A total of 213 proposals from various Indian tech start-ups, MSMEs and Indian companies have been received for National Jal Jeevan Mission's Grand ICT Challenge in partnership with the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY). 

 

ICT Grand Challenge is focused to create innovative, modular and cost-effective solutions to develop ‘Smart Water Supply Measurement and Monitoring System’ to be deployed at the village level in India.

 

This grand challenge will harness the vibrant IoT ecosystems of India for creating smart rural water supply eco-system to measure and monitor the service delivery of the water supply in rural areas. This challenge will provide an opportunity to work for the cause of Jal Jeevan Mission and to assure potable water supply through functional household tap connection to every rural household of the country.

 

The Grand challenge will provide support at ideation stage, prototype development stage and deployment stage. The pilot will be conducted in 100 villages and the best solution will get a cash prize of Rs. 50 lakh and runner ups will get prize of Rs. 20 lakh each. The successful developers will be given an opportunity to join the MeitY supported incubator for further nurturing of the solution. This will boost the idea and thrust of initiatives like Atmanirbhar Bharat, Digital India and Make in India.

 

The Union Government’s flagship programme - Jal Jeevan Mission is being implemented in partnership with states for providing Functional Household Tapwater Connection (FHTC) to every rural household by 2024. 

 

The programme focuses on service delivery at the household level i.e. water supply regularly in adequate quantity and of prescribed quality on long-term basis. This necessitates the use of modern technology in systematic monitoring of the programme and to capture service delivery data automatically for ensuring the quality of services.