Swachh Bharat Mission

Swachh Bharat Mission was launched by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 2, 2014 to realize the goal of universal sanitation coverage through coordinated and collective efforts. It is a national level campaign by the Government of India covering 4041 statutory towns to clean the streets, roads and infrastructure across the length and breadth of the country.  The Mission has two major submissions viz., the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) and the Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban), and endeavours to achieve the ambitious goal of total sanitation by the year 2019.  It may be recalled here that the year 2019 carries the significance of coinciding with the 150th Birth of Mahatma Gandhi whose cherished dream was to see India not only free from foreign clutches but also clean and sanitized.

Bringing change in people’s attitudes, mindsets and behaviours towards attaining the clean environment is one of the key objectives of Swacch Bharat Mission. The other major Objectives of Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan are to  construct individual, cluster and community toilets; eliminate or reduce open defecation; establish an independent, accountable mechanism of monitoring latrine use efficiently; manage solid and liquid waste; lay water pipelines in all villages, and ensure water supply to all households; provide access to clean toilets to all to make India open defecation free (ODF); provide toilets, separately for boys and girls in all schools and  to all anganwadis.

The programme is being implemented over a five-year period in 4401 towns. The target of the mission is to cover 1.04 crore households, provide 2.5 lakh community toilets, 2.6 lakh public toilets, and a solid waste management facility in each town. It is noteworthy that community toilets are being built in residential areas where it is not possible to construct individual household toilets. Public toilets have also been planned to be built in designated locations such as tourist places, markets, bus stations, railway stations.

73 cities surveyed for cleanliness have been categorized, based on the marks scored by each of them in the ‘Swachh Survekshan-2016’ survey, results of which were announced recently. 15 cities which scored more than 70% of the total marks out of 2000 were categorized as Leaders. Among them Mysuru city of Karnataka tops the list followed by Chandigarh, Tiruchirapalli, New Delhi Municipal council, Visakhapatnam, Surat, Rajkot, Gangtok, Pimpri Chindwad, Greater Mumbai, Pune, Navi Mumabi, Vadodara, Ahmedabad and Imphal. 20 cities with scores in the range of 60%-70% are declared Aspiring Leaders, those with scores in the range of 50%-60% are the cities which are required to accelerate their efforts and cities which scored below 50% have been named Slow Movers and are expected to work harder to bring further improvement in their conditions.

In rural areas, the focus has been put on augmenting Solid and Liquid Waste Management system activities and making Gram Panchayats Open Defecation Free (ODF), clean and sanitized.  The key goals set for Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) are to  raise the standard and quality  of life in rural areas, inculcating the habits of hygiene and cleanliness amongst the villagers  and totally removing the  prevalent practice of open defecation. It is must to achieve the total coverage of universal sanitation through community participation that people must be motivated to collectively adopt an attitude for cleanliness and sanitation. Panchayati Raj Institutions can play a dominant role in creating momentum for sustainable sanitation drive among the people in rural areas. Panchayati Raj Institutions can be the agents of spreading awareness about cleanliness informing the villagers about significance of health education. The new ecologically viable and environmentally sustainable technologies are being introduced to make Swachh Bharat Mission successful. Technology is being used on a large scale to convert waste into wealth in rural India in the form of bio-fertilizer and different forms of energy under the mission.

“For ensuring hygiene, waste management and sanitation across the nation a “Swachh Bharat Mission” will be launched. This will be our tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th birth anniversary to be celebrated in the year 2019.”

 – Address to the Parliament – June 2014 – President Pranab Mukherjee