Jal Shakti Ministry unveils policy to boost rural drinking water data governance

New Delhi, Aug 20 (PTI): The Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation under the Jal Shakti Ministry on Thursday issued a policy on data sharing, interoperability and stakeholder access under the Sujalam Bharat Digital Public Infrastructure, seeking to establish a secure and accountable framework for sharing and governing rural drinking water data.
The policy provides for governed and interoperable data exchange among the department, states and Union Territories, gram panchayats, government organisations and authorised sectoral stakeholders, the ministry said.
It is aimed at strengthening panchayat-centric governance, citizen participation, grievance redressal, participatory asset monitoring and accountability in the rural drinking water sector.
The ministry said the policy marks an important step in the evolution of India’s rural drinking water sector from infrastructure creation towards accountable and service-oriented delivery.
Under approved and purpose-based access mechanisms, stakeholders will be able to develop solutions for operation and maintenance, water-quality monitoring, infrastructure management, predictive maintenance and geospatial planning.
The framework will also facilitate applications involving digital twins, artificial intelligence-enabled analytics and decision-support systems, enabling stakeholders to use data for improving planning and management of rural water supply systems. The policy incorporates provisions on privacy, personal data protection, cybersecurity, data classification, access governance and public-interest safeguards, recognising the importance of trust in digital ecosystems, the ministry said.
It adopts a tiered data-access framework to ensure secure, responsible and purpose-limited use of information while protecting sensitive infrastructure and personal data.
The policy also positions Sujalam Bharat as a long-term public digital infrastructure for rural water utility governance, with the objective of supporting transparency, innovation, operational efficiency and sustainable service delivery, the ministry said.
It also said the policy will help create a trusted digital foundation for rural drinking water governance and strengthen the delivery of reliable, sustainable and accountable water services to rural communities.