The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) recognises the inherent dignity and the equal and inalienable rights of all human beings. There are certain basic needs that are essential for a dignified life. Water and sanitation are two of these essential human needs and a clean environment is also increasingly recognised as a fundamental human right. Besides, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) which came into force in 1976 also calls upon states to take "legislative, administrative and other action progressively" to ensure that "every human being within its jurisdiction’ has access to adequate water", "to the maximum of its available resources" (Article 2 of ICESCR). Millennium Development Goal (MDG) Clause Seven titled “Ensuring Environmental Sustainability” also reaffirms these basic human rights and requires all member countries of UN to provide ‘safe’ and ‘sustainable’ drinking water as well as basic sanitation to all the populations. The Constitution of India recognises “the Right to Life with Dignity” in Article 21. This particular article has extended the domain of human rights to pollution free water and air in various Supreme Court judgements, viz. MC Meheta vs Union of India, AIR 1987 SC 1087 and BL Wadhera vs Union of India, AIR 1996, SC 2969. Besides, the Directive Principle of State Policy also enjoins the ‘state’ to take necessary positive action to mobilise material resources for the common good (Art.39,Clause b) and also authorises the Panchayati Raj system to implement programmes for ensuring drinking water and sanitation in the 11th and 12th Schedule of the Constitution.
Notwithstanding all the necessary legal and constitutional mandates, UNICEF data suggests that almost 17 percent of the world's population lacks access to improved water services and about 40 percent lacks adequate sanitation (Progress for Children, UNICEF, December 2007). The South Asian region is considered to have the worst indicators, at par with sub-Saharan Africa.
India’s endeavour to provide safe drinking water and basic sanitation to every habitat in rural areas has been administered through two Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) viz., Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme (ARWSP) and the Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC). Taking the importance of the schemes into consideration, the central government created a separate department—the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DDWS)— under the Ministry of Rural Development in 1999, whose principal mandate is to implement and supervise these two schemes.