President of India to Confer First Jal Sanchay Jan Bhagidari Awards 2025 on November 18

New Delhi: The Ministry of Jal Shakti has announced the winners of the Jal Sanchay Jan Bhagidari (JSJB) 1.0 Awards, recognising outstanding contributions to water conservation and community-driven groundwater recharge.

The awards will be presented by the President of India, Droupadi Murmu, at a ceremony on 18th November 2025 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, alongside the 6th National Water Awards 2025.

A Vision for Water Security through People’s Participation

Launched on 6th September 2024 in Surat, Gujarat, the JSJB initiative embodies the Prime Minister’s vision of ‘Jan Shakti for Jal Shakti’. It is part of the broader Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain (JSA: CTR) campaign, promoting participatory water management at the grassroots level.

The initiative follows a Whole-of-Government and Whole-of-Society approach and is guided by the 3Cs mantra—Community, CSR, and Cost. By engaging citizens, corporates, and local institutions, JSJB seeks to ensure long-term water security and resilience against water stress across India.

Massive Target Surpassed through Collective Effort

Under the initiative, states and union territories were grouped into five zones, each tasked with constructing a minimum of 10,000 artificial recharge and storage structures. For Northeastern and hilly states, the target was 3,000 structures per district, while municipal corporations nationwide were given a target of 10,000 structures each.

These included rooftop rainwater harvesting systems, rejuvenation of lakes, ponds, and stepwells, and artificial groundwater recharge structures such as borewell recharge systems.

To boost urban water conservation, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs partnered with the Ministry of Jal Shakti, encouraging Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) to construct at least 2,000 recharge structures each. The results far exceeded expectations—27.6 lakh structures were reported completed, against an original target of 10 lakh.

Recognising Excellence across India

A total of 100 awards have been announced under the JSJB initiative for 2025. These include:

3 top-performing States
67 Districts
6 Municipal Corporations
1 Urban Local Body (ULB)
2 Partner Ministries/Departments
2 Industries
3 NGOs
2 Philanthropists
14 Nodal Officers

The winners were selected based on verified data uploaded on the JSJB portal.

Incentives include Rs 2 crore each for top-performing districts in Category 1, Rs 1 crore each in Category 2, and Rs 25 lakh each in Category 3. Every award also carries a citation signed by the secretary of the Department of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation.

A Model for Sustainable Water Management

The Jal Sanchay Jan Bhagidari initiative has become a model for scalable and replicable water conservation across India. By combining community participation with resource convergence, it has helped establish a culture of collective water stewardship—a step forward in securing India’s water future.