Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM)

About Swachh Bharat Mission:

• Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, or Clean India Mission is a country-wide campaign
• Launched by the Government of India in 2 October 2019, the 150th anniversary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi
• The mission aim is to eliminate open defecation and improve solid waste management.
• It is a restructured version of the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan launched in 2009 that failed to achieve its intended targets.
• Phase 1 of the Swachh Bharat mission lasted till October 2019.
  • The objectives of the first phase of the mission also included eradication of manual scavenging, generating awareness and bringing about a behavior change regarding sanitation practices, and augmentation of capacity at the local level.
•  Phase 2 will be implemented between 2020–21 and 2024-25.
  • The second phase of the mission aims to sustain the open defecation free status and improve the management of solid and liquid waste.
• The mission is aimed at progressing towards target 6.2 of the Sustainable Development Goals Number 6 established by the United Nations in 2015.
• The mission was split into two: rural and urban. In rural areas “SBM – Gramin” was financed and monitored through the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation; whereas “SBM – urban” was overseen by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

Previous sanitation campaigns

A formal sanitation programme was first launched in 1954, followed by Central Rural Sanitation Programme in 1986, Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) in 1999 and Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan in 2012. A limited randomized study of eighty villages in rural (Madhya Pradesh) showed that the TSC programme did modestly increase the number of households with latrines, and had a small effect in reducing open defecation. However, there was no improvement in the health of children.” The earlier “Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan” rural sanitation program was hampered by the unrealistic approach. Consequently, Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan was restructured by Cabinet approval on 24 September 2014 as Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.  The rural household toilet coverage in India increased from 1% in 1981 to 11% in 1991, to 22% in 2001, to 32.7% in 2011.  Since 2014, the Government of India, has made remarkable strides in reaching the Open Defecation Free targets. 36 states and union territories, 706 districts and over 603,175 villages have been declared open defecation free as of Jan 2020. India has made rapid progress in ending open defecation across the Country which is having a huge impact on improving water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). The Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) has changed the behaviour of hundreds of millions of people with respect to toilet access and usage. 500 million people have stopped defecating in the open since 2014, down from 550 million to less than 50 million today. A tremendous achievement, only possible because of the Swacch Bharat Mission (SBM) (Clean India Campaign), led by the Prime Minister. Even with these impressive figures, it is vital that social and behavioural change communication approaches keep pace with the service delivery to ensure that families receiving toilets continue to use them regularly.

Objectives of the Swachh Bharat Mission

• Eliminate open defecation.
• Conversion of insanitary toilets to pour-flush toilets,
• Eradication of manual scavenging,
• 100% collection and scientific processing/disposal reuse/recycle of Municipal Solid Waste,
• To bring about a behavioural change in people with regards to healthy sanitation practices,
• Create awareness among the citizens about sanitation and its linkages with public health.
• Strengthening of urban local bodies to design, execute and operate systems,
• To create an enabling environment for private sector participation in Capital Expenditure and Operation & Maintenance (O&M) costs.

Components of the Swachh Bharat Mission

• Construction of household toilets.
• Community & public toilets.
• Solid waste management.
• Information, Education & Communication (IEC) and Public Awareness.
• Capacity building and administrative & office expenses (A&OE).

The funding mechanism of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan

• Budgetary allocations.
• Funding and technical support from the World Bank, corporations as part of corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, and by state governments under the ‘Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan’ and ‘Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan’
• Swachh Bharat Kosh(SBK): Swachh Bharat cess is an improvement in the service tax by 0.5% on all the services in India.
• The funding for 9 crore toilets is expected to come from 3 primary sources – Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation, Ministry of Rural Development, and the States in the ratio of 75:25 between centre and State and 90:10 for North Eastern state.

The sub-schemes of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan

Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) 1.0

• Coming to Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban), it is under the Ministry of Urban Development and is commissioned to give sanitation and household toilet facilities in all 4041 statutory towns with a combined population of 377 million.
• The estimated cost is Rs 62,009 crore over five years with the centre’s share of assistance being Rs 14,623 crore.
• The Mission hopes to cover 1.04 crore households, give 2.5 lakh community toilet seats, 2.6 lakh public toilet seats
• It also proposes to establish solid waste management facilities in every town.

At the core of this mission lie following components:

1. Individual household toilets;
2. Community toilets;
3. Public toilets;
4. Municipal Solid Waste Management;
5. Information and Education Communication (IEC) and Public Awareness;
6. Capacity Building
7. The Urban Clean India mission seeks to eradicate open defecation; convert insanitary toilets to flush toilets; eradicate manual scavenging, and facilitate solid waste management.
8. The mission emphasizes on ushering in a behavioral change among people, for healthy sanitation practices, by educating them about the damaging effects of open defecation, the environmental dangers spreading from strewn garbage, and so on.
9. To achieve these objectives, urban local bodies are being brought in and fortified to design, implement and operate systems to promote a facilitating environment for the participation of the private sector in terms of both capital and operations expenditure.

Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) 2.0

The government in the Union Budget 2021 allocated Rs 1,41,678 crores for the Swachh Bharat Mission (U) 2.0. The components of SBM-Urban 2.0 are:

1. New component – Wastewater treatment, including faecal sludge management in all ULBs with less than 1 lakh population
2. Sustainable sanitation (construction of toilets)
3. Solid Waste Management
4. Information, Education and Communication, and
5. Capacity building

Achievements expected out of SBM-Urban 2.0:

1. ODF: norms says no visible faeces shall found in the environment and every household, as well as public/community institutions, should be using safe technology option for disposal of faeces.
2. ODF+:  certification to all statutory towns. Norms says not a single person should be defecating and/or urinating in open. All community and public toilets should be properly maintained and cleaned.
3. ODF++:  certification to all statutory towns with less than 1 lakh population. Under the ODF++ norms proper treatment and management of faecal sludge/septage and sewage is safely managed and treated. There should be no discharge or dumping of untreated faecal sludge/septage and sewage in drains, water bodies or open areas.
4. Water+: certification to half of all the statutory towns with less than 1 lakh population. It is designed to ensure that no untreated wastewater is discharged into the open environment or water bodies.
5. Rating of at least 3-star Garbage Free to all statutory towns as per Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA’s) Star Rating Protocol for Garbage Free cities.
6. Bio-remediation of all legacy dumpsites.
7. Swachh Surevkshan: MoHUA launched the Swachh Survekshan 2020 (SS 2020) league, a quarterly cleanliness assessment of cities and towns in India.

Swachh Bharat Mission (Rural)

Swachh Bharat Mission (Rural) comes under Department of Drinking Water and Sanitization, Ministry of Jalshkati

• Phase I
  • The Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan has been restructured into the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin). The SBM(G) was launched on 2nd October 2014 to ensure cleanliness in India and make it Open Defecation Free (ODF) in Five Years. It seeks to improve the levels of cleanliness in rural areas through Solid and Liquid Waste Management activities and making Gram Panchayats Open Defecation Free (ODF), clean and sanitised.
  • Incentive as provided under the Mission for the construction of Individual Household Latrines (IHHL) was available for all Below Poverty Line (BPL) Households and Above Poverty Line (APL) households restricted to SCs/STs, small and marginal farmers, landless labourers with homestead, physically handicapped and women headed households. The Incentive amount provided under SBM(G) to Below Poverty Line (BPL) /identified APLs households was up to Rs.12,000 for construction of one unit of IHHL and provide for water availability, including for storing for hand-washing and cleaning of the toilet. Central Share of this Incentive for IHHLs was Rs.9,000/- (75%) from Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin). The State share was Rs.3,000/-(25%). For North Eastern State, and Special category States, the Central share was Rs. 10,800/- and the State share Rs.1,200/- (90% : 10%). The beneficiary was encouraged to additionally contribute in the construction of his/her IHHL to promote ownership.
  • Said to be the world’s largest behaviour change programme, it achieved the seemingly impossible task by generating a people’s movement at the grassroots. All stakeholders worked together from 2014 to 2019 and in a time bound manner ensured that, as on 2nd October 2019 all districts across India, declared themselves as ODF. 

• Phase II
  • It will focus on sustaining the achievements made under the mission in the last five years including ensuring safe access to toilets and their usage, ensuring that no one is left behind.
  • It also aims to ensure that effective solid and liquid waste management (SLWM) is undertaken in every gram panchayat of the nation. It will be implemented for a period of five years from 2020-21 to 2024-25.
  • The second phase of the mission will be implemented at a cost of Rs 1,40,881 crores, out of which Rs 52,497 crore will be allocated from the budget of Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation and the remaining from the funds released under the 15th Finance Commission for solid and liquid waste management.
  • The mission’s second phase will be monitored on the basis of the outcome in four key areas: bio-degradable solid waste management (including animal waste management), plastic waste management, fecal sludge management and grey water management.
  • The mission will also continue to create employment and give a boost to the rural economy through construction of toilets, both household and community toilets and construction of infrastructure for waste management such as soak pits, compost pits, material recovery facilities and waste stabilization ponds.

What is the impact of Swachh Bharat?

Since its launch in October 2014, the SBM, the world’s largest sanitation program, has changed the behaviour of hundreds of millions of people with respect to toilet access and usage.

• 500 million people have stopped defecating in the open since the SBM began, down from 550 million at the beginning of the programme to less than 50 million today.
• Over 9 crore toilets have been built across rural India under the Mission. Over 5.5 lakh villages and 615 districts have been declared ODF, along with 30 ODF States and Union Territories.

The National Annual Rural Sanitation Survey (NARSS) 2018-19, conducted by an Independent Verification Agency (IVA) under the World Bank support project to the Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen (SBM-G), has found that 96.5% of the households in rural India who have access to a toilet use it.

• The NARSS confirmed the Open Defecation Free (ODF) status of 90.7% of villages which were previously declared and verified as ODF by various districts/States.
• 1% of households were found to have access to toilets during the survey period (the corresponding figure as per the SBMG MIS in November 2018 was 96%)
• 5% of the people who had access to toilets used them.
• 7% of villages which were previously declared and verified as ODF were confirmed to be ODF. The remaining villages also had sanitation coverage of about 93%.
• 4% of the villages surveyed found to have a minimal litter and minimal stagnant water.

A recent WHO study reports that Swachh Bharat would have led to the saving of 300,000 lives by 2019 and around 150,000 lives would be saved annually thereafter.

In a report titled ‘The Financial and Economic Impact of SBM in India (2017)’ UNICEF estimated that a household in an ODF village in rural India saves Rs. 50,000 every year.

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) has released a study that shows significant improvements in diarrhea prevalence and stunting among children in ODF villages, compared to nearby non-ODF villages.

What are the issues and challenges?

• ODF status:
  • Overemphasis on toilet construction rather than focussing on all parameters.
  • The ODF status has been mainly awarded to the village, district or state only based on the number of toilets built without mention of termination of fecal-oral transmission and absence of visible feces in the environment as major parameters in the SBM guidelines.
  • The ODF status has been questioned by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India in September 2018 report.

• Data:
• It has also been alleged that there is over-reporting of government set targets of toilet construction.
•  independent surveys show open defecation continues even in areas that the government has declared Open Defecation Free
• The government’s own data shows only 14% of the constructed toilets have gone through the second round of verification
• High levels of coercion have been used to build the toilets and behavioural change has been slow to follow.

• Construction issues: 

There are concerns regarding the durability and quality of construction of toilets. It is observed that fall back rate of ODF declared villages in the past was high because of the non-sustainability of toilets.

• Toilet usage:

SBM has been primarily a supply-side measure aims at construction of toilets. Though there has been considerable toilet construction, the toilet usage stays unsatisfactory in several areas. The National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4), 2016-17 found that open defecation remained fairly high in the rural areas of the BIMAROU states – Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Orissa, and Uttar Pradesh.

• Cultural/social factors:

Religion and caste play a crucial role in determining whether a person is likely to utilize toilets. Open defecation stays a common practice in several rural areas because of cultural and societal factors that shape the behaviour towards sanitation.

• Waste Treatment:

Despite considerable progress in the door to door waste collection, only one-third of the waste being generated is being processed.

• Manual Scavenging:
• SBM has made inadequate attempts at critical areas of eradication of manual scavenging and rehabilitation of such workers.
• SBM is primarily focussed on constructing toilets without any strategy about how they are to be cleared.
• There has been an insufficient investment on procuring mechanized sludge and pump machines for physical removal of excreta.
• Moreover, the campaign does not address a reworking of the underground sewerage system.

What needs to be done?

• Creating demand: The government should focus on creating a demand for toilets. Policymakers must make sure that a higher proportion of funds are directed towards educating people about hygiene and the social marketing of toilets.
• Ground-level verification: To resolve the issue of over/under reporting of government set targets, verification of facts on the ground is highly important.
• Disposal of feces: proper facilities for the disposal of excreta should be established. People started using toilets but the fecal material goes untreated which harms the environment.
• Sewage Treatment: Different cost-effective technologies must be adopted for sewage treatments and proper disposal of waste from toilets.
• Manual scavenging: Use of technology can play a crucial role in eradicating the practice of manual scavenging. Empowering the lower castes by encouraging them to pursue alternative jobs and possibly providing them with subsidies to build latrine facilities can also be a step in this direction.

What are the special initiatives and projects under the Swachh Bharat Mission?