Bharat Nirman, a programme to build rural infrastructure, was launched by the Government of India in 2005. Phase I of the programme was implemented in the period 2005-06 to 2008-09. Phase II is being implemented from 2009-10 to 2011-12.

Bharat Nirman, a programme to build rural infrastructure, was launched by the Government
of India in 2005. Phase I of the programme was implemented in the period 2005-06 to 2008-09.
Phase II is being implemented from 2009-10 to 2011-12. Rural drinking water is one of the six
components of Bharat Nirman. During the Bharat Nirman Phase – I period, 55,067 un-covered and
about 3.31 lakh slipped-back habitations were to be covered with provisions of drinking water
facilities and 2.17 lakh quality-affected habitations were to be addressed for water quality problem.
While prioritizing the addressal of the water quality problem, arsenic and fluoride affected
habitations have been accorded priority followed by iron, salinity, nitrate and other contaminants.
To ensure that habitations once provided with drinking water supply infrastructure do not slip back
and face drinking water problem, sustainability of drinking water sources and systems has been
accorded high priority. To achieve drinking water security at village/ habitation level, conjunctive
use of water i.e. judicious use of rainwater, surface water and ground water is promoted.
To enable the rural community to shoulder responsibility in management, operation and
maintenance of water supply systems at village level, decentralized, demand-driven,
community-managed approach has been adopted. To further strengthen community participation in
the drinking water sector the National Rural Drinking Water Quality Monitoring & Surveillance
programme was launched in February, 2006 under which 5 persons in each Gram Panchayat are to
be trained to carry out regular surveillance of drinking water sources for which 100% financial
assistance including water testing kits, are provided.
Physical Progress:
i) Uncovered habitations: Against 55,067 un-covered habitations to be covered during the
Bharat Nirman period, 54,440 habitations have been covered during Phase-I. During 2009-10, 251
habitations out of 586 targetted habitations were covered . In 2010-11, all the 376 targetted
habitations have been covered. This coverage includes 25 uninhabited/ unpopulated habitations in
Rajasthan and 2 disputed habitations in Uttarakhand. The coverage of 10 habitations in
Lakshadweep is being verified. It is being counted as covered. Thus, no uncovered habitation is left
to be covered. The strategy adopted under the National Rural Drinking Water Programme to ensure
that the rural population gets atleast 40 lpcd (and additional 30 lpcd for cattle in DDP areas) of
potable water from sources lying within the village or nearby.
ii) Quality-affected habitations: More than 85% of the sources in rural drinking water supply
schemes are ground-water based. Under the NRDWP, chemical contaminants which are sought to be
tackled are excess arsenic, fluoride, iron, salinity and nitrate. Except for nitrate, all others occur
naturally. Nitrate occurs in drinking water due to leaching of chemical fertilizers and sewerage. The
strategy of the Department is to prioritize addressing the problems of arsenic and fluoride in
drinking water through alternative surface water sources. The treatment technologies that are
available for removal of excess arsenic and fluoride are still not foolproof in respect of reject
management and operation & maintenance issues. Though a target of 2.17 lakh quality affected
habitations was identified at the beginning of Bharat Nirman, the States submitted an action plan for
covering only 1,95,813 such habitations. As on 1.04.2006, there were 7,067 habitations reported to
be afflicted with arsenic and 29,070 habitations with fluoride contamination. Priority has been given
to address the problems in these habitations. It must be admitted however, that due to expansion of
testing, more areas are getting identified as having problems of quality.
At the beginning of Bharat Nirman period there were 1,04,437 rural habitations affected with
excess iron in drinking water sources. The focus of the Department is to tackle excess iron problem
through aeration based technology or low-cost terra-cotta based filtration technique. States such as
Karnataka and Orissa have already taken up the challenge of tackling this contamination through
low-cost terracotta based filtration technology.
In respect of salinity, 12,425 habitations were having a problem at the beginning of Bharat
Nirman period. Although there are a number of technologies like distillation, ion-exchange,
reversible osmosis , electro-dialysis etc., these being expensive solutions the focus of the Department
is to tackle this problem through dilution of groundwater through artificial recharge of groundwater.
The strategy of the Department to tackle excess nitrate is by improving sanitary conditions.
At the beginning of Bharat Nirman period, 19,387 habitations were afflicted with excess nitrate.
As reported by the States, 3,10,698 quality affected habitations were addressed by sanctioned
projects and of these 50,168 habitations have been fully covered with completed projects to provide
safe water supply during Phase-I. As on 1.4.2009 at the beginning of Bharat Nirman phase-II states
reported that 1,79,999 quality affected habitations were remaining to be covered. Of these during
2009-10, 32,129 and during 2010-11 , 27,107 habitations have been reported as covered.During
2011-12, 10,627 habitations have been reported as covered so far against the 8000 outcome budget
target upto the third quarter. Thus, in all during Bharat Nirman phase-I and II, 1,20,031 quality
affected habitations have been fully covered with completed schemes.