Jal Jivan Mission Professor Chair
The chair is established with the support of the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation. The establishment of this Faculty Chair is expected to carry out high quality empirical and applied research in rural drinking water and sanitation sector to address sectoral challenges and facilitate the achievement of 'Har Ghar, Jal' and 'ODF Plus' in rural India.
Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), launched by the Hon'ble Prime Minister of India on 15th August, 2019 from the ramparts of the Red Fort, aims to enable every rural household to have Functional Household Tap Connection (FHTC) by 2024. It is envisaged that with FHTC, each household will have potable water supply in adequate quantity (at least 55 lpcd) of prescribed quality (as per BIS 10500:2012) on a regular and long-term basis. National Jal Jeevan Mission (NJJM), Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Government of India is responsible for, inter alia, implementation of JJM across the country, provide policy guidance, and build partnerships with State Governments to achieve the goals of JJM which is currently under implementation. Alongside, the Government of India has approved Phase II of Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) in February 2020 to sustain the Open Defecation Free (ODF) status of villages and to improve the levels of cleanliness in rural areas through solid and liquid waste management activities, making villages ODF Plus.
Current Occupant
Prof. Amit Mitra
Prof. Amit Mitra, Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. He holds both an M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Statistics from IIT Kanpur, completing his doctoral research in 1996 under the supervision of Prof. Debasis Kundu. His core research interests include statistical signal processing, data mining of financial and economic time series, and parameter estimation of non-linear time series models. Before joining IIT Kanpur in a full-time academic capacity, Prof. Mitra served in key roles at the Reserve Bank of India, where he worked in the Department of Statistical Analysis and Computer Services as Research Officer and later Assistant Advisor. He has also taught at IIT Bombay and held international research appointments, including a post-doctoral position at Uppsala University, Sweden.
With a rich career spanning academia, research, and policy-oriented roles, Prof. Mitra has earned several accolades such as the Distinguished Teacher Award at IIT Kanpur (2010), the M.N. Murthy Award by ISI for applied statistical research, and national-level fellowships. His work continues to influence applied statistics, econometrics, and machine learning applications.