HPAS/Allied Mains 2022 Answer Writing Challenge Day 215: Model Answer

What is Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM)? What are its objectives? Also discuss its present status. (20 marks/400 words).

Answer:

Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) is a country-wide campaign initiated by the Government of India in 2014 to eliminate open defecation and improve solid waste management.

• It is a restructured version of the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan launched in 2009.
• Phase 1 of the Swachh Bharat Mission lasted till October 2019.
• Phase 2 is being implemented between 2020–21 and 2024–25.
• The mission aimed to achieve an “open-defecation free” (ODF) India by 2 October 2019, the 150th anniversary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi through construction of toilets.

• 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 objectives of the first phase of the mission:

• Eradication of manual scavenging.
• Generating awareness and bringing about a behaviour change regarding sanitation practices.
• Building 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, while also working to improve the lives of sanitation workers.
• Under the scheme, the Government provides subsidies for constructing toilets, waste management structures, and awareness campaigns to bring behaviour change.
• The campaign is financed by the Government of India and state governments.
• The mission is split into two: Rural and Urban.

• In rural areas “SBM – Gramin” is financed and monitored through the Ministry of Jal Shakti. 
• In Urban areas “SBM – urban” is overseen by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

 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.

Present Status

• According to the dashboards maintained by ministries, more than 100 million individual household level toilets have been constructed in rural areas, and 6 million household toilets in urban areas.
• Nearly 6 million community and public toilets have also been constructed in the urban areas.
• Nearly 11 crore online Integrated Management Information System (IMIS) have been constructed in the country.
• Nearly 2 lakh Community Sanitary Complexes (CSCs) have been constructed under the programme.
• More than 4,200 cities and more than 600,000 villages across the country have declared themselves open defecation free (ODF).
• More than 87 thousand wards in urban areas now have 100% door to door collection of solid waste and nearly 65 thousand words practice 100% segregation of waste at source.
• According to UNICEF, the number of people without a toilet has been reduced from 550 million to 50 million.
• The World Bank reports that 96% of Indians who have a toilet use it.

Conclusion:  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.