CDS (II) 2022 General Knowledge · Question 52 of 120

Correct — B, Goa. On 9 October 2020 the Ministry of Jal Shakti announced that Goa had 'earned itself the unique distinction of becoming first Har Ghar Jal State in the country as it successfully provides 100% Functional Household Tap Connections in the rural areas covering 2.30 lakh rural households' — 1·65 lakh in North Goa and about 98,000 in South Goa, across 191 gram panchayats. Goa is a small State with a compact settlement pattern and high rainfall, which is why it got there first under the Jal Jeevan Mission. By the time this paper was written in September 2022 Goa had also just become the first Har Ghar Jal certified State, certification being the further step where each village's own gram sabha attests that every household has an assured supply.

• (a)Gujarat — Gujarat was among the strongest performers under the mission and had already reported very high rural coverage, but it did not reach hundred per cent first. It is a much larger State with far more scattered habitations than Goa.
• (c)Delhi — Delhi is a Union Territory with a legislature, not a State, and the Jal Jeevan Mission's household tap connection target is a rural programme; the corresponding urban effort is a separate mission announced later. Delhi is the wrong administrative category for this question.
• (d)Andhra Pradesh — Andhra Pradesh was an early and large-volume performer under the mission but not the first to saturate. The 'first' tag was announced for Goa in October 2020.

The Jal Jeevan Mission, launched on 15 August 2019, restructured the older rural drinking water programme with a single measurable promise: a functional household tap connection to every rural home, delivering a normative 55 litres per person per day of assured, regular, potable supply. Progress is tracked household by household on a public dashboard, and a village is declared Har Ghar Jal only after its gram sabha certifies that every household, school and anganwadi has that connection.

This is a 'first to do it' current affairs item, and those are best remembered with the reason attached rather than as a bare name. Goa is India's smallest State by population after Sikkim, with high rainfall, short distribution runs and only two districts — the easiest possible geography for saturating tap connections, and therefore the least surprising first. The trap in the options is Delhi, which feels like a place where everyone has piped water; but Delhi is a Union Territory and the mission's household-connection count is a rural one. Anchor the fact to its date: October 2020 for the achievement, August 2022 for the certification, and the mission's original 2024 national deadline has since been pushed further out.

• The Jal Jeevan Mission was launched on 15 August 2019 with the goal of a functional household tap connection for every rural household.
• Goa was announced as the first Har Ghar Jal State on 9 October 2020, covering 2·30 lakh rural households across 191 gram panchayats.
• In August 2022 Goa became the first certified Har Ghar Jal State, with Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu the first such Union Territory.
• The mission's service norm is 55 litres per capita per day of assured potable supply.
• Certification is done by the village's own gram sabha, not by the Centre.

• Reading Delhi as a State; it is a Union Territory with a legislature, and the mission's connection counts are rural.
• Confusing the 2020 announcement of 100 per cent coverage with the 2022 certification — both name Goa, but they are different milestones.
• Assuming the largest or best-known State must be first; in saturation targets, small and compact wins.

As a 'which State was first' item, or as a statements item on the Jal Jeevan Mission's launch year, norm and target.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Jal Jeevan Mission provides for a normative supply of how much water per person per day to rural households?

  • (a)25 litres
  • (b)40 litres
  • (c)55 litres
  • (d)70 litres

  Answer(c) 55 litres — the mission's service norm is 55 litres per capita per day of assured potable supply.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Under the Jal Jeevan Mission, a village is declared 'Har Ghar Jal' after certification by

  • (a)the district collector
  • (b)the gram sabha
  • (c)the State public health engineering department
  • (d)the Ministry of Jal Shakti

  Answer(b) the gram sabha — the village assembly itself certifies that every household has an assured tap supply.