Gram Panchayat Water Supply and Sanitation Committees in Ropar District of Punjab (India): Rhetoric and Realities Abstract The aim of the study is to make an assessment on rural water supply and management with special focus on Roper district of Punjab (India), because of the drinking water crises due to semi mountain geographical area. Beside the adequate infrastructures provided by Punjab Rural water supply and sanitation project, the management of the water supply and sanitation is less effective and research finds out that the major reason behind was poor technical training provided to Gram Water Supply and Sanitation Committees. Furthermore, the reason was lack of trained man power to motivate rural population and stake holders of this project. The project has also suffered because the implementing agency’s prime motive was to build infrastructure for water supply, giving less importance to participation of community stakeholders of this project. The concept of participation was widely practiced in early 1970s to address the issues of rural population in problems solving mechanism and to provide better results. This paper is a case study of Roper district of Punjab (India). The paper focuses on community participation in water supply and management working alongside with other stake holders and seeks to evaluate the level of participation. Keywords: Rural, Water, Sanitation, Stake holders, Committees, Project, World Bank, Cooperation and Participation Introduction: Government of Punjab was devoted to reform the sector to improve sustainability and appraise of rural water and sanitation services in Punjab. The government of Punjab also committed the decentralization and strengthening the Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRIs). Therefore the government of Punjab started the Punjab Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project and its implementation will be responsible for facilitation, planning, implementation, operation and maintenance of the schemes. The Department of Water Supply and Sanitation (DWSS), Government of Punjab is the nodal agency. The main developmental objectives of this program is to improve the quality of rural water supply and environmental sanitation service delivery, sanitation and hygiene, to achieve sustainability of investments and generate health and income benefits in the State of Punjab by involving Panchayati Raj Institutions and local communities. At the village level for program implementation by Gram Panchayat Water Sanitation Committee (GPWSC) selected by the Gram Sabha working in partnership with the Gram Panchayat. The Gram Panchayat Water Sanitation Committee constituted as a recognized body under section 25 of the Punjab Panchayati Raj Act, 1994.The Sarpanch will be the ex-officio chairperson of the Gram Panchayat Water Sanitation Committee. The Gram Sabha will directly select the remaining members of the Gram Panchayat Water Sanitation Committee. The Gram Panchayat Water Sanitation Committee members will select a Secretary and Treasurer. The Junior Engineer of the District Water Supply Sanitation in-charge of the village will be the technical member cum convenor of the Gram Panchayat Water Sanitation Committee GPWSC. Gram Panchayats / Gram Panchayat Water Sanitation Committee will be responsible for planning, technology selection (type of scheme), procurement (bid invitation, award), construction and operation and maintenance management of all new water schemes and for all intra-village water supply works of multi village water supply schemes. To provide training for technical aspects of the project to GPWSC members was soul