The Swachh Bharat Mission is one of the biggest mass movements programs of independent India. Announced on 2 October 2014 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Swachh Bharat Mission aims to change the image of rural India through mass scale behavior change. The Swachh Bharat Mission is a nation-wide campaign of the Government of India which aims at construction of household owned and community owned toilets, their usage and Solid and Liquid Waste Management (SLWM) thereby establishing an accountable mechanism for achieving Open Defecation Free (ODF) Plus India.
NEED For Swachh Bharat Mission
- Despite the widely accepted fact related to the critical importance of sanitation and personal hygiene, the sanitation coverage of India was as low as 39% till 2014.
- Around 55 Crore people in rural areas were without a toilet facility before 2014. This was severely impacting the health, and also the dignity of people in rural areas, especially of women and children.
- Open defecation was regarded as a matter of national shame, but it was an often-ignored subject which was not raised in public discussion.
- The Prime Minister himself has been the Communicator-in- Chief of the Mission. Connecting sanitation with human dignity and integrity. He personally wrote to all 250,000 Gram Pradhan motivating them to help people in their villages achieve sanitation services.
- Anybody who volunteered for SBM was called Swachhagrahi by the Prime Minister. Swachhagrahi is symbolic of Gandhi thoughts and ideals. It added new energy and enthusiasm to the Satyagraha se Swachhagraha campaign.
- Over 12 Crore school children, 6.25 Lakh Swachhagrahis, 2.5 lakh sarpanches, millions of citizens and around 50 brand ambassadors were members of this team.
- Swachhagrahis regularly mobilized community members for toilet construction and its usage.
- The Prime Minister equated Swachh Ata with Service and launched the “Swachh Ata Hi Seva” campaign which transformed into a Jan Andolan connecting political workers, youths, religious groups, celebrities, and community members.
The government made a provision of Rs 12,000 per toilet as financial incentive for promoting the toilet construction and its usage. Over the 5 years of SBM-G, the government allocated over Rs-1.3 lakh crore and ensured no scarcity of funds.
- As a result of the SBM, 55 crore people changed their behavior and started using toilets. With the attainment of Swachh Bharat, there has been a significant reduction in water and sanitation related diseases. The SBM has resulted in an annual profit of more than Rs-50,000 per household in rural India.
- After becoming Open Defecation Free (ODF), many villages have seen a reduction in the number of deaths due to diseases like diarrhea, malaria etc. Child health and nutrition have also improved.
- In 2014, Government of India launched “Swachh Bharat Swachh Vidyalaya (SBSV)” initiative to ensure that all schools in India have access to separate functional toilets for boys and girls.
- Rural sanitation coverage of almost 100% has been achieved due to availability of toilet facilities to all villagers and their motivation to use toilets.
- On the occasion of the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, all the districts, states and union territories declared themselves open defecation free.
