends on both infrastructure and capable local systems, as demonstrated by India’s experience.
A prominent example of this expansion is India’s rural drinking water scheme. Data from Jal Jeevan Mission indicated that about 15.91 crore rural households had tap-water connections by August 10, 2026. When the program launched in 2019, approximately 3.23 crore households had such connections. The mission aims to ensure functional household tap connections and consistent drinking water services across rural India. Its latest phase emphasizes service quality, system maintenance, and operational performance, shifting focus from infrastructure counts to ongoing system functionality.
Jal Jeevan Mission broadens its scope to ensure reliable service delivery
Union Cabinet approved Jal Jeevan Mission 2.0 in March 2026, extending its timeline through December 2028. The revised plan allocates ₹8.69 lakh crore, with ₹3.59 lakh crore designated for central government support. Authorities instructed states and union territories to develop reform strategies covering implementation, financing, and monitoring processes. The updated framework emphasizes operations and maintenance post-construction, linking funding to measurable service quality, enhanced local management, and ongoing access to safe drinking water.
Jal Jeevan Mission 2.0 introduces Sujalam Bharat, a national digital platform for rural piped-water infrastructure. This system maps infrastructure from water sources to household taps and assigns service-area identities to each village. Officials anticipate that the platform will aid in planning, asset management, and accountability measures. Local governments and village institutions continue to play a vital role in daily oversight. Community organizations are encouraged to oversee service quality, report issues, and assist with maintenance. This approach integrates digital monitoring with local responsibility, avoiding reliance solely on technology.
Community-based management supports broader water reform efforts
According to the article shared by Modi, water resource management and service delivery should be interconnected. This approach ensures infrastructure decisions are aligned with the long-term availability of water for each system, emphasizing the central role of local institutions. India’s ongoing water reforms adopt this structure through village-level management, digital oversight, and national funding schemes. The model combines large-scale public programs with local oversight and links access to drinking water with broader initiatives in groundwater regulation, sanitation, conservation, and river restoration.
India’s water governance framework does not depend on a single scheme. Instead, it integrates household tap connections, groundwater management, sanitation initiatives, and conservation efforts within a comprehensive policy approach. The article presents these reforms as lessons for other developing nations to study, rather than a one-size-fits-all solution. India’s recent measures continue to tie infrastructure spending with accountability, maintenance, and community involvement. The current program also prioritizes service reliability, making long-term system performance a key indicator of rural water delivery success.