The Centre has said that 3.77 crore rural households have been provided tap water connections under Jal Jeevan Mission. Ministry of Jal Shakti in a statement said that over seven crore families in rural areas now have an assured tap water connection. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the life changing Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) on 15th August, 2019, with an aim to provide tap water connection in every rural household by 2024. At the time when the Mission was announced, out of 18.93 Crore rural households, only 3.23 Crore had tap water connections and thus, about 15.70 Crore households were to be provided with tap water by 2024.<br />''<br />''The programme directly benefits more than 19 Crore rural families, improving public health. The Ministry said, Goa has become the first state in the country to provide 100 per cent tap water connections followed by Telangana. Different states are competing with each other and focusing on the target to ensure that every household in the country gets safe drinking water. It said, despite COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown, the drinking water supply work continued to provide nearly 1 lakh connections every day. <br />''<br />''<span style="color: #222222;">Jal Jeevan Mission is implemented in partnership with States/UTs. The focus of the programme is to ensure regular water supply in adequate quantities of prescribed quality on a long-term basis. Under the mission, every rural household is to be provided with a functional tap water connection and no one is to be left out.</span><br />