On July 2, 2020, the Government of India announced that around 19 lakh tap connections were provided during lock down under Jal Jeevan Mission

Jal Jeevan Mission

The Mission aims to provide clean drinking water supply to all the households in the country by 2024. The objective is to provide 55 litres of potable water per person per day to the rural households by 2024. The Union Government has so far provided Rs 8,000 crores to the states in order to implement the scheme.

Background

With COVID-19 pandemic, GoI imposed lock down that left 1000s unemployed. The migrant workers were the most affected. The lock down left them jobless and forced them to return to their native places. This increased rural unemployment.

The GoI decided to utilize these migrant workers to build rural infrastructure. By this, the migrant workers will earn a living and also the rural infrastructure will be boosted. Thus, labour force of MGNREGA was strengthened. The MGNREGA forces were also used to implement Jal Jeevan Mission. The migrant workers were also allowed to register in MGNREGA scheme. The wages of MGNREGA was increased.