Hon’ble President of India Smt. Droupadi Murmu to confer the First Jal Sanchay Jan Bhagidari (JSJB) Awards on 18th November 2025
Hon’ble President of India Smt. Droupadi Murmu to confer the First Jal Sanchay Jan Bhagidari (JSJB) Awards on 18th November 2025
The Ministry of Jal Shakti today announced the awards for outstanding performers under the Jal Sanchay Jan Bhagidari 1.0 (JSJB) initiative, a flagship community-driven program under the Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain (JSA: CTR) campaign.
The awards for the year 2025 will be conferred by the Hon’ble President of India, along with the 6th National Water Awards 2025, at a ceremony scheduled for 18th November 2025 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.
Inspired by the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision of Jan Shakti for Jal Shakti, the Jal Sanchay Jan Bhagidari (JSJB) initiative was launched on 6th September 2024 at Surat, Gujarat.
The initiative, guided by a Whole-of-Government and Whole-of-Society approach, promotes participatory stewardship and sustainable water governance at the grassroots level. Driven by the 3Cs mantra—Community, CSR, and Cost—it adopts an inclusive model that promotes long-term water security and resilience against water stress.
Under this initiative, States, divided into five zones, are encouraged to construct a minimum of 10,000 artificial recharge and storage structures. This target is 3,000 for the districts in North-Eastern and Hilly States, while it is 10,000 for Municipal Corporations nationwide. The structures include those for rooftop rainwater harvesting, as well as the rejuvenation of lakes, ponds, and stepwells.
To strengthen urban water conservation efforts, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs partnered with the Ministry of Jal Shakti. Through this collaboration, Urban Local Bodies are motivated to construct at least 2,000 recharge structures each.
A total of 100 awards have been announced this year. These include three top-performing states, 67 Districts, six municipal corporations, one urban local body (ULB), two partner ministries/Departments, two industries, three NGOs, two philanthropists, and 14 nodal officers (list attached). Award winners were selected based on verified data uploaded on the JSJB portal.
The Government of India is incentivising the awardees for exceptional progress in the construction, rejuvenation, and maintenance of artificial groundwater recharge structures such as borewell recharge systems and rooftop rainwater harvesting units. Against a target of 10 lakh structures, 27.6 lakh structures were reported within the timeline.
The top-performing districts are being awarded Rs. 2 crore each in Category 1. Districts in Categories 2 and 3 are being awarded Rs. 1 crore each and Rs. 25 lakh each, respectively. Others are also being recognised. Each award also includes a citation signed by the Secretary, Department of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation.
The Jal Sanchay Jan Bhagidari (JSJB) initiative has led to the emergence of diverse, scalable, and replicable models for artificial groundwater recharge through community participation and convergence of resources.