With reference to 'Water Credit', consider the following statements: Which of the statements given above are correct?

Answer: (c) 1 and 3 Only

Microfinance for water and sanitation, without subsidies — by Water.org.

Statement by statement

1. ✓ CORRECT WaterCredit (by Water.org) gives small loans to poor households to build water connections and toilets.

2. ✗ WRONG It was started by Water.org, a non-profit — not WHO and the World Bank.

3. ✓ CORRECT Loans, not subsidies, let families pay for water access over time.

The idea

A poor family often pays more for water than a rich one: it buys from tankers or loses hours every day fetching it. A tap or a toilet at home is cheaper over time, but the cost must be paid at once. A small loan spreads that cost. That is the whole idea of WaterCredit.

Family cannot pay the connection cost at once → Takes a small loan from a microfinance partner → Gets a tap or toilet at home → Saves time and tanker money → Repays the loan → The same money is lent to the next family

The trap

A global water initiative sounds like a WHO–World Bank project. It is Water.org’s.

Elimination technique

Statement 2 is a parentage claim (“under the aegis of the WHO and the World Bank”). Such claims are usually false in Environment PYQs. Dropping it leaves only option (c).

Also know

A subsidy is spent once; a repaid loan can be used again and again, so the same fund reaches many more families. WaterCredit is run by Water.org, a non-profit, and India is one of its largest programmes. It links to SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation).