New Delhi, Sep 1 (IANS): Undertaking the IoT-based monitoring of drinking water quantity and quality in rural drinking water systems in different parts of the country is one of the eight proposals for R&D along with six other proposals for innovation considered for listing by the technical committee of the Jal Shakti Ministry.

These 14 proposals would now be considered for listing in the Innovation Portal of the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation under the Ministry of Jal Shakti.

"These recommendations would help the states/UTs use these technologies depending on their requirement and suitability," a release from the Jal Shakti Ministry said on Tuesday.

The technical committee considered six innovation proposals and eight R&D proposals at its fourth meeting held on August 27. The IoT-based (Internet of Things-based) proposal was presented by different CSIR labs coming together as partners, the release said.

Since August 2019, the government of India is implementing Jal Jeevan Mission in partnership with states to make provision of tap water supply to every rural home of the country by 2024. To assist the implementation agencies, a Technical Committee under the chairmanship of Principal Scientific Advisor to Government of India has been constituted under Jal Jeevan Mission to identify new technologies and select high end R&D proposals for funding.

The Committee has representatives from scientific departments of the Government of India, the various IITs, state governments, NITI Aayog, NGOs and even UNICEF.

The Committee was set up in October 2019 and despite CoVid-19 pandemic and other constraints, the Committee has met four times so far. It considered 114 innovative technologies and 84 R&D proposals and has accepted 10 innovative technologies and two R&D proposals for funding, it said.

The National Jal Jeevan Mission has two separate portals each for recognition of innovations and funding R&D proposals in drinking water and sanitation sector. Companies/ technology service providers desirous of getting their innovation accepted by the Committee can upload them in the innovation portal.

Similarly, R&D proposals from young innovators, researchers, academia, entrepreneurs, start-ups working in this sector including action research proposals for adopting evidence-based technical intervention to manage rural water supply efficiently, effectively, and economically can be uploaded in the R&D portal of the mission.