Drinking Water
Jal Jeevan Mission
Rural piped drinking water supply, restructured as Jal Jeevan Mission 2.0 following Union Cabinet approval on 10 March 2026, with a stated target of universal rural household coverage by December 2028.
The office, from June 2024
Union Minister
of Jal Shakti
What the office actually consists of: two departments, a Cabinet Minister and two Ministers of State, a set of technical institutions, and a constitutional division of responsibility with the States that shapes everything the ministry can do.
- Appointed
- Sworn in 9 June 2024; took charge of the ministry in June 2024
- Rank
- Cabinet Minister
- Departments
- Two
- Ministers of State
- Shri V. Somanna; Dr. Raj Bhushan Choudhary
01 / The distinction that matters
The Minister and the machinery
A great deal of confusion about ministerial work comes from collapsing two different things into one. A Union ministry is a permanent institution: Secretaries, engineers, scientists, mission directorates and statutory boards, most of whose work continues regardless of who holds the portfolio. A Minister is a political office-holder placed at the head of it for a period, answerable to Parliament for what it does.
This site keeps those two things apart. Where a programme figure is reported, it is attributed to the department that reported it and dated. Where the Minister personally chaired a meeting, launched a programme or answered a question in the House, that is recorded as his act, with the release that documents it. A sewage treatment plant commissioned in Uttar Pradesh is not the personal achievement of a Union Minister, and it is not described as one here.
The Minister does
Political and accountable functions
Sets and defends policy direction. Answers to both Houses of Parliament for the ministry. Takes decisions reserved to the political level. Chairs national review meetings with States. Launches and releases programmes and guidelines. Pilots the ministry's demands for grants and its legislation.
The machinery does
Permanent and technical functions
Designs and appraises schemes. Conducts the hydrological and groundwater science. Issues technical norms and advisories. Operates the national monitoring systems. Releases and reconciles funds. Runs the river authorities, commissions and research stations.
The States do
Delivery
Water and sanitation are State subjects. States and Union Territories plan, tender, build, own, operate and maintain the schemes, through their Public Health Engineering or Rural Water Supply departments and their Panchayati Raj institutions.
The village does
Ownership and upkeep
Gram Panchayats and Village Water and Sanitation Committees hold local responsibility for operation, maintenance, tariff collection and monitoring — the layer at which a scheme either keeps working or quietly stops.
02 / Structure
Two departments,
Two departments,
one portfolio
The Ministry of Jal Shakti was formed in May 2019 by merging two ministries. Each of its departments has its own Secretary and its own demand for grants; both report to the same Cabinet Minister.
Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation
The resource side of the portfolio. It covers water resources development and management, irrigation, inter-state rivers and river valley development, groundwater science and regulation, flood management, and the conservation and rejuvenation of the Ganga and its tributaries.
- Central Water Commission — surface water, hydrology, dam safety and flood forecasting
- Central Ground Water Board — aquifer mapping and the annual groundwater assessment
- National Mission for Clean Ganga — the Namami Gange Programme
- National Water Development Agency and the National Water Informatics Centre
- Statutory river authorities and boards, including the Narmada Control Authority, the Upper Yamuna River Board, the Krishna River Management Board and the Cauvery Water Management Authority
Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation
The service side of the portfolio. It covers rural drinking water supply and rural sanitation — the two national missions that reach individual households, and the norms, monitoring systems and capacity-building that support them.
- National Jal Jeevan Mission — rural piped drinking water supply
- Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) — rural sanitation and waste management
- National water quality testing and surveillance framework, including village-level testing
- The national management information systems into which States report
- Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee National Institute of Water and Sanitation
03 / Accountability
What the office answers for
These are the principal programmes and functions for which the Minister of Jal Shakti is answerable to Parliament. Each links to the reference page on this site where the programme is set out in detail, with sources.
Sanitation
Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen)
Rural sanitation, running in its second phase from 2020–21 to 2026–27, built around the ODF Plus standard of sustained open-defecation-free status together with solid and liquid waste management.
Rivers
Namami Gange Programme
Pollution abatement, sewerage infrastructure, biodiversity and livelihoods in the Ganga basin, implemented through the National Mission for Clean Ganga since 2014.
Groundwater
Groundwater assessment, regulation and recharge
The annual Dynamic Ground Water Resource Assessment by the Central Ground Water Board, aquifer mapping under NAQUIM, regulation through the Central Ground Water Authority, and community-led management under Atal Bhujal Yojana.
Conservation
Jal Shakti Abhiyan and Catch the Rain
The annual national water conservation campaign, reorganised on 1 June 2026 as Jal Sanchay Jan Bhagidari: Catch the Rain, targeting rainwater harvesting and recharge in blocks identified as water-stressed.
Institutions
Commissions, boards and river authorities
The Central Water Commission, the Central Ground Water Board, the National Water Development Agency, the research stations and the statutory bodies governing inter-state rivers all sit within the ministry's administrative control.
04 / The constitutional limit
Water is a State subject
The single most important constraint on the office is constitutional. Water, including water supply, irrigation, drainage and embankments, is a State subject under Entry 17 of the State List. The Union's competence is confined to the regulation and development of inter-state rivers and river valleys under Entry 56 of the Union List, together with its general powers of funding and coordination.
The practical consequence runs through every programme on this site. The Union designs missions, sets technical and quality norms, provides central assistance and operates national monitoring. States and Union Territories decide, build, own and operate. A national figure is therefore an aggregation of returns made by thirty-six separate administrations, and the pace at which any target is reached is determined largely by them.
The Minister has stated this himself in the context of the restructured drinking water mission. Addressing State ministers in charge of public health engineering, rural water supply and panchayati raj on 13 March 2026, he emphasised that because water is a State subject, the success of the mission depends on the accountability of State governments in delivering reliable tap water supply to rural households, and urged timely completion of schemes and stronger on-ground monitoring.
How this affects the figures on this site
Where a page states a national coverage figure, it is data reported by States and
Union Territories to the Centre, on a stated date, and published in a government
release. It is not an audited outcome, and it is not presented as the work of any one
person or government alone.
Sources and references
- Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India — jalshakti.gov.in
- Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation — jalshakti-dowr.gov.in
- Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation — jalshakti-ddws.gov.in
- Press Information Bureau, Ministry of Jal Shakti, Release ID 2247224, 31 March 2026 — pib.gov.in
- Constitution of India, Seventh Schedule, Union List Entry 56 and State List Entry 17
Last updated: September 2026