About Jal Shakti Abhiyan

• The scheme was launched in 2019 and it covered 256 water stressed districts across the country.
• This ‘Abhiyan’ is a mass movement to bring all the stakeholders under one ambit of water Conservation Drive.
• Under this Abhiyan, more than six and a half crore people became part comprising of State Govts, Central Govt, Civil Society Organisations, Panchayati Raj Institutions and Communities.
• More than seventy-five lakh traditional and other water bodies and tanks were renovated and around a crore water conservation & rainwater harvesting structures were created.

Objective of Jal Shakti Abhiyan

• to “bring sensitivity on the subject of water conservation, and give it a focussed approach”
• to create a baseline of water
• to increase awareness among people to conserve water

Focus areas of the Jal Shakti Abhiyan

1. Water conservation and rainwater harvesting
2. Renovation of traditional and other water bodies
3. Reuse of water and recharging of structures
4. Watershed development
5. Intensive afforestation

About Jal Jeevan Mission

• The Mission was announced in August 2019. The chief objective of the Mission is to provide piped water supply (Har Ghar Jal) to all rural households by 2024.

Key features

• It aims to create local infrastructure for rainwater harvesting, groundwater recharge and management of household waste water for reuse in agriculture.
• The Jal Jeevan Mission is set to be based on various water conservation efforts like point recharge, desilting of minor irrigation tanks, use of greywater for agriculture and source sustainability.
• The Jal Jeevan Mission will converge with other Central and State Government Schemes to achieve its objectives of sustainable water supply management across the country.

Need for and significance of the mission

• India has 17% of the world population, but only 4% of freshwater resources.
• Depleting groundwater level, overexploitation and deteriorating water quality, climate change, etc. are major challenges to provide potable drinking water. 
• It is an urgent requirement of water conservation in the country because of the decreasing amount of groundwater level.
• Therefore, both the schemes will focus on integrated demand and supply management of water at the local level.