Swachh Bharat Mission

Swatchh Bharat Mission (SBM) or Swatchh Bharat Abhiyan (SBA) or Clean India Mission is a
country-wide campaign initiated by the Government of India in 2014 to eliminate open
defecation and improve solid waste management (SWM). Phase 1 of the mission lasted till
October 2019. Phase 2 will be implemented between 2020-21 and 2024-25.

Initiated by the Government of India, the mission aimed to achieve an "open-defecation free"
(ODF) India by 2 October 2019, the 150th anniversary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi. 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. 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 campaign's official name is in Hindi. In English, it translates to "Clean India Mission". The
campaign was officially launched on 2 October 2014 at Rajghat, New Delhi by Prime
Minister Narendra Modi. It is India's largest cleanliness drive to date with three million
government employees and students from all parts of India participating in 4,043 cities, towns,
and rural communities. At a rally in Champaran, the Prime minister called the
campaign Satyagrah se Swachhagrah in reference to Gandhi's Champaran Satyagraha launched
on 10 April 1916.

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.

As part of the campaign, volunteers, known as Swachhagrahis, or "Ambassadors of cleanliness",

promoted indoor plumbing and community approaches to sanitation (CAS) at the village level.
Other activities included national real-time monitoring and updates from non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) such as The Ugly Indian, Waste Warriors, and SWaCH Pune (Solid Waste
Collection and Handling).
The government provided subsidy for construction of nearly 110 million toilets between 2014
and 2019, although many Indians especially in rural areas choose to not use them. The campaign
was criticized for using coercive approaches to force people to use toilets. Many households
were threatened with a loss of benefits such as access to electricity or food entitlements through
the public distribution system.

Mahatma Gandhi rightly said, “Sanitation is more important than independence”. Swachh Bharat
Abhiyan was launched by the Government of India to solve the problems of sanitation and waste
management in India by ensuring hygiene across the country. The main aim of the project is to
create sanitation facilities for all and provide every rural family with a toilet by 2019.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has directly linked clean India with the economic health of the
country. This mission has provided a source of employment to many people, contributed to the
GDP growth, and reduced health costs to an extent.

There is no doubt that cleanliness is interlinked with the country’s tourism and global interests.
More tourism will bring more revenue. It is important for India to display high standards of
hygiene and cleanliness to change the overall global perception people have about our country.

India is home to the world’s second largest population. This mission is the biggest social
initiative taken up by the Government of India to enhance hygiene standards. The movement has
helped in cleaning up the streets, roads, and infrastructure in many cities, small towns, and rural
areas of India. High-levels of advocacy have helped in reducing open defecation and promote
building household owned and community owned toilets. This has risen the hygiene and
sanitation standards in the country.

Even though the scenario has improved but a lot more needs to be done in terms of hygiene and
sanitation. Unsafe drinking water, poor access to appropriate sanitation facilities and inadequate
handwashing is a major reason for childhood illness and death globally. 11% of global child
deaths are caused due to diarrhoea globally even though it is preventable.
This project has sought financial and technical support from the World Bank. Numerous
corporates and private organisations have been asked to join the movement as part of their
corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative. Various non-profit organisations have also joined
the movement.

Save the Children is one such organisation that believes in the importance of maintaining sound
community hygiene so that children don’t fall prey to preventable diseases. Therefore, we are
working in several states of India, as part of our Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)
programme, to improve the hygiene status of children and their communities.

Objectives of Swachh Bharat Mission

Swachh Bharat Abhiyan set a lot of objectives to achieve so that India could become cleaner and
better. In addition, it not only appealed the sweepers and workers but all the citizens of the country.
This helped in making the message reach wider. It aims to build sanitary facilities for all
households. One of the most common problems in rural areas is that of open defecation. Swachh
Bharat Abhiyan aims to eliminate that.

Moreover, the Indian government intends to offer all the citizens with hand pumps, proper drainage
system, bathing facility and more. This will promote cleanliness amongst citizens.

Similarly, they also wanted to make people aware of health and education through awareness
programs. After that, a major objective was to teach citizens to dispose of waste mindfully.

Why India Needs Swachh Bharat Abhiyan?

India is in dire need of a cleanliness drive like Swachh Bharat Abhiyan to eradicate dirtiness. It is
important for the overall development of citizens in terms of health and well-being. As the majority
of the population of India lives in rural areas, it is a big problem.

Generally, in these areas, people do not have proper toilet facilities. They go out in the fields or
roads to excrete. This practice creates a lot of hygiene problems for citizens. Therefore, this Clean
India mission can be of great help in enhancing the living conditions of these people.
In other words, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan will help in proper waste management as well. When we
will dispose of waste properly and recycle waste, it will develop the country. As its main focus is
one rural area, the quality of life of the rural citizens will be enhanced through it.

Most importantly, it enhances the public health through its objectives. India is one of the dirtiest
countries in the world, and this mission can change the scenario. Therefore, India needs a
cleanliness drive like Swachh Bharat Abhiyan to achieve this.

In short, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is a great start to make India cleaner and greener. If all the citizens
could come together and participate in this drive, India will soon flourish. Moreover, when the
hygienic conditions of India will improve, all of us will benefit equally. India will have more
tourists visiting it every year and will create a happy and clean environment for the citizens.

Swachh Bharat Abhiyan Action Plan

The action plan for the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is to be laid by the Ministry of Drinking Water
and Sanitation. The vision is to triple the facility of sanitation by 2019. The major change to be
implemented is in the Making of an Open Defecation Free(ODF) India.

Action Plan Highlights:

 Improve the growth percentage of toilets from 3% to 10% by 2019

 Increase in the construction of toilets from 14000 to 48000 daily
 Launch of a National Level/State Level Media campaign through audio-visual, mobile
telephony, and local programmes to communicate the message of awareness.
 Involvement of school children in the activities for spreading awareness on Water,
Sanitation, and Hygiene.

Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban)

 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 six 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