CONCEPT – SWACHH BHARAT ABHIYAAN

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 CONCEPT – SWACHH BHARAT ABHIYAAN

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• Philosophy and Background

1. "A clean India would be the best tribute India could pay to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150 birth anniversary in 2019," said the PM when he launched the Swachh Bharat Mission in New Delhi. 
2. On 2nd October 2014, Swachh Bharat Mission was launched throughout India as a national movement. The campaign aims to achieve the vision of a 'Clean India' by 2nd October 2019.
3. SBM is the most significant cleanliness campaign by the Government of India, trying to align the people to fulfil Mahatma Gandhi's dream of a clean and hygienic India. 
4. The SBM will simultaneously address the health problems that roughly half of the Indians families have to deal with due to lack of proper toilets in their homes.
5. The mission will also contribute to India reaching Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6) 2030, established by the UN in 2015 which states - "By 2030, achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all, and end open defecation, paying especial attention to the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations".

• Sanitation as a Concept

1. Safe sanitation means promotion of safe disposal of human excreta, right use of toilet and avoiding open defecation as well as management of solid and liquid waste. 
2. Poor sanitation is a primary cause for many deadly diseases, deaths among children under age five, contamination of ground water sources, loss of family income on account of increased health costs, and compromised human dignity. 
3. In managing safe sanitation at each level - household, community, and governments, understanding impacts of poor sanitation, contribution of all key stakeholders including communities, implementation of safe sanitation processes is considered crucial.
4. Impact on health - Exposure to contaminated drinking water sources and food with pathogen-laden human waste is a major cause of diarrhoea, and can be affected by cholera, trachoma, intestinal worms, malaria, ascariasis, etc. 
5. WHO observed that one gram of faeces can contain 10,000,000 viruses, 1,000,000 bacteria, 1,000 parasite cysts and 100 parasite eggs. Open and untreated human excreta can interact with food through soil, water and crops unless this fecal-oral route is broken through adopting safe sanitation and hygiene practices.

• Rural Sanitation
• Objectives of SBM Rural

1. In Rural India, this Mission would mean improving the levels of cleanliness through Solid and Liquid Waste Management activities and making villages Open Defecation Free (ODF), clean and sanitised.
2. The aim of Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) is to achieve a clean and Open Defecation Free (ODF) India by 2nd October, 2019
3. Constructing 90 million toilets in rural India at a projected cost of ?1.96 lakh crore (US$30 billion). 

• History of Rural Sanitation in India

1. The rural sanitation programme in Indiawas introduced in the year 1954 as a part ofthe First Five Year Plan of the Government ofIndia. 
2. The 1981 Census revealed ruralsanitation coverage was only 1%. The United Nations International Decade for Drinking water and Sanitation during 1981-90 begangiving emphasis on rural sanitation.
3. Government of India introduced the Central Rural Sanitation Programme (CRSP) in 1986 primarily with the objective of improving thequality of life of the rural people and also toprovide privacy and dignity to women. 
4. From1999, a "demand driven" approach under the "Total Sanitation Campaign" (TSC) was started.
5. The 'Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan' (NBA), thesuccessor programme of the TSC, waslaunched from 01.04.2012. The objective was toaccelerate the sanitation coverage in the ruralareas so as to comprehensively cover therural community through renewed strategiesand saturation approach. The NBA envisagedcovering the entire community for saturatedoutcomes with a view to create Nirmal GramPanchayats. Under NBA, the incentives forIHHLs were enhanced and further focusedsupport was obtained from MGNREGS.
6. The SBM Rural was commenced from 02 October 2014.

• Urban Sanitation 
• Objectives of SBM Urban

1. Elimination of open defecation
2. Eradication of Manual Scavenging
3. Modern and Scientific Municipal Solid Waste Management
4. To effect behavioral change regarding healthy sanitation practices
5. Generate awareness about sanitation and its linkage with public health
6. Capacity Augmentation for ULBs to create an enabling environment for private sector participation in Capex (capital expenditure) and Opex (operation and maintenance)

• Mission components of SBM Urban

1. Household toilets, including conversion of insanitary latrines into pour-flush latrines
2. Community toilets
3. Public toilets and urinals
4. Solid waste management
5. IEC & Public Awareness
6. Capacity building and Administrative & Office Expenses (A&OE)

• Statistics and numbers

1. 99.2 per cent of rural India has been covered
2. Over 9.5 crore toilets built all over the country
3. 5,64,658 villages have been declared Open Defecation Free (ODF)
4. 30 States/UTs are 100 per cent covered with Individual household Latrine (IHHL)
5. SBM has significantly improved health outcomes - helpedreduce diarrhea and malaria among childrenbelow five years, still birth and low birth weight (new born with weight less than 2.5 kgs).
6. ODF village significantly increased - As on 29.05.2019, 5,61,014 villages (93.41 per cent), 2,48,847 Gram Panchyats (96.20 per cent)- 6,091 blocks (88.60 per cent) and 618 districts (88.41 per cent) have been declared ODF.
7. Many states have undertaken activities such as construction of waste collection centres, menstrual hygiene management activities, installation of bi-gas plants, construction of compost pits, installation of dustbins, system for collection, segregation and disposal of garbage, construction of drainage facility and leach pits and construction of soak pits and stabilization ponds.
8. Many States have achieved the status of 100 per cent ODF and IHHL coverage.

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