NEW DELHI, INDIA / RankWire.AI / – Prime Minister Narendra Modi has emphasized India’s expertise in water governance as a valuable reference point for nations across the Global South. On October 6, he shared an article reviewing reforms initially developed in Gujarat and later scaled through nationwide initiatives. The piece highlights that dependable water services depend not only on physical infrastructure but also on effective governance, strategic planning, and local community engagement. It details how India has merged public investment with community-led management and institutional reforms. This focus arises as many developing countries confront increasing demand, climate-related challenges, and unequal access to safe water supplies.
The article examines approximately 25 years of water policy evolution, drawing several lessons from India’s experience. It underscores the importance of strengthening institutions, adopting integrated water resource management, fostering community ownership, and early planning for large-scale delivery systems. Additionally, it describes a framework centered on political leadership, public financing, partnerships, and participatory governance. These principles have been applied across various programs addressing drinking water, sanitation, groundwater, and conservation. Narendra Modi pointed out that the Indian experience demonstrates that achieving long-term water security requires both infrastructure development and capable local systems.
A prominent example of this approach is India’s rural drinking-water initiative. Data from Jal Jeevan Mission indicated that about 15.91 crore rural households had tap-water connections by August 10, 2026, compared to roughly 3.23 crore households when the program launched in 2019. The mission’s goal is to ensure functional household tap connections and consistent drinking-water services nationwide. Its latest phase emphasizes service quality, system maintenance, and performance, marking a shift from merely counting infrastructure to actively monitoring whether water services are operational and reliable.
Jal Jeevan Mission broadens its emphasis on dependable service delivery
In March 2026, the Union Cabinet approved Jal Jeevan Mission 2.0, extending its scope through December 2028. The revised initiative has an approved budget of ₹8.69 lakh crore, with ₹3.59 lakh crore allocated as central assistance. The government has also instructed states and union territories to develop reform plans covering implementation, financing, and monitoring. The new framework places greater focus on operations and maintenance after infrastructure construction, linking funding to measurable service delivery, stronger local management, and ongoing access to safe drinking water.
Furthermore, Jal Jeevan Mission 2.0 incorporates Sujalam Bharat, a nationwide digital platform designed for rural piped-water infrastructure. This platform maps systems from water sources to household taps and assigns each village a unique service-area identity, with the aim of supporting planning, asset management, and accountability. Local governments and village institutions remain central to daily oversight, with community bodies playing a role in monitoring services, reporting issues, and supporting maintenance. This approach integrates digital oversight with local responsibility, emphasizing community participation rather than replacing it with technology.
Decentralized management drives broader water reform efforts
The article shared by Modi emphasizes that countries should integrate water resource management with service delivery, a strategy that links infrastructure decisions directly to the long-term availability of water for each system. It also advocates for placing local institutions at the core of service provision. India’s ongoing water reforms follow this model through village-level management, digital monitoring, and centralized funding, effectively combining large-scale public programs with local oversight. These reforms connect access to drinking water with wider initiatives focused on groundwater management, sanitation, conservation, and river restoration.
India’s water governance system does not depend on a single scheme but instead integrates household tap connections, groundwater initiatives, sanitation projects, and conservation policies under a comprehensive strategy. The article presents these reforms as lessons for other developing nations to consider, rather than as a universal template. India’s most recent measures continue to link infrastructure investments with accountability, routine maintenance, and community engagement. The current program also prioritizes service reliability, making the long-term performance of water systems a key indicator of rural water delivery success.