Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (Ministry of Jal Shakti - India)

The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation was a ministry of the Government of India formed in 2011. From May 2019, the ministry has been merged with the Ministry of Jal Shakti.[1]

In 1999, the Department of Drinking Water Supply (DDWS) was formed under Ministry of Rural Development, for focused attention on drinking water and sanitation. Later it was renamed as Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation in 2010. In 2011, it was conferred the Ministry status, keeping in view the extreme importance given to the sector by the United Progressive Alliance government.

The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation was the nodal department for the overall policy, planning, funding and coordination of programmes of drinking water and sanitation in the country.

Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation
Rural Sanitation
To accelerate the efforts to achieve universal sanitation coverage in a time bound manner in mission mode, the Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, launched the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) on 2nd October, 2014, with the goal of achieving an open defecation free (ODF) India by 2nd October 2019, as a fitting tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th birth anniversary. The Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation manages the rural component of the mission – Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen (SBM-G), and is the coordinating department for the overall SBM. Since the launch of the SBM, India’s rural sanitation coverage has increased from 39% in 2014 to over 99% as of June 2019, and the Mission is on track to achieve its goal of an ODF India by 2019. Going forward, the SBM will focus on moving from ODF to ODF Plus, through a focus on ODF sustainability and Solid Liquid Waste Management under four major verticals: Greywater management, plastic waste management, bio-degradable solid waste management and faecal sludge management.

Rural water supply
The Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation provides technical and financial assistance to the States to provide safe and adequate drinking water to rural India. The Department’s Centrally Sponsored Scheme, the National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP), currently focuses on providing access to drinking water to India's rural population. The Department is committed to providing household piped water supply to all rural households by 2024 with a focus on small scale, community managed schemes groundwater schemes wherever possible, with emphasis on source sustainability through groundwater recharge and wastewater reuse.