Netherlands has lauded India’s Jal Jeevan Mission, saying the global community can learn a lot from it. Meanwhile, the European nation is set to host special conference on Water at United Nations next March, and seek partnership with India on this issue.

This will be the first conference on water at the UN after 1977, which will be co-hosted by Tajakistan

Talking to visiting journalists from India, Henk Ovink, Special Envoy for International Water Affairs, talked very high about the Jal Jeevan Mission. He listed four key features of the programs, which include political prioritisation, including action on priority, systematic approach, tailored efforts and tracking the delivery. Ovink was appointed by the Cabinet of the Netherlands as the first Special Envoy for International Water Affairs in 2015.

“Access to safe drinking water for everybody that often does not happen, but when it is of highest importance to every official, all the way down, even in a society that is less hierarchal, it means there is commitment from the one who in the end who makes the decision. One lesson is prioratise your action. Second, you took a problematic approach across the country so we have to do for everyone. It means scale and it is important, it helps to change. Sometimes you need mass behind. Third, it was locally tailored that was almost contractionary. Tamil Nadu is different from Delhi, and you can’t do the same at everyplace. Last, it was delivery, so it was really about tracking down, knowing where does money go, is it followed up, has it worked,” he said, explaining the approaches that worked in favour of Jal Jeevan Mission.

According to him, lot of countries can learn from such an approach, because “water is very organised fragmented, it means often solution is at very small scale, so on one local level it might make a difference, but outside the community nothing changes. India is a continent in itself. If India change, world changes for the good or better and better for the good”.

Jal Jeevan Mission intends to provide safe and adequate drinking water through individual household tap connections by 2024 to all households in rural India. The programme will also implement source sustainability measures as mandatory elements, such as recharge and reuse through grey water management, water conservation and rain water harvesting. It will be based on a community approach to water, and will include extensive information, education and communication as a key component of the mission. The government claims that since the inception of the mission in August 2019, 6 crore rural households have got connection.

Partnership with India

Netherland is known for works in water conservation, and Ovink feels there is much scope for partnership with India in this area. “We are way too small, but we are as a country a laboratory for innovative approaches. We can’t do it in India alone and save the world, but we can do it in India, an amazing large country with a lot of challenges and opportunities. In partnership we can see how we can scale innovative solutions across the world. This is at the heart of a lot of what we do together,” he said.

(The correspondent is in Netherlands on the invitation of the Netherlands government)

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