DDWS Innovation Challenge Grand Finale Awards Technologies for Rural Water and Plastic Waste Management
The Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DDWS), under the Ministry of Jal Shakti, held the Innovation Challenge Grand Finale on June 30, 2026, in New Delhi, to select and award innovative solutions for safe drinking water and plastic waste management in rural India. The event was attended by Union Minister of Jal Shakti Shri C.R Patil, Union Minister of State for Jal Shakti and Railways Shri V. Somanna, Secretary of DDWS Shri Ashok K.K. Meena, Additional Secretary and Mission Director of NJJM Shri Kamal Kishore Soan, Joint Secretary and Mission Director of Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) Ms Aishvarya Singh, senior officials, representatives from IIT Madras, jury members, start-ups, innovators, and finalists.
A total of 348 applications were registered for the challenge, with 90 applications under the Water Innovation Challenge and 66 applications under the Plastic Waste Management Challenge being complete in all respects. Three technologies were selected and awarded in each category by the selection committee chaired by Prof. Ligy Philip from IIT Madras. Under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), the winners were Chembiosens Pvt. Ltd., Jaljyoti Process Pvt. Ltd., and Plastic Surge Industries Pvt. Ltd., focusing on portable water quality testing devices, chemical and bacteriological testing, and field-testing kits to make water quality testing faster, easier, and more reliable at the village level. Under the Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) (SBM-G), the winners were Crosslinx Pvt. Ltd., BiGlyso Pvt. Ltd., and Vigya Crafts Pvt. Ltd., focusing on small-scale plastic waste management, affordable and sustainable processing models, and local technologies for plastic waste management.
The awards were presented by Union Minister Shri C.R Patil, who emphasized that technology must reach people and be easy for communities to use, highlighting the Jal Jeevan Mission's achievement in providing tap water connections to crores of households and the need to ensure water safety. He stressed the importance of affordable, sustainable, and easy-to-deploy solutions for water quality testing by Gram Panchayats, Village Water and Sanitation Committees (VWSCs), Self Help Groups, and local youth. On plastic waste management, he noted the rise in plastic waste in rural areas and the need for village-level or block-level solutions to process waste locally, support circular economy by converting waste into wealth, and create livelihood opportunities for village youth and entrepreneurs, aligning with Aatmanirbhar Bharat and Viksit Bharat visions.
Shri Ashok K.K. Meena, Secretary of DDWS, underscored the critical role of innovation in strengthening the sustainability of rural drinking water supply and sanitation systems, noting that while Jal Jeevan Mission and Swachh Bharat Mission–Grameen have created substantial infrastructure, the next phase must focus on reliable, affordable, and sustainable service delivery through technology-driven solutions. He highlighted that portable water quality testing devices integrated with mobile applications could improve speed, transparency, and reliability of water quality surveillance through real-time data capture, geo-tagging, and rapid reporting. For plastic waste management, he advocated decentralized circular rural economy models to reduce environmental impacts, transportation costs, and create livelihood opportunities, emphasizing that technologies must be simple, affordable, durable, and suitable for field conditions for widespread adoption.
The selected technologies will be further examined for their safety, practicality, scalability, and suitability for rural areas, and based on performance, DDWS may explore pilot implementation in selected rural locations. The event included a presentation by IIT Madras on the Innovation Challenge process, selection methodology, evaluation criteria, and the journey of the challenge.