Women Powering India’s Urban Service Delivery
Across India, urban water reform is still imagined through concrete – treatment plants, elevated reservoirs, new distribution lines. Yet the most fragile part of any utility system is rarely the pipe.
Across India, urban water reform is still imagined through concrete – treatment plants, elevated reservoirs, new distribution lines.
Yet the most fragile part of any utility system is rarely the pipe. It is the relationship between the household and the provider: the accuracy of billing, the willingness to pay, the trust in quality, and the credibility of the state.
At first glance, the Jalasathi appears to be a revenue collection mechanism. And in part, SHE is. But to understand the significance of this model, one must look at what problem it was designed to solve.
The intent was twofold, i.e to stabilise revenue collections and maximise service coverage, while creating dignified livelihood opportunities for women; but its significance lies in how these objectives intersect.
Odisha’s Jalasathi initiative represents a significant structural reconfiguration of the citizen–utility interface within the state’s urban water supply system. Rooted in the mobilisation of women’s Self-Help Groups nurtured under the Mission Shakti movement, the programme integrates their participation within the broader institutional framework of the National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM).
Launched in December 2019, the initiative currently spans over 109 urban local governments across Odisha with over 700 Jalasathis deployed in cities and towns. Thus, what appears administratively modest is, in effect, a redesign of how the state reaches households.
The Jalasathi functions as a critical intermediary bridging the gap between the community and the public service. Formally embedded within the ward structure, she is equipped with identity cards, uniforms, and handheld mPoS devices for digital payment collection.
Trained in meter reading, bill distribution, water connection reassessment, database updating, and field-level water quality testing, her role extends beyond symbolic community outreach. Instead, it encompasses revenue stabilization, data accuracy enhancement, service delivery, and the cultivation of trust between the public utility and residents.
Notably, the Jalasathi’s role aligns fiscal discipline, service delivery, and livelihood generation. She earns a commission of 7.5% on machine-based collections, 5% on online deposits, Rs 1,000 for achieving designated household-level water quality testing targets, Rs 100 for each new domestic water connection mobilised, and Rs 100 for every sewerage connection facilitated. This performance-based remuneration structure directly links service expansion and compliance to her income, incentivizing proactive engagement rather than mere attendance.
Consequently, the more effectively she expands the revenue base and enhances compliance, the greater her income, creating a dynamic in which the state’s fiscal health and her financial well-being are mutually reinforcing.
One Jalasathi recalls that her early visits were often met with hesitation. Residents questioned digital payments and billing revisions, unsure whether the process could be trusted.
She returned repeatedly, demonstrating transactions and patiently explaining receipts until familiarity replaced suspicion.
Over time, households that were once wary began calling her themselves when bills were generated or connections required updating, i.e- trust, she reflects, built gradually through everyday interaction.
What started as a contractual assignment evolved into financial stability and a stronger sense of agency within her community. Today, she speaks of the role not simply as employment but as identity, adding with quiet conviction that she hopes never to see this work come to an end nor wishes to retire ever.
The comment, offered informally, reflects a deeper shift: sustained frontline engagement has positioned her as a credible governance actor within the community. Through routine interaction and problem-solving, she has come to embody a form of everyday state presence, someone who is trusted, accessible and locally accountable in ways formal institutions often struggle to achieve.
The model points to broader institutional possibilities. As municipal administrations digitise revenue systems and traditional tax-collection roles evolve, community-embedded cadres capable of managing digital transactions and citizen engagement will become increasingly relevant. Expanding such roles into unified municipal revenue systems thus integrating water charges with property tax and other local dues could strengthen city finances while deepening women’s economic participation. Organisations such as Janaagraha have consistently advocated for integrated revenue frameworks that streamline taxation, improve compliance and enhance fiscal transparency. Embedding trained cadres like Jalasathis within such systems could create a more coherent local revenue architecture, formalising women’s participation in core municipal governance rather than limiting them to peripheral service roles.
Thus, if cities are to become financially resilient and socially responsive, reform must continue to recognise, and even secure, the frontline actors who quietly hold these systems together. To say, Odisha has invested in the human architecture that keeps public services functional and makes it accessible to the last mile.
Similarly across Indian cities, women cadres have begun to emerge alongside Jalasathis, signalling a broader reimagining of how urban governance connects with citizens. In Assam, for example, the Guwahati Municipal Corporation launched the Pouro Sakhi 2.0 initiative, engaging over 100 women from Self-Help Groups as municipal outreach agents across city wards. These Pouro Sakhis are trained to assist residents with accessing civic services, filing grievances, navigating digital facilities and facilitating doorstep payments like property tax, roles that situate them as intermediaries between citizens and the municipal corporation itself.
Whether as Jalasathis managing municipal water ecosystems or Pouro Sakhis facilitating municipal access, these women occupy the space where urban policy meets lived reality.
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