People First: How Odisha�S Drink From Tap Mission Quenched Every Thirst

G. Mathi Vathanan . RUPA . English

Every year, scores of people all over the world die from waterborne diseases caused byack of access to clean drinking water.<br><br> In this background and in a country asarge as India, can anyone even think of drinking water directly from a tap? The answer isikely to be a resounding �No�. <br><br> However, one state in India has achieved this seemingly impossible feat�Odisha. From the time when the state was infamous for drought and poverty, it is now providing international standard drinking water toakhs of homes in different parts of the state, with an aim to do so for every household. <br><br> G. Mathi Vathanan, a career bureaucrat, hased the Odisha government�s revolutionary <i>Drink from Tap</i> mission. Pure drinking water is now available round-the-clock in every home in Odisha�s <i>Drink from Tap</i> cities. <br><br> Ground-breaking reforms backed by strong political and administrative commitment have proved that there is no need to privatize if governments have the will to change with a �people first� approach. The success of Odisha�s public water supply management model has been recognized internationally and many other states and cities are now replicating it. <br><br> <i>People First</i> provides a robust blueprint and a step-by-step guide to the much-awarded <i>Drink from Tap</i> initiative.

Categories: Higher Education

About the Author

<b>G. Mathi Vathanan</b> is an IAS officer of the 1994 batch of the Odisha cadre, with a postgraduate degree in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. He iseading the Housing and Urban Development Department of the Government of Odisha as its Additional Chief Secretary. Mathi Vathanan is the architect of the <i>Drink from Tap</i> mission, a globally acclaimed initiative that transformed theives of people by ensuring a 24�7 supply of drinkable tap water to everyone residing within the cities of Odisha. The DNA of success can be attributed to Mathi�s inclusive people-first approach.

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