Dr. P L Kaul
Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) or Clean India Mission has become success story not only in our country, but in the whole World and everyone is talking about this movement, says Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his monthly radio talk, ‘Mann Ki Batt’. Cleanliness /sanitation is a right which any citizen needs to exercise and SBM is all set to give this right back to citizen. Gandhiji said , so long as you do not take the broom and bucket in your hands, you cannot make your city/town clean. The problem of open defecation was long recognised as a sanitation concern in India and abroad. However, it is first time that Prime Minister Narendra Modiji’s Govt initiated such concerted efforts to eliminate this problem of open defecation. Mahatma Gandhi ,the father of Nation gave the mantra “,Cleanliness is Godliness” and our Prime Minister Narendra Modi inspired by Gandhiji, launched the Swachh Bharat Mission on October 2,2014, on the occasion of Ghandijis birth anniversary at Raj Ghat, New Delhi to achieve universal sanitation so as to improve the quality of life. The Prime Minister set an ambitious goal of eliminating open defecation by the 150th birthday of Mahatma Ghandi on 2nd October, 2019, and this has been made possible mainly due to massive people’s movement or “Jan Andolan” supported by Govt, NGOS, public/private agencies, educational institutes, social activists led by the Prime Minister himself. While launching the country’s biggest ever Cleanliness drive, he asserted that, SBM is beyond politics and inspired by patriotism and said this task is not the responsibility only of safai karmacharis or the Govt ,but of all the 125 crore Indians. The SBM will be written in golden letters in the history of the Nation. From independence till 2014, the maximum no of toilets and public sanitations complexes were constructed under the governance of Prime Minister Modiji in the last 8 years, due to mass movement.
Swachh Bharat mission is claimed to be the World’s largest behaviour change campaign ever attempted in the sector of sanitation. The mission has two components, SBM (Gramin) which is implemented under the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation and the other SBM (Urban) which is implemented by the ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. The mission aims to provide sanitation facilities including toilets to every rural family and to improve /promote solid waste management, creating awareness and bringing about behavioural changes in people towards adopting healthy and sanitation practices and providing safe drinking water. Phase 1 of the mission lasted till 2019 and phase 11(2020 —2025) is being implemented and focuses on sustaining gains of the first phase and improving solid and liquid waste management (SLWM). The Govt has underlined three pronged strategy to make SBM successful.
* Using social messaging, education, and communication to trigger behavioural changes.
* Providing subsidies to vulnerable groups to help them construct latrines.
* Taking broom to sweep the streets, cleaning up the garbage, focussing on sanitation and maintaining hygienic environment.
Keeping up with the momentum of SBM, Prime minister launched the second phase of SBM-urban2.0and Atal mission Rejuvenation and urban transformation (AMRUT), on oct1, 2021. The goal of SBM U2.0 is to make all the cities garbage free and water secure. Making urban local bodies as ODF+,and those with a population of less than 1 lakh as ODF++,thereby achieving vision of safe sanitation. The mission will focus on source segregation of solid waste, utilising principles of 3 R (Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.), reduction in single use Plastic waste and, bio remediation of dumpsites,. New sewerage treatment plants added and, new tap water connections provided (12.7crore) under AMRUT. The out lay of SBM U.2.0 is Rs 1.41lakh Crore. The impact of success of SBM on development, health and sanitation sector has yielded good results, which is evident from some reports and surveys (WHO, UNICEF). Unsafe sanitation was responsible for almost 200 million cases of diarrhoea every year, before the launch of SBM in 2014. These have steadily decreased over the years, with universal use of safe sanitation facilities. . In the last 5 years (2014-2019), India has reached its target of eliminating open defecation and has improved the coverage of toilets in rural India from 39% in 2014 to 100% in 2019 -20). SBM has changed the behaviour of hundreds of millions of people with respect to toilets access and usage. World is amazed that toilets have been provided to more than 600million people in 60 months (5years) and constructing more than 110 million toilets at a projected cost of 1.96 lakh crore. 36 Indian states /UT, 699 districts and 5.99lakh (5, 99,000) villages were declared open defecation free (ODF) by 2019.and in urban areas ,66.9 lakhs individual house hold toilets and 6.42 lakh community and public toilets have been constructed. Making SBM a mass moment across the country Prime Minister, gave a mantra of “Na gandgi Karenge, Na karne denge.”The mission has resulted in an annual profit of Rs 50,000 per house hold in rural India mainly from savings associated with health issues and from sanitation access time savings.
Number of people defecating in open dropped from 550 million to around 150 million within 4 years of campaign. Detol school hygiene programmes in some states have reported 54% increase in the practice of hand washing and reduced diarrhoeal cases by 14%. Number of schools with separate toilets for girls rose from 37% to 91%.Many ODF villages has seen a reduction in the number of deaths due to diseases like diarrhoea, malaria and improvement in child health and nutrition. Further sanitation coverage has led to reduction in incidence of sexual assault against women, besides improved environment, reduced water pollution, increase in property value in having a toilet and personal dignity. Social benefits included physical safety , privacy, comfort and status. Rewarding benefits in the long run would be on tourism, clean technology and foreign direct investment (FDI). Going by example of Singapore which under took similar cleanliness drive from 1977 to 1987, it helped Singapore to attract FDI, which transformed it from developing to developed nation. We are sure that SBM will do similar wonders for India. Lauding India’s programme towards becoming ODF country, Prime Minister has said, that had programme like SBM been launched 70 years before India would have become a disease free country buy now. Moving towards an ODF status, is the country’s biggest achievement in the health sector.ODF India means Healthier India.
The Global Recognition of SBM can be seen in the fact that Ministry of drinking water and sanitation under an able Leader ship of Prime Minister Narendra Modiji organised World’s biggest ever Convention on sanitation from 29th sep to 2nd Oct, 2018, in New Delhi to mark the Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary. The event culminated with the signing of Delhi Declaration’ by the Prime Minister and the United Nations Secretary General, delegates and participating ministers of sanitation, reaffirming their commitment to eradicating open defecation and providing access to safe sanitation for all. Recognising Prime Minister Modjis’commitment for his initiatives towards cleaner and greener World, including his unprecedented pledge to eliminate all single use plastic in India by 2022, United Nations has bestowed him with ‘Champions of the Earth Award’ 2018, considered to be the highest Environmental Honour, which is a matter of great pride for every Indian. The title is also shared by Emmanuel Macron President of France. Gates Foundation Award to Prime Minister is seen as a big boost to Swachh Bharat Mission. . Prime Minister Narendra Modi received the 2019 Goal keeper Award for Swachh Bharat Mission from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in New York and said that the SBM can serve as a model for other countries around the World. The Prime Minister dedicated this award to 130 crore Indians for transforming SBM into a mass movement.
(The author is State Convenor Swachh Bharat Mission, UT, J&K)
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