The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation is responsible for the overall policy, planning, funding and coordination of safe drinking water and sanitation facilities in rural areas.  Under the Indian Constitution, water supply and sanitation is a state responsibility, but both states and the central government share it.

Sanitation is broadly defined as personal hygiene, home sanitation, safe water, garbage disposal, human waste disposal and wastewater disposal. India is the number one country in the world for open defecation.

It also monitors the policies aimed at providing safe drinking water and improving sanitation for India’s rural population. It also empowers local Panchayats (village-level governing bodies) to implement most of its programs. 

According to the NSSO 65th Round Survey in 2008-2009, more than 90% get drinking water from protected sources, but only 75% are “...fully covered with safe and adequate drinking water supply.”  And only 30% of rural household get drinking water from the tap.

In 1972-1973, India implemented its first major role in the water sector with the Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme (ARWSP).  To speed up the national water coverage, the Technology Mission on Drinking Water was established in 1986.  The Technology Mission was later renamed Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission in 1991-1992, and seven years later in 1999, the Department of Drinking Water Supply (DDWS) was established. Formed under the Ministry of Rural Development, its focus was drinking water and sanitation. Renamed again in 2010, it is now called the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation. In July 2011, Drinking Water and Sanitation split from the Ministry of Rural Development to become a separate ministry.

The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation is charged with the following functions:

• Planning, implementation and monitoring of centrally sponsored programs for safe   drinking water and sanitation in rural areas                                                                                 

• Support for R&D initiatives, Information/Education/Communication (IEC) and Human Resource Development activities for all stakeholders in the drinking water and sanitation industry                                                                                         
• Assist states in resource mobilization and education of best practices and innovations
• Recognizing and awarding panchayats and organizations for excellent work in rural sanitation.                            

The ministry runs two major programs, the National Rural Water Drinking Programme (NRDWP) and the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (NBA), formerly called the Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC).  NRDWP focuses on safe drinking water.  Their site provides drinking water data down for village level in any state in the country.

NBA aims to eradicate open defecation via a “demand driven” approach emphasizing Information, Education and Communication (IEC) and creates demand for sanitation facilities in homes and schools and to increase awareness for generally a better environment. One example is the Nirmal Bharat Yatra, a tour through rural areas in five states.  The yatra aims to educate villagers on sanitation and personal hygiene (e.g., hand washing, menstrual hygiene) via fun activities (e.g., Bollywood, dancing, songs and cricket).

To energize the NBA/TSC, the government of India started the Nirmal Gram Puruskar (NGP) in October 2003.  NGP recognizes an “open defecation free” village where homes, schools and anganwadis have toilets and the community understands the importance of maintaining personal and community hygiene for a clean environment.

As of November 2011, the latest budget information is in the Outcome budget 2011 - 2012.  This was compiled when Drinking Water and Sanitation was still a department under the Ministry of Rural Development. For 2012 -2013, the total budget is estimated at Rs 14.00524 crore ($2.552 million USD).

For 2011 -2012, the outlay for NRDWP was Rs 9350 crore ($1703.407 million USD) for measureable deliverables such as providing safe water for 30,000 water quality affected areas and augmenting water supply systems in 85,000 habitations that are partially covered. TSC and NGP have gender budgets of Rs 1600 crore ($291.492 million USD) and Rs 50 crore ($9.109 million USD) respectively.  Budgets for each program are also allocated for Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST):

• NRDWP
  • Plan outlay - Rs 9350 crore ($1703.407 million USD)
  • Financial outlay Rs 21,000 crore ($3825.833 million USD) for SC, Rs 9500 ($1730.734 million USD) for ST
• TSC - SC
  • Plan outlay - Rs 1650 crore ($300.601 million USD)
  • Financial outlay - Rs 363 crore ($66.132 million USD).  There are no targets, but it’s expected to add 26.4 lakh (2.64 million) household toilets and 22,000 school toilet blocks
• TSC - ST
  • Plan outlay - Rs 1650 crore ($300.601 million USD)
  • Financial outlay - Rs 165 crore ($30.06 million USD).  Again, no targets, but 12 lakh (1.2 million) household toilets and 10,000 school toilet blocks

Ramesh Puts Foot in Mouth

Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has always spoken his mind. But during October 2012, he might have gone too far in describing India’s sanitation crisis.  On three separate occasions, he made snappy comments regarding India’s toilet shortages: “women demand mobile phones, not toilets,” “there are more temples in the country than toilets” and “don't get married into a house where there are no toilets.” On October 28, 2012, Ramesh was stripped of his title and replaced by Bharatsinh Solanki.

Jairam Ramesh Loses Sanitation After An Eventful Stint (Indian Express)

Indian Government Launches 'No Lavatory, No Bride' Campaign (Bby Dean Nelson, The Telegraph)

BJP Flays Jairam Ramesh For Temple, Toilet Remarks (Indian Express)

Legislating Ending Manual Scavenging

Manual scavenging is a traditional and forced caste occupation for 750,000 families (2011 census, but probably more undocumented) where they hand remove human waste from 5.86 lakh (586,000) old-fashioned dry latrines in rural areas.  These latrines are in rural areas where sewage infrastructure is rare or doesn’t exist.  Newer forms of manual scavenging have developed including sewer manhole and septic tank cleaning.  The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Bill (2012) was introduced in the Lok Sabha on September 3, 2012. 

For Legislating Ending Manual Scavenging

Manual scavenging is dehumanizing work.  Workers are born-into this occupation and face socio-economic discrimination their whole lives.  The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Bill (2012) aims to bar employment of manual scavengers and for their rehabilitation via cash assistance, residential plots and job re-training. 

India's Quixotic Quest to End Human-Hauled Sewage (by Nate Berg, Atlantic Cities)

Against Legislating Ending Manual Scavenging

Manual scavenging was already outlawed in 1993 with The Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act but still continues due to larger issues of caste and state denial. In 1996, the Madhya Pradesh government claimed that the practice was eradicated, but 17 organizations provided evidence to the contrary. Also an official in Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh, concluded that it wasn’t economic deprivation continuing the practice since the scavengers had access to ration cards. It was easy money for them compared to “hard-work” jobs. 

The current bill has been criticized as diluted with examples such as:

• a person wearing protective gear while handling human waste would not be considered a manual scavenger
• publicly identifying urban manual scavengers and inviting objections from the general public before receiving rehabilitation

The bill also imposes fines and/or imprisonment but since the 1993 Act’s passing, no one has ever been prosecuted.

Enslaved By Tradition: The Manual Scavengers of Vidisha (by Mahim Pratap Singh, The Hindu)

Washing Off This Stain Will Need More (by Agrima Bhasin, The Hindu)

Look to the Sky for Water

One thing holding back piped water in rural areas is the lack of electricity so many states are asking for a solar-based drinking water system. To address this issue, the central government is planning to install 10,000 solar-based systems in 78 Maoist-affected areas in India at a cost of Rs 540 crore ($98.102 million USD).  Some 200 of these systems are already installed in the Gadchiroli district. 

Govt Plans Rs 540 Cr Solar-Based Rural Water Systems Project (India Water Review)

Find a Statewide Solution for Bengal’s Arsenic Crisis

West Bengal has one of the world’s worst cases of Arsenic contamination. Arsenic poisoning can cause ugly skin lesions, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, blood, liver, neurological disorders and even cancer. A ceramic membrane developed by The Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute (CGCRI) in Jadavpur looks promising.  The porous ceramic membrane removes iron, arsenic and other insoluble. The system, which will serve 1500 households 10 liters per day, can be installed at a cost of just 5.6 lakh. It’s a solution that can be scaled up. For villages still relying on hand pumps the Amal Arsenic removal units, developed with help from the NGO Water For People offer another good solution.

Swedish Tech for Arsenic Free Water in Bengal (Times of India)

Cheap Filter To Solve Arsenic Crisis (by Subaru Neoga, Times of India)

Arsenic Crisis In Indian Subcontinent: An Indigenous Solution (by Arup K. Sengupta, Lehigh University)

Jairam Ramesh

Jairam Ramesh ran the newly created Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation from its founding in July 2011 until October 28, 2011. 

Ramesh lost the portfolio in cabinet reshuffle but retained Minister of Rural Development.

Born in Karnataka, Ramesh has recalled becoming interested in economics from a fairly early age, particularly its impact on the broader issues of everyday life. Although he eventually graduated from university, at IIT-Bombay, with a degree in chemical engineering, he quickly went oversees, to the US, to study economics and public policy.

Starting in the late 1970s, Ramesh took a series of consultancy and advisory jobs with the World Bank and the Indian government, particularly revolving around economic and energy policy. By the early 1990s, he was also a key actor in pushing through reforms that opened the country’s economy, reversing decades of domestic-focused Socialist policy championed by Jawaharlal Nehru.

Although a leading proponent of economic liberalization during the 1990s, Ramesh has recently become an increasingly outspoken proponent of progressive environmental stands. Today, he is seen as one of India’s foremost ‘technocrats’.

During his years as environment minister (2009-11), Ramesh was credited with significantly strengthening what was widely seen as an ailing ministry. Among his most notable decisions in that post included the refusal to allow Vedanta Resources, a large British firm, to mine bauxite in Orissa; and the refusal to allow Indian farmers to begin growing genetically modified eggplant.

Ramesh has continued in a similar vein – relatively progressive and contrarian – following his mid-2011 appointment to head the Ministry of Rural Development, choosing certain high-profile fights in opposing industry interests. In August 2012, for instance, Ramesh publicly suggested that mining be halted for a decade in regions experiencing the worst Maoist unrest – a longtime demand on the part of activists and community leaders, and a proposal made previously by Tribal Affairs Minister Kishore Chandra Deo. Ramesh noted that much of India’s mining was being done without thought being given to concerns over the environment or social inclusion, thus creating resentment among certain sections of society.

In his current position, Ramesh has likewise called on the government of Bihar, for years lauded for its high development figures, to slow down certain high-profile schemes, warning that the Maoist movement could be exacerbated by centralized projects that fail to deliver for the poorest and most marginalized communities.

Official Bio