Safe drinking water is a basic necessity. Water is a subject of State and rural water supply has been included in the Eleventh Schedule of the Constitution among the subjects that may be entrusted to Panchayats by the States. Considering the magnitude of the problem, the Central Government has been supplementing the efforts of the State Governments through various programme

Government’s major intervention in water sector started in 1972-73 through the Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme (ARWSP) for assisting States/UTs to accelerate the supply of drinking water in ‘problem villages’.