“To ensure effective implementation of policies addressing water, sanitation and hygiene needs the identification of the beneficiary segments is to be synchronized with the anticipated outcomes.” Examine the statement in the context of the WASH scheme. (Answer in 150 words)

WASH combines safe water, sanitation and hygiene, whose benefits are behavioural and public-health outcomes rather than merely created infrastructure.

• Mapping households, schools, anganwadis, health facilities and vulnerable habitations aligns resources with exposure and service gaps.
• Baseline data must distinguish access, reliability, quality, usage, menstrual hygiene and faecal-sludge management.
• Outcomes such as reduced diarrhoea, open defecation and contamination require community ownership, not only toilet construction.

Converge Jal Jeevan Mission, Swachh Bharat, nutrition and health workers; use Gram Panchayat plans, water-quality testing and social audits. Disaggregate monitoring by gender, caste, disability, remoteness and poverty. Fund operation and maintenance, behaviour-change communication and local water committees. Independent outcome verification should release incentives, while grievance systems correct exclusion.

WASH; last-mile delivery; convergence; behaviour change; equity; outcome monitoring.