This paper is authored by Abhinav Bishnoi and Govind Saini, final-year law student at Institute of Law, Nirma University.
Purpose and objective of the Swachh Bharat
Mission - Introduction
“One
step towards cleanliness”
The Swachh Bharat Mission
is a countrywide campaign initiated by the Government of India primarily to
eliminate open defecation and to manage solid waste management in order to keep
the country clean was launched in 2014.[1] Earlier in 2009, Nirmal
Bharat Abhiyan was launched by the government of India which did not succeed in
its mission of total sanitation across the country, but the Swachh Bharat
Abhiyan has to date proved its mettle and succeeded in its objective,
furthermore, it was launched in a phase-wise manner, in which the first phase
lasted till October 2019, second and the current phase is between 2021-2025.[2] In the first phase, the
main objective is to make India open defecation free (ODF) through the construction
of toilets. It is estimated that more than 100 million toilets were made,
moreover, along with this, the other main objective is to spread awareness regarding
sanitation practices and eradicating manual scavenging whereas the second phase
aims at improving the quality of solid and liquid waste management and improving
the standards of sanitation workers.[3] This scheme has now been imitated
by many other countries such as Nigeria, Indonesia, Ethiopia etc.
Everyone in the country
has been a part of this movement from school students to women and community
workers and it has taken the form of a people’s movement or Jan Andolan.[4] Which I believe is one of
the reasons behind its success. All levels of the government machinery have
been made accountable for the results for efficient and speedy processes and all
those people who are below the poverty line as of 2013 are required resources
to initiate the work and hence ensure equity in the scheme from the start.[5]
Relevant Programmes
and policies
The Indian public policy
traditionally focuses on providing the water and not about the sanitation and
hygiene service along with it due to the reasons such as lack of funds, limited
accountability, limited capacity and poor management.[6]
The Swachh Bharat Mission
has 2 components. One is SBM-Grameen and the other is SBM-Urban that bought a
lot of changes in India’s sanitation sector.[7] The main objective is to eradicate
the open defecation problem, provide toilets, create awareness about the safe
waste management system and change social behaviour and the importance of
sanitation for the betterment of the public health.[8]
In 2018-19 the Union
government has announced a scheme called Galvanizing Organic Bio-Agro Resources
Dhan (GOBAR-DHAN) and it was aimed to manage and convert the cattle dung into
biogas and bio-CNG, furthermore, SBM-Grameen had this target to create such
awareness and make villages clean, open defecation free and to foster this
waste management system at rural level.[9]
SBM is, without a doubt,
the most essential programme in the rural sanitation sector. The Central
Government has established sanitation regulations and norms, but Gram
Panchayats are responsible for providing sanitary services. The empowerment of
Gram Panchayats has been insufficient in many states, resulting in a governance
deficit in sanitation management.[10]
While Phase I of the SBM-G
is now complete, the Government of India reviewed its commitment to improving
sanitation and hygiene in rural areas and introduced Phase II of the SBM-G,
with the main objectives of ODF sustainability, SLWM, and visual cleanliness to
be achieved through continued behavioural change and communication at all
levels.[11] Its basic tenets include
ensuring equity, favouring and financing community aspects for SLWM, utilising
existing SLWM infrastructure so when possible, encouraging SLWM activities
related to its reusability, integration with other schemes, attempting to make
operation and maintenance mandatory in planning, giving states flexibility,
categorization villages for maximum economic productivity, and prioritising
villages on the Ganga and other water bodies.[12] A 10-year Rural
Sanitation Strategy (2019–2029) has been developed by the government.
Governments have been
considering urban sanitation policies since the First Five Year Plan. The goal
of the Integrated Low-Cost Sanitation Scheme for Urban Areas, which ran from
1980 to 1981, was to create low-cost sanitation facilities.[13] The Employment of Manual
Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act (1993) banned all
use of manual scavengers, as well as the construction or maintenance of dry
latrines, and supervised the construction and maintenance of water-seal latrines.[14]
The National Health
Policy of 2000 emphasised the importance of improving sanitation and other
important development indicators that directly affect public health. In 2005,
the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission was established to offer
essential amenities to the urban poor, such as water and sanitation.[15]
Water supply and
sanitation were given a lot of attention in the 10th Five-Year Plan. Following
that, in 2008, the first comprehensive National Urban Sanitation Policy was
introduced, with the goal of transforming all urban areas into
community-driven, fully sanitary, healthy, and habitable cities.[16]
The Nirmal Shahar
Puraskar was established in 2010 to encourage cities to strive towards 100%
access to sanitation facilities and 100% safe waste disposal. As previously
stated, the SBM-U was established in 2014 with the goal of generating ODF zones
and achieving 100% scientific solid waste management in all municipalities
across the country. The development of these programmes will be measured in the
next Swachh Survekhan, as they are still in their early stages of
implementation.[17]
Sustainable
Development Goals
“A
blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all people and
the world by 2030”
Sustainable Development
Goals or we can say the global goals are a collection of 17 goals that were set
up by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015 and are intended to be
achieved by 2030 and it is basically the blueprint of a better and more
sustainable future for all and 193 countries are signatory to it.[18] The targets and
indicators for these 17 goals were published in 2017 in the UN resolution and
each goal typically has nearly 8-12 targets that need to be achieved and in
total there are 169 targets and 232 indicators.[19]
“Leave No One Behind” is
one of the core principles of the Sustainable Development Goals which aims at a
people-centred, gender-sensitive, human rights-based approach and as per this,
there has to be a note maintained of the people who are left behind and to hear
from them that why they were excluded and to how to resolve the problem.[20] There is an aim of
holistic growth of all without discrimination.
Target 6.2 is sanitation
and hygiene and is pledged to be achieved by 2030 by the UN. Its objective is
to provide adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all the people and
to end the problem of open defecation with special attention provided to the
girls and women and people in a vulnerable situation.[21] Leaking latrines and raw
wastewater is the source of several diseases as well pollute the groundwater.
Improved access to safe water and sanitation facilities are the main
objectives.[22]
Swachh Bharat Mission and Associated SDG
“Satyagrah
se Swachhagrah”
The Swachh Bharat Mission
aims at achieving Goal 6.2 of the Sustainable Developmental Goals of the United
Nations primarily and achieving this goal will be critical in order to achieve the
remaining other goals, furthermore, the ‘Sabka Saath, sabka vikas, sabka viswas’
happens to be the centre line in the implementation of this scheme.[23] In which equitable and
inclusive development has been taken care of. Swachh Bharat Mission has bought
a behaviour change in all the work done which brings a sense of ownership and
agency to achieve the Open Defecation Free status at the community level.[24] The positive deviance for
the equitable coverage was highlighted through various community leaders, role
models and volunteers to ensure the agency is given to the children and women
and that awareness is raised till the last mile community.[25] In phase 2 the groundwork
was being leveraged, which is to tap the practice of promoting safe solid and
liquid waste management through sanitation systems.
There is Swachh
Sarvekshan cleanliness survey which annually ranks the cities of India on
sanitation. The parameter for the same includes the community toilets, how many
of them are on google maps, and their cleanliness, moreover, there is also an
app for the same to provide feedback and to also give easier access to toilets,
additionally, there is also the Swachh Vidyalaya Campaign which focuses on the
availability of toilets at the schools for boys and girls separately.[26]
Methodologies
involved for the effective implementation
The Swachh Bharat Mission
shares the fund between the state and the union government. The states
governments are provided with the power to decide how to channelise the funds
further down to the household level.[27] There were some portions
of the fund kept only for the social behaviour change through campaigns and
information, education and communication.[28] There is regular exposer
from media, role models or community level peer monitoring to cultivate the
importance of sanitation and use of toilets in the minds of the people and also
this scheme make sure that it becomes not only of the governments but rather
everybody’s business and all the schools, government or private buildings,
farms, streets, highways, hospitals, religious institutions, parks and other
spaces were provided with an adequate number of toilets.[29] And in schools the
separate toilets are to be provided for boys and girls and that girls be
provided with adequate privacy and materials for safe menstruation hygiene.[30] Over 6 lakhs of community
workers also called Swachhgrahis were mobilized for proper training and making
them understand the importance of sanitation and hygiene and how to spread this
information, moreover, they also monitor their progress in society and organize
camps that involve community members and children from schools and many others.[31]
The outcome of the
scheme
As a result, the Swachh Bharat
Mission has helped more than 100 million rural households and more than 500
million residents have now got access to toilets across more than 6 million
villages and the target of providing toilets in every household and making
households in villages to be open defecation free has saved up to 50 thousand
rupees annually and the total benefit exceeds the cost by 4.7 times for these
households.[32]
This savings is the result of the fall in the number of illnesses due to
diseases spread due to open defecation and also the time saving of the people
for waiting or travelling for treatment of disease due to the same and the
groundwater sources were also seen to be less contaminated as compared to the
villages which do not have 100% toilet coverage.[33] The Swachh Bharat Mission
Gramin claims that the toilet coverage has increased from 39% to 95% between
2014 to 2019. The contribution of India in the open defecation problem in 2014
was 60% of the total aggregate which reduced down to 20% by the end of 2018.
There are 19 states and union territories that are declared open defecation
which is tantamount to a total of 444 districts free by 2018 end. Even by 2030,
India is pledged to achieve safe and affordable water for all its citizens and
also access to safe sanitation and hygiene for all.[34]
It also is estimated that
over 7.5 million full-time jobs have been created by the Swachh Bharat Mission
and hence, the Swachh Bharat Mission is not only environmentally but also
economically beneficial for the people and also acted as a spillover for the
other Social Development Goals that are intended to promote environmental
protection and also the upward mobility of the vulnerable people of the
society.[35]
Factors to be
taken into account and limitations
The Swachh Bharat Mission
including the Prime Minister has bought in the high-level stakeholder. It has
enabled the appropriate public funding system, training of the volunteers and
implementers, advocacy of the campaigns supported by role models of the society
whether it be religious leaders, actors, cricketers or others and building of
the robust and efficient monitoring system. This was implemented as everybody’s
business. And the constraints that were addressed due to the cultural diversity
of India and diverse terrains id by enabling the state government the
flexibility to implement the scheme as per the need of the people through local
authorities.
Sustainability and
replicability
The Swachh Bharat Mission
is promoted by way of fostering long-lasting behaviour change in the society at
large and by way of providing financial and administrative incentives and this
is a community-led total sanitation approach.[36] This has triggered the
rural people’s community that they want toilets by way of spreading awareness
about the number of diseases spread due to the problem of open defecation and also
discouraged the use of temporary toilets structures and promoted sustainable
and cost-effective sanitation methods.[37] The twin pit toilet model
that is a low-cost toilet saves them money and also allows the families to the
waste into safe fertilizers using the second pit, moreover, this method also helps
the farmers to reduce their dependency upon chemical fertilizers and on costly
sludge treatment systems as well.[38] Also, at the same time,
there is a cascade model to provide proper training to the implementers by
master trainer pool in each state and each district, at the grassroots level,
who then reach out to every household, school and health care facility.[39] This makes the scheme
effective and properly implemented throughout the country as the implementers
happen to be the locals amongst the community.[40]
Impact of Pandemic
on SBM
The pandemic has made it
difficult for the government to effectively control and monitor the slippage
and new gaps that occurred in the toilet coverage in the far fledged areas and
additionally, the closing of schools has led to the significant deterioration
of the school facilities, and it requires immediate maintenance as the schools
are reopening this year.[41] Also, the large scale of
migrant workers to their hometown has disturbed the pool of workers of states
drastically on the basis of which the scheme was prepared.[42] But now under phase II,
the government has made the funds available and identified the left-out
sections of the society and new strategy for safe water management under the
present available opportunities for proper implementation of the scheme.[43] The village cleanliness
drive has also been launched nationwide in order to build trust again.
Conclusion
As per the Integrated
Management Information System of the Department of Drinking Water and
Sanitation, as of 3rd March 2019, there are about 19% out of the
rural household who has tap water connection and about 15 crores of them does
not still have it. Several studies and papers have highlighted India's success
in the water and sanitation sectors, but this article evaluates the Indian
government's policies, programmes, and alignment with the associated SDGs. The
Indian government's initiative in implementing programmes like the SBM and Har
Ghar Jal enjoys widespread political backing, both at the national and state
levels. Several significant policies are being updated, including the NWP and
NUSP, and the National Policy on Safe Reuse of Treated Water is being launched
for the first time, based on current needs and strategic deficiencies.
Given India's socio-economic realities, accomplishing SDG 6 and the other SDGs will necessitate creative trade-off management in a complicated operational environment. In India, policies and programmes in the water and sanitation sectors should build on previous work. India is on the right track with a lot of results achieved and bought a positive change in the people’s thoughts regarding safe sanitation and hygiene but still, there is still a long way to go for achieving the desired results.
[1] A clean (sampoorna swachh) India.
UNICEF India. (2021, November 8). https://www.unicef.org/india/what-we-do/ending-open-defecation.
[2] Khan, M. H. (2017). Swachh Bharat
Abhiyan: The Clean India Mission. SSRN Electronic Journal.
https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2949372
[3] Kumar, A. (2018). Swachh Bharat
mission : A missed opportunity for the Indian economy. Arthshastra : Indian
Journal of Economics & Research, 7(3), 40.
https://doi.org/10.17010/aijer/2018/v7i3/130155
[4] Ibid
[5] Singh, R. (2019). Swachh Bharat
mission – gramin: Role in improving sanitation status in India. Public Affairs
And Governance, 7(2), 115. https://doi.org/10.5958/2321-2136.2019.00009.2
[6] Mehta, M. (2018, September 1).
Public finance at Scale for Rural Sanitation – A Case of Swachh Bharat Mission,
India. Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development.
https://iwaponline.com/washdev/article/8/3/359/39015/Public-finance-at-scale-for-rural-sanitation-a.
[7] Ibid
[8] Supra 3
[9] Gobar-Dhan Yojana (govt schemes) -
prepp.in. (n.d.). https://prepp.in/news/e-492-gobar-dhan-yojana-govt-schemes.
[10] Swachhbharatmission.gov.in -
swachh bharat mission ... (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://swachhbharatmission.gov.in.snoopstat.com/.
[11] ODF Plus manuals under Swachh
Bharat Mission (grameen) phase II released. Press Information Bureau. (n.d.).
Retrieved from https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1739972.
[12] Detailed project report solid and
liquid waste ... - gwp. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.gwp.org/globalassets/global/gwp-sas_files/wacrep/2016/new-dpr_slwm_final.pdf.
[13] Ibid
[14] The employment of manual
scavengers and construction of dry latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993 - broken
people: Caste violence against India’s “Untouchables” (human rights watch
report, 1999). (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/india/India994-19.htm.
[15] Nath, A. (2011, April). India's
progress toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Indian journal of
community medicine : official publication of Indian Association of Preventive
& Social Medicine. Retrieved from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3180952/.
[16] Ibid
[17] New sanitation award creates
healthy competition among Indian cities. WSP. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.wsp.org/featuresevents/features/new-sanitation-award-creates-healthy-competition-among-indian-cities.
[18] National Geographic Society.
(2019, September 17). Sustainable development goals. National Geographic
Society.
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/sustainable-development-goals/.
[19] Mukherjee, J. S. (2017). The
Millennium Development Goals and Sustainable Development Goals. Oxford
Scholarship Online. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190662455.003.0003
[20] Measuring progress in achieving
the Sustainable Development Goals. (2017). Governing through Goals.
https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/10894.003.0010
[21] Ibid
[22] Ibid
[23] Swachh Bharat mission to achieve
SDG goal 6.2 in India: Reflections from the Water and Health Conference, 2017.
Community. (2018, January 30).
https://www.communityledtotalsanitation.org/blog/swachh-bharat-mission-achieve-sdg-goal-62-india-reflections-water-and-health-conference-2017.
[24] Ibid
[25] Supra 12
[26] Vikaspedia domains. English.
(n.d.). https://vikaspedia.in/health/sanitation-and-hygiene/swachh-survekshan.
[27] Singh, R. (2019). Swachh Bharat
mission – gramin: Role in improving sanitation status in India. Public Affairs
And Governance, 7(2), 115. https://doi.org/10.5958/2321-2136.2019.00009.2
[28] Ibid
[29] Significance of political
advertisements in Indian Society: A critical analysis on ‘swachh bharat
mission.’ (2018). Journal of Management Practices, Humanities and Social
Sciences, 2(2). https://doi.org/10.33152/jmphss-2.2.2
[30] Supra 15
[31] Wildlife conservation (including
species and habitats) using geospatial techniques. Ministry - wise Highlights
on Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. (n.d.).
http://wwfenvis.nic.in/Database/SwachhBharatAbhiyan_4777.aspx.
[32] Curtis, V. (2019, September 1).
Explaining the outcomes of the 'clean India' campaign: Institutional Behaviour
and Sanitation Transformation in India. BMJ Global Health.
https://gh.bmj.com/content/4/5/e001892.
[33] Ibid
[34] Swachh Bharat progress key to
UN Sustainable Development Goal on open defecation, The Hindu, (14 November
2021 6:00 PM),
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/swachh-bharat-progress-key-to-un-sdg-on-open-defecation/article24886738.ece
[35] Supra 32
[36] Total sanitation campaign (TSC):
Public Health Engineering Department. (n.d.). https://megphed.gov.in/tsc.htm.
[37] Luthra, A. (2018). ‘old habits die
hard’: Discourses of urban filth in Swachh Bharat Mission and the ugly indian.
Journal of Multicultural Discourses, 13(2), 120–138.
https://doi.org/10.1080/17447143.2018.1467917
[38] Ibid
[39] Supra 24
[40] Raj, S., & Kajla, T.
(2015). Sentiment Analysis of swachh Bharat Abhiyan. International Journal of
Business Analytics and Intelligence, 3(1).
https://doi.org/10.21863/ijbai/2015.3.1.005
[41] Staff, S. (2020, August 8).
Coronavirus: Swachh Bharat Mission has been a big support to tackle pandemic,
says PM modi. Scroll.in.
https://scroll.in/latest/969796/coronavirus-swachh-bharat-mission-has-been-a-big-support-to-tackle-pandemic-says-pm-modi.
[42] Akshay RoutThe writer is former
director general. (n.d.). View: Swachh Bharat Nuances and soft coercion may be
needed for Covid curbs. The Economic Times.
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/et-commentary/swachh-bharat-nuances-and-soft-coercion-may-be-needed-for-covid-curbs/articleshow/85698677.cms?from=mdr.
[43] Supra 28
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