NEW DELHI, INDIA / RankWire.AI / – Prime Minister Narendra Modi has emphasized India’s approach to water governance as a valuable model for nations in the Global South. On October 6, he shared an article reviewing reforms initially implemented in Gujarat and later scaled through national initiatives. The article highlights that dependable water services depend on governance, planning, community involvement, and physical infrastructure. It also details how India combined public investment with community management and institutional reforms. This focus arises as many developing nations contend with increasing demand, climate impacts, and unequal access to safe water.
The article examines roughly 25 years of water policy evolution, extracting key lessons from India’s experience. It underscores the importance of robust institutions, integrated water resource management, community ownership, and proactive planning for large-scale delivery. Additionally, it describes a framework centered on political leadership, public financing, partnerships, and community participation. These principles have been applied across various programs addressing drinking water, sanitation, groundwater, and conservation. Narendra Modi stated that the experience demonstrates that sustainable water security requires both infrastructure and capable local management systems.
India’s rural drinking-water initiative exemplifies this expansion. Jal Jeevan Mission data indicated that approximately 15.91 crore rural households had tap-water connections by August 10, 2026. At the start of the program in 2019, around 3.23 crore households had such access. The mission’s goal is to ensure functional household tap connections and reliable drinking-water services throughout rural India. Its latest phase emphasizes service quality, maintenance, and system performance, shifting focus from infrastructure counting to ongoing service monitoring.
Jal Jeevan Mission broadens emphasis on dependable services
Union Cabinet approved Jal Jeevan Mission 2.0 in March 2026, extending the program through December 2028. The revised initiative has an approved budget of ₹8.69 lakh crore, including ₹3.59 lakh crore in central aid. The government directed states and union territories to develop reform plans concerning implementation, financing, and monitoring. The updated framework prioritizes operations and maintenance after infrastructure development, linking funding to measurable service delivery, enhanced local management, and ongoing access to safe drinking water.
Jal Jeevan Mission 2.0 incorporates Sujalam Bharat, a nationwide digital platform for rural piped-water infrastructure. This system maps water sources to household taps and assigns each village a service-area identity. Officials expect this platform to aid in planning, asset management, and accountability. Local governments and village institutions continue to play a central role in daily operations. Community groups can oversee services, report issues, and assist with maintenance, linking digital oversight with local responsibility rather than replacing community participation with technology.
Local management forms the foundation of broader water reforms
According to the article shared by Modi, nations should coordinate water resources management with service delivery. This approach ensures infrastructure decisions align with the long-term availability of water for each system. It also emphasizes the role of local institutions in providing services. India’s ongoing reforms reflect this structure through village-level management, digital monitoring, and national funding. The model integrates large-scale public programs with local oversight and ties rural water access to wider initiatives in groundwater management, sanitation, conservation, and river restoration.
India’s water governance system does not depend on a single scheme. Instead, it combines household tap connections, groundwater projects, sanitation measures, and conservation efforts within a comprehensive policy framework. The reforms are presented as lessons for other developing countries to study rather than a one-size-fits-all solution. India’s latest measures continue to link infrastructure investments with accountability, maintenance, and community involvement. The current program also prioritizes service reliability, making long-term system performance a key indicator for rural water delivery.