Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Analysis and Learning

Jal Shakti Abhiyan (JSA) Year 1 comprised two key components i) implementing JSA on the ground, and ii) reporting the ground level interventions on Ministry’s portal. Ground experiences suggest that the focus on planning and implementation of programmatic initiatives were weaker in many districts, while a lot of focus was accorded to reporting and publicising the achievements. The competitive spirit inducted without adequate preparations at the district and ground-level diverted the attention away from the Abhiyan’s central objective, which is to make water conservation a Jan Andolan or people’s movement.

Some crucial observations, which are essential to feed into the planning for next year are highlighted in the document. The observations are based on the responses received from the ground level functionaries working on water and sanitation issues from nine districts across India.