India's water management initiatives a model for developing nations: World Bank official

United Nations: India's water management initiatives have emerged as a model for developing countries, a senior World Bank official said, while lauding the country's efforts to improve access to drinking water, restore rivers, and strengthen dam safety.

Global Director for Water at the World Bank Group Saroj Kumar Jha described India's progress as a "remarkable success story", saying developing nations were looking at its experience for solutions to their water challenges.

"For the World Bank Group, India is a remarkable success story. It's the water journey that every single developing country is looking at," Jha said in response to a PTI question during a virtual press briefing on Friday ahead of the 2026 United Nations Water Conference.


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The conference, co-hosted by the United Arab Emirates and Senegal, will be held in Abu Dhabi from December 8 to 10, bringing together world leaders, policymakers and other stakeholders to strengthen international cooperation on water security and sanitation.

Jha highlighted several Indian initiatives, including the Jal Jeevan Mission, Namami Gange and Swachh Bharat Mission, saying they offered practical solutions that other countries could replicate.

"We are looking at the entire system of water management in India," he said, acknowledging that the country still faced challenges and had considerable work to do.

"What they have done in this field is really remarkable, at the state level and the central government level," he said.

Jha said during his most recent visit to New Delhi and in meetings with Government of India officials, he has encouraged them to use the UN Water Conference as a "platform and to extensively share these experiences with other countries because India has done what other countries are now trying to work on, and India offers the how-to part of the water solution."

He said India had already achieved progress in areas where other developing countries were still working to find solutions.

Highlighting the Jal Jeevan Mission, Jha said: "Reaching 800 million people in less than seven years with access to improved drinking water is remarkable."

He described the scale of India's efforts to improve drinking water access in urban and rural areas as "unprecedented", adding that the programme continued to evolve with greater emphasis on sustainability, operations and maintenance.

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Noting that Nigeria's 'Clean Nigeria' campaign was influenced by India's sanitation initiative 'Swachh Bharat Mission', he said: "What India has done is already spreading to many other countries across the globe, and particularly countries in the South are looking at Jal Jeevan Mission as a good model to replicate with popular participation of people, government-strong leadership, adequate financing at all levels."

On the Namami Gange Programme, he said the initiative had "been remarkably successful" in reducing pollution in the Ganga and improving the river's overall health.

He added that the World Bank had supported the National Mission for Clean Ganga through various financing instruments.

"Rivers are not just rivers; they are part of our civilisation, part of the human system. People depend on these rivers for their livelihood," Jha said.

On dam safety, he said World Bank funding had helped India improve the resilience of nearly 900 dams, while the country had also established centres of excellence to strengthen technical expertise.

Jha also praised India's urban water management efforts, particularly initiatives encouraging creditworthy municipalities to access capital markets to improve services.

Meanwhile, Senior Sustainable Development Officer at the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs Stephanie Rambler said India was "very active" in preparations for the conference.

She said India was expected to send a large high-level government delegation and organise a side event on 'river cities', focusing on water security and resilience.

The conference will feature seven plenary meetings and six interactive dialogues, alongside several special events aimed at accelerating progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 6, which seeks to ensure access to clean water and sanitation for all.