NEW DELHI, October 1 — The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) on Thursday rolled out Phase-II of the nationwide awareness and empowerment campaign titled 'Jal Diwali – Water for Women, Women for Water' under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation 2.0 (AMRUT 2.0).
Under the community-driven initiative, over 25,000 women members from Self-Help Groups (SHGs) under Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM) across more than 500 cities are participating in hands-on exposure visits to local Water Treatment Plants (WTPs) and Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) to learn about raw water purification technologies, laboratory quality testing, and distribution systems.
MoHUA leadership underscored that integrating grassroots women as 'Jal Sakhis' and community water monitors reinforces decentralized participatory urban governance, instilling deeper public stewardship over municipal drinking water assets and accelerating wastewater circularity.
The policy framework of AMRUT 2.0 (aimed at 100% universal tap water coverage across all 4,700 statutory towns), the operational convergence between DAY-NULM and municipal water boards, the Jal Shakti Abhiyan, and UN Sustainable Development Goal 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation) are essential themes across UPSC Civil Services (GS-II: Governance & Social Justice) and State Urban Administration examinations.