"It gives me great pleasure to be here with you today when you are discussing an area of deepest concern to our government in ensuring that the basic needs of our people are met and met adequately. I compliment the Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission for organising this very important Conference. I need not emphasise how important your work is for the welfare of millions and millions of our people living in rural India. Very simply, water is the essence of life. No civilized society can tolerate millions of its people being deprived of assured, clean drinking water and proper sanitation.

A recent comprehensive survey of national opinion revealed the centrality of access to drinking water for our people. When asked what would make respondents proud of India, a staggering 73 per cent said that availability of safe drinking water to all our people would truly make them proud of being an Indian. No democratic government can ignore this basic demand. Therefore, our government's flagship programme, Bharat Nirman, has made availability of safe drinking water to every single habitation, a key component of the agenda to be delivered in the next four years. I am very happy that you and the Ministry of Rural Development under the leadership of my esteemed friend and colleague, Dr. Raghuvansh Prasad Singh are working together to ensure completion of this agenda effectively, sincerely on time.

This year, our government has increased investments in this sector by about 40% over last year, raising it from Rs.2,900 crores last year to Rs. 4,050 crores in 2005-06. We are committed to sustaining this level of investment over the next few years. The agenda and the goals are simple. We must ensure that the 'uncovered' 55,067 habitations are indeed provided with water supply at the earliest. Second, we must effectively address the problem of the 2.8 lakh habitations which have slipped out of full coverage for a variety of reasons. Third, we have over 2 lakh habitations that are affected by a variety of problems flowing from poor quality of water that is in fact supplied. These include excess fluoride, excess salinity, excess iron and so on. Under Bharat Nirman, we have a programme for our nation, which will address all these issues comprehensively.

Today, our system remains woefully inadequate to meet demand for safe and guaranteed drinking water. It is not that we have not thought of the provision of safe drinking water as a priority item for our development. Indeed, I have been associated with the planning process in one way or the other for last 30 years. I was part of the process which led to the adoption of sixth and seventh Five Year Plans and yet, the honest truth is, despite all these efforts over successive plans the goal of provision of safe drinking water has proved difficult of attainment. So we must reflect as to what has been wrong with our past approaches, if we are this time to deal and we must deal with this problem effectively. As I see it, an important criticism of our water infrastructure is that its growth has not been accompanied by an improvement in the quality of governance of water services in our country. Development analysts have criticised our water sector policy as one of 'build - neglect and rebuild.' We have also ignored the management of environmental resources within which the security of safe and assured water supply is embedded. This requires comprehensive reforms in governance. In other words, we must 'not merely fix pipes, but also fix institutions that fix pipes'.

Therefore, we must work together to tackle the problem of water supply, taking into account two linkages. These are the linkages with environment management and the linkages with our health care system. Sustainability and re-charging of safe water sources necessitates better management of groundwater, since much of the infrastructure built so far depends on groundwater. We must also address the linkage between water supply and the state of our public health. Water-borne diseases are among the most significant causes of morbidity and ill health in our country. Delivery of improved and safe water and hygiene will, therefore, ensure better health indices. Both linkages will be effectively addressed through decentralised participatory management. I believe that is the direction in which this sector is moving and must move fast enough.

Today, the water supply sector is moving away from an infrastructure creation approach phase to a consolidation phase. We still need to make substantial investments to upgrade infrastructure for provision of water. However, it is also important to develop institutional arrangements for sustainable management of water supply through local institutions particularly the panchayat system. The responsibility for water supply must shift towards civic institutions. Elsewhere in the developed world it is the primary mandate of such institutions, and we should also learn from the success of this model.

I would therefore draw your attention to five aspects of this agenda that must be addressed on a priority basis. First, we must eliminate the backlog and provide safe water to all remaining habitations which are either uncovered or have slipped back from full coverage. Second, we must address problems of water quality. Third, we should entrust the responsibility of water supply management to local institutions and build their capacity in the management of water supply. Four, we must improve comprehensive management of water supply by strengthening the management of our environment. And lastly, we must mobilise communities to spread awareness of the linkage between good health and safe water supply.

Sanitation is the link between water supply and health. No less a person than Mahatma Gandhi emphasised this as a key goal for our society. Therefore it is a shame that even today our mothers and sisters in much of rural India still lack basic privacy in this day and age. This national disgrace must be addressed urgently. It is not merely an issue of operating a Centrally Sponsored Programme, for which in any case, allocations have nearly doubled over the past year. Fund allocations and your total sanitation campaign are exceedingly important, but they are not enough. This must become a truly people's movement. I am told that a very large part of diseases which our mothers and sisters suffer from in the rural India are very largely because of the lack of adequate sanitation and also because even till this day we don't have system of latrines capable of meeting the needs of sanitation. In tandem with this, we must ensure that Government's supportive programmes are as flexible as possible. Sanitation is not a civil engineering activity alone. It is about changing attitudes and mindsets. In the absence of the latter, merely spending money is of limited utility. There is no country in the world where sanitation has been provided mainly through government investment. Most often, sanitation is based on people's investment in changing attitudes and perceptions of hygiene. It is, therefore, as much a battle for the mind, and a battle to change social attitudes.

With this perspective, I see a major role for panchayats and local institutions in implementing this changes. After all, it is through social mobilisation that our total sanitation can be truly and effectively implemented. I urge our State governments to take this up not just as a public health engineering issue, but as a challenge to our panchayats, for our educational institutions and campaigns for the empowerment of our women.

I conclude by urging all of you once again to personally lead the movement in your state for meeting this vital goal of Bharat Nirman. I also request you to lead the total sanitation campaign by making it a collective, national agenda. Both of these are targets, which can be reached by you in your political tenures. These are programmes backed by adequate availability of Central funds. I assure you funds will not be the constraint on the successful implementation of these vital programmes. But what is required is a call for leadership and renewed commitment. I am confident that you have both and in this room we have representatives who will willingly take up this responsibility energetically. I wish you all success in your noble efforts."