Expo 2020 Dubai: All of rural India will have tap water by Dec. 2024, says minister

Expo 2020 Dubai: All of rural India will have tap water by Dec. 2024, says minister

Country keen to learn smart agriculture technologies to reduce water usage

Published: Wed 23 Mar 2022, 6:45 PM

India is on track to deliver tap water connection to all of rural India by the end of December 2024 and 160 million households will benefit from the Jal Jeevan Mission, India’s minister for water resources said at Expo 2020 on Wednesday.

“Because of the pandemic, everybody thought that this mission was going to fail. But despite the challenges, we were able to provide connection to 16 million households,” Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, India's minister of Jal Shakti, told Khaleej Times in an interview.

The minister who is in Dubai to participate at the Water Week at Expo, also said India is keen to learn from countries like Israel that has adopted smart agriculture technologies to reduce water usage.

“There is no comparison between India and Dubai. But at Expo where representatives from various countries and stakeholders that have done remarkably well in the field of water conservation, it is an opportunity to learn,” said the minister adding that the world can also learn from India’s example.

India - the second most populous country in the world - has only four per cent of the total fresh water resources