Ministry of Jal Shakti has said  that about 45 lakh tap connections have been provided so far in the year 2020-21 under Jal Jeevan Mission amidst COVID-19 pandemic since Unlock-1.<br />''<br />''The Ministry said, thus, daily about one  lakh households are being provided with tap connections. The Ministry in a statement said, in seven months of the launch of the Jal Jeevan Mission – JJM in August last year, around 84.83 lakh rural household have been  provided with tap connections. It said, for ensuring transparency, every asset created is being geo-tagged and connections are being linked with the 'Aadhar' of the 'head of the household.<br />''<br />''The Ministry of Jal Shakti has been implementing the  Mission  in partnership with the States with an aim to provide potable water in adequate quantity  on regular and long-term basis through tap connections to every rural household in the country by 2024.<br />''<br />''The Ministry said, there are 19.04 Crore rural households in the country, out of which 3.23 Crore households are already provided tap connections. It said, remaining 15.81 Crore households are to be provided with tap connections. With this goal in mind, States are working hard to provide tap connection to every rural household. In this endeavour, States like Bihar, Telangana, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh are  leading  with excellent performance.<br />''<span style="color: #222222;"><br />'' The Ministry said, in 2020-21, a sum of 23 thousand 500 Crore rupees has been allocated for the implementation of JJM. At present, more than  8 thousand crore rupees  of Central fund is available with the States and UTs for the implementation of the Mission. The Ministry said, special focus is given to the districts affected with Japanese Encephalitis or  Acute Encephalitis Syndrome  which is one of the reasons behind infant mortality in the affected districts. <br />''<br />''It  said, as on date, over three Crore households are there in 61 JE/ AES endemic districts of Assam, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. Out of this, 27.32 lakh households have functional household tap connections and remaining 2.74 crore households are to be provided with tap connections  under the mission.</span><br />