Governments have always used statistics to showcase their achievements. But when official numbers begin to substitute for lived reality, development can start looking more like propaganda than governance.
The Modi government has built much of its political narrative around spectacular claims – from Achche Din and Viksit Bharat to India’s emergence as an economic powerhouse and the rapid expansion of basic amenities through flagship welfare schemes.However, across countryside, the picture is often far less impressive.
The Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) is perhaps one of the clearest examples. Launched in August 2019, the programme promised to provide every rural household with a functional tap connection by 2024.Themission was meant to end the daily ordeal of millions of rural families,particularly women,who spend hours collecting water from the far-flung areas andensuring adequate quantities of safe drinking water on a regular and sustainable basis.
The official figures suggest remarkable progress. The Ministry of Jal Shakti says more than 15.8 crore rural households have been provided tap connections, taking coverage from just 16.7 per cent in 2019 to more than 80 per cent.But a tap connection is not the same thing as a dependable water supply.
That distinction lies at the heart of the growing disconnect between the government’s statistical narrative and the experience of rural households.In thousands of villages, taps have been installed, pipelines laid and schemes recorded as completed or substantially progressed. Butwater remains irregular, seasonal or unavailable altogether.
The Politics of Big Claim
The problem is not confined to the JJM. It is part of a broader political culture in which spectacular claims are repeatedly made and celebrated before the underlying reality has caught up.This tendency inevitably invites comparisons with the propaganda politics of authoritarian regimes, including Nazi Germany, where the state machinery was used to project an image of national success, strength and transformation while inconvenient realities were suppressed or marginalised.
India today is a constitutional democracy with a free press, opposition parties, an independent judiciary and a fundamentally different political system. The comparison, therefore, should not be understood as equating present-day India with Nazi Germany. Rather, it is a warning about the political danger of confusing government publicity with ground reality.
The government’s repeated claims about India’s economic rise provide another example.On May 27, 2025,Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in Gandhinagar that India hadbecome the fourth-largest economy of the world.”But on August 11, 2026, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, described India as the world’s sixth-largest economy, according toCongress leader Jairam Ramesh.The episode illustrates a larger problem: when political messaging races ahead of verifiable reality, the credibility of the entire development narrative suffers.
The same question must therefore be asked of JJM: How many taps have actually delivered water?
A Tap on the Wall is Not Water Security
The JJMwas conceived as far more than a pipe-laying exercise.The official mission vision speaks of providing every rural household with drinking water in adequate quantity and prescribed quality on a regular and long-term basis. It also envisages source sustainability, water conservation, rainwater harvesting, grey-water management and community participation.
The government highlights impressive achievements.According to its figures, more than 15 crore rural households now have tap-water connections, compared with only 3.23 crore when the mission was launched. The government has also highlighted the employment potential of the programme, the training of women in water-quality testing and the health benefits expected from universal access to safely managed drinking water.
The government cites estimates that improved drinking-water access could avert hundreds of thousands of diarrhoeal deaths and millions of disability-adjusted life years. The question is whether infrastructure on paper is being converted into a reliable public service in people’s homes.
The government’s own decision to extend the programme beyond its deadline is significant. The JJM was initially designed to achieve universal rural household tap connections by 2024. The programme has now entered a new phase, with JJM 2.0 and a longer implementation horizon. The Ministry has issued operational guidelines for JJM 2.0 in 2026.The extension itself acknowledges that the task is unfinished.
Maharashtra’s RevealingReality
Maharashtra offers a revealing example.The mission, implemented jointly by the Centre and the state government to provide safe drinking water to rural households, has been hit by funding shortages, implementation delays and allegations of irregularities.
The deadline came and went.According to the report, around 22,000 water-supply schemes in Maharashtra remain incomplete or stalled.For residents, however, statistics mean little when the tap remains dry.Take GhotiBudruk in Nashik district’s Igatpuri taluka.The village is not deprived of basic amenities. It has schools, healthcare facilities, bank branches and even a veterinary hospital. However,residents continue to struggle for adequate water because the water-supply infrastructure under the JJM remains incomplete.“Water is supplied once every six days,” says village secretary Bajirao Dange.
Those who can afford storage tanks manage to survive between supplies. Poor families, lacking adequate storage facilities, face the greatest hardship.This is not an isolated story.
In several urban centres and surrounding rural areas of Maharashtra, including Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar, Beed and Jalna, residents report receiving piped water only once every several days. In some places, supplies depend on the availability of stored water.A tap that delivers water once in six or ten days may technically satisfy a narrow definition of connection. But for the family depending on it, it does not amount to water security.
The story of Karajgaon in Aurangabaddistrict exposes another weakness.A drinking-water source had been identified, but the pipeline required to connect that source to the village remained incomplete. The consequence was predictable: despite the existence of a sanctioned source, villagers continued to depend on water tankers.Two tankers were reportedly required every day while an existing well struggled to meet the village’s demand.This is the central contradiction of the mission.
Bihar’s Har Ghar Jal Presents Another Dimension
Bihar presents another dimension of the problem.The state does not face the same degree of water scarcity as some drought-prone regions, butthe implementation of the Har Ghar Jal component remains uneven in many places.In Rasoolpur, Allalpatti, Darbhanga, resident Syed Mumtaz Ahmed says the village has connections but no guarantee that water will actually arrive.“Yes, there are connections across the village, but there is no guarantee of water supply. The idea behind the Har Ghar Jal scheme is very good, but its implementation on the ground is not equally effective.”
He says households have been provided with pipes, but the supply is irregular.“People do not even know when the water will be supplied. The government records may show that connections have been provided, but there is no fixed timetable for when water will reach the taps or how long the supply will last.”
Broken Pipes, Leaking Promises
In Bhaitonpatti, Bazitpur, resident Nazrul Islam points to another problem: poor construction and maintenance.“The biggest problem is the way the pipelines are laid. In many places, pipes that are supposed to be buried beneath roads are left at a shallow depth or are not properly covered. When tractors or other heavy vehicles pass over them, the pipes often burst, disrupting the water supply.”
Leakages, he says, are common.“There are also concerns about the quality of the pipes used for household connections. Merely providing a connection does not mean the work is complete; the quality, depth and pressure of the pipelines, as well as their regular maintenance, must also be ensured.”
His complaint goes to the heart of the problem: the construction of infrastructure is only the beginning.Without maintenance, a water scheme can rapidly deteriorate.
‘People don’t Want a Tap Connection Merely on Paper’
At Milkichak in Darbhanga, resident QuamarRehan places the responsibility squarely on implementation and accountability.“The problem is not with the scheme itself but with its implementation at the local level. Har Ghar Jal is a very good scheme, but its biggest challenge is effective implementation on the ground.”
He calls for stronger monitoring of officials and agencies.“Roads are often dug up for laying pipelines, but are not properly restored afterwards.”
Rehan believes accountability is the missing link.“If local officials are held accountable and the quality of work is regularly inspected, the scheme can deliver its intended benefits more effectively. People do not want a tap connection merely on paper; they want regular water to flow from that tap.”
A Village with a Pipeline but No Water
In GaniraTarwara, resident Nur Ali Khan says a tap-water line has been installed but water remains unavailable.“Though the tap water line has been set up, it is without water. For us, the urgent need is to improve the level of underground water, as the whole village depends on it.”
Other residents, including Lakhan Mahto, Udaywan Das and Kameshwar, narrate similar experiences.Their concerns highlight another fundamental problem: a water pipeline cannot manufacture water. Where groundwater is declining, rivers are polluted or local sources are drying up, infrastructure alone cannot guarantee sustainable supply.
This is why the debate over JJMmust move beyond the number of taps installed.The government’s own mission guidelines recognise the importance of functionality.Water schemes require electricity, functioning pumps, sustainable sources, trained personnel, repairs, financing and local institutional capacity.Village committees cannot be expected to maintain sophisticated systems without money and technical support.
When water becomes contaminated, who tests it and who acts?When a complaint is made, how quickly is it resolved?Suchquestions cannot be answered by a dashboard showing the number of household connections.
Access to safe drinking water is a basic human necessity, and millions of families have benefited from expanded infrastructure.But precisely because the programme is important, its shortcomings must not be hidden behind celebratory statistics.
The government’s claim of more than 80 per cent coverage tells only one part of the story. The other part is being told by villagers waiting six days for water, families storing whatever they can, tanker-dependent communities, broken pipelines and households staring at newly installed taps that remain dry.This is where the comparison with propaganda becomes relevant.
The Modi government’s promise of Achche Din remains embedded in the political memory of the country. For millions of rural households, however, good days will not arrive through slogans, dashboards or publicity campaigns.They will arrive when a tap works.When water comes every day.When it is safe to drink.When the pipeline does not burst.When a broken pump is repaired quickly. When a village does not have to wait for a tanker.And when government statistics finally describe what people experience at home.