Swachh Bharat Mission (Rural): 2nd phase

Syllabus subtopic: Welfare Schemes for Vulnerable Sections of the population by the Centre and States and the Performance of these Schemes

Prelims and Mains focus: about the second phase and its implementation: about Swachh Bharat Mission and its significance

News: The Centre approved the second phase of Swachh Bharat Mission (Rural), PM Modi’s pet project focussed on sustainability of ODF (Open defecation free) and management of solid and liquid waste.

Background

The rural sanitation programme was started on October 2, 2014, when the sanitation coverage in the country was reported at 38.7 per cent. More than 10 crore individual toilets have been constructed since the launch of the mission and as a result, rural areas in all states have declared themselves open defecation free (ODF) as on October 2, 2019.

Implementation of second phase

• The second phase will be implemented on a mission mode between 2020-21 and 2024-25 with an estimated central and state budget of Rs 52,497 crore.

• The second phase will focus on Open Defecation Free Plus (ODF Plus), which includes ODF sustainability and solid and liquid waste management (SLWM).

• The ODF Plus programme will converge with MGNREGA, especially for grey water management, and will complement the newly launched Jal Jeevan Mission.

• The programme will also work towards ensuring that no one is left behind and everyone uses a toilet.

• The 15th Finance Commission has proposed earmarking Rs 30,375 crores for rural water supply and sanitation to be implemented by rural local bodies for the upcoming financial year.

• The Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DDWS) under the Ministry of Jal Shakti has, however, advised all the states to reconfirm that there are no rural households that still don't have access to a toilet.

• The department has also said that to provide the necessary support to any such identified households to build individual household toilets in order to ensure that no one is left behind under the programme.

• The fund sharing pattern between the Centre and States will be

1. 90:10 for North-Eastern States and Himalayan States and UT of J&K;
2. 60:40 for other States; and
3. 100:0 for other Union Territories, for all the components.

• The Jal Shakti ministry said the Swachh Bharat Mission-Grameen continue to generate employment and provide impetus to the rural economy through construction of household toilets and community toilets, as well as infrastructure for waste management such as compost pits, soak pits, waste stabilisation ponds, material recovery facilities, etc.

About Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM)

• SBM (1^st phase) was a nation-wide campaign in India for the period 2014 to 2019 that aims to clean up the street, roads and infrastructure of cities towns, urban and rural cities and area in India.

• The objectives of Swachh Bharat include eliminating open defecation through the construction of household-owned and community-owned toilets and establishing an accountable mechanism of monitoring toilet use.

• Run by the Government of India, the mission aims to achieve an "open-defecation free" (ODF) India by 2 October 2019, the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, by constructing 100 million toilets in rural India at a projected cost of Rs.1.96 lakh crore (US$28 billion).

• The mission will also contribute to India reaching Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6), established by the UN in 2015.

• The campaign was officially launched on 2 October 2014 at Rajghat, New Delhi by PM 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. PM Modi has called the campaign Satyagrah se Swachhagrah in reference to Gandhi's Champaran Satyagraha launched on 10 April 1916.

• The mission has two thrusts:

1. Swachh Bharat Abhiyan ("gramin" or "rural"), which operates under the Ministry of Jal Shakti; and
2. Swachh Bharat Abhiyan ("urban"), which operates under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

• As part of the campaign, volunteers, known as Swachhagrahis, or "Ambassadors of cleanliness", have promoted indoor plumbing and community approaches to sanitation (CAS) at the village level. Other non-governmental activities include 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) that are working towards its ideas of Swachh Bharat.

• The government has constructed 11 million toilets since 2014. Many people continue to not use toilets despite having them. The campaign has been criticized for using coercive approaches to force people to use toilets. Many households have been threatened with a loss of benefits such as access to electricity or food entitlements through the public distribution system. However, a report by UNICEF shows promising improvements with sanitation coverage reaching 90 percent.