Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Swachh Bharat Mission

Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is a huge movement that is creating a Clean India by 2019. The father of our nation Mr. Mahatma Gandhi always puts a good effect on swachhta, leads to a healthy and prosperous life. Keeping this in mind, the Indian government has decided to launch the swachh Bharat mission on October 2, 2014. The mission will cover all rural and urban areas. The urban component of the mission will implement by the Ministry of Urban Development, and the rural component by the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation.

The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is the most significant cleanliness campaign by the Government of India. Shri Narendra Modi led a cleanliness pledge at India Gate, in which about thirty lakh government employees across the country joined. He also flagged off a walkathon at Rajpath and surprised people by joining in not just for a token few steps, but marching with the participants for a long way.

Some Information about this mission:

During the launch of this movement at Rajpath in New Delhi on October 2, 2014, the PM Modi has said: “A clean India would be the best tribute India could pay to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150 birth anniversary in 2019.” While leading the mass movement for cleanliness, Prime Minister exhorted people to fulfill Mahatma Gandhi’s dream of a clean and hygienic India. Shri Narendra Modi himself initiated the cleanliness drive at Mandir Marg Police Station. Picking up the broom to clean the dirt, making Swachh Bharat Abhiyan a mass movement across the nation, the Prime Minister said people should neither litter nor let others litter. He gave the mantra of ‘Na gandagi karenge, Na karne denge.’ Shri Narendra Modi also invited nine people to join the cleanliness drive and requested each of them to draw nine more into the initiative.

By inviting people to participate in the drive, the Swachhta Abhiyan has turned into a National Movement. A sense of responsibility has to break out, among the people through the Clean India Movement. With citizens now becoming active participants in cleanliness activities across the nation, the dream of a ‘Clean India’ once seen by Mahatma Gandhi has begun to get a shape. For more Information Click here.

Main Objectives of this Mission:

This Mission has lots of objectives for clean and better India. In addition, it not only appealed to 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 systems, bathing facility and more. This will promote cleanness 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 need this Mission?

India needs this campaign because India is a developing country, and cleanliness is a major challenge to this country. It is more important for the overall development, of citizens in terms of health and well-being. As the majority of the population 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. 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.

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 so India will soon change. 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.

Also Read: Digital Seva

What is the plan under this Mission?

The Government appointed CPWD with the responsibility to dispose of waste from Government offices. The Ministry of Railways planned to have the facility of cleaning on demand, clean bed-rolls from automatic laundries, bio-toilets, dustbins in all non-AC coaches. The Centre will use its Digital India project in conjunction with the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, to have solar-powered dustbins, which send alerts to the sanitation crew once they are full. The Swachh Bharat Swachh Vidyalaya campaign was launched by the Minister of Human Resource Development, Government of India by participating in the cleanliness drive along with the school’s teachers and students.

Fund Allocated:

This project is expected to cost over Rs. 2 lakh crore. Fund sharing between the Central and State Governments and Urban Local Bodies is allocated in the ratio of 75:25. It has been officially stated that for North Eastern and special category states, the allocation of funds is in the ratio of 90:10. To give a boost to the project, the government has sought financial and technical support from the World Bank. Also, all big corporates and private organizations are asked to join the movement as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative.

Construction Of Toilets:

According to government data, maximum funds are release to Uttar Pradesh (Rs 6592 crores) and Bihar (Rs 2943 crore) in 2018-19 through SBM-Gramin for building toilets under this dream project. This number is considered as the highest since the launch of SBM in October 2014. Overall, the government claims to have built 99.85 million individual toilets until August 2019. So, 640 districts will become Open Defecation Free (ODF) in 5 years.

Promotion of this Mission:

Prime Minister Modi selected following public figures to promote this Mission they are:

• Sachin Tendulkar(Cricketer)
• Priyanka Chopra(Actress)
• Ramdev Baba(Yoga Guru)
• Salman Khan(Actor)
• Vidya Balan(Actress)
• Shashi Tharoor(Politician)
• Team : TMKOC
• Amitabh Bachchan(Actor)
• Mridula Sinha(Politician)
• Kamal Hasan(Actor)
• Virat Kohli(Cricketer)
• M S Dhoni(Cricketer)

Brand Ambassadors of this Mission:

On 2 October 2014, Prime Minister Modi nominated following people as Brand Ambassadors:

• Sourav Ganguly(cricketer)
• Kiran Bedi(Former IPS officer)
• Padmanabha Acharya(Former Nagaland Governor)
• Sonal Mansingh(Classical dancer)
• Ramoji Rao(Eenadu group)
• Aroon Purie(India Today group)

What is the Opinion of Our Prime Minister for this Mission?

Modi has directly linked the Clean India movement with the economic health of the nation. This mission, according to him, can contribute to GDP growth, provide a source of employment and reduce health costs, thereby connecting to economic activity. Cleanliness is no doubt connected to the tourism and global interests of the country as a whole. And it is time that India’s top 50 tourist destinations displayed the highest standard of hygiene and cleanliness so as to change the global perception.

Also Read: Atal Pension Yojana

Clean India can bring in more tourists, thereby increasing the revenue. He has appealed to the people to devote 100 hours every year to cleanliness. Not only the sanitation program, but Modi also laid emphasis on solid waste management and wastewater management. Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Rural Development, Drinking Water & Sanitation, said that solid and liquid waste management activities using scientifically proven advanced techniques will launch in each gram panchayat. Narendra Modi has also directed that separate toilets for boys and girls should be provided in every school in the country by August 15, 2015.

Criticism of this Mission:

Some newspaper articles suggest that open defecation has not fallen as rapidly and sustainably as the government claims. As per an independent research report published by ABP News, Haryana disbursement of incentives under the Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) in the state of Haryana has been made arbitrarily by ignoring the government guidelines of Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban). In 2015, hundreds of thousands of Indian people are still employed as manual scavengers in emptying bucket toilets and pit latrines.

Success:

As per an independent survey released by Quality Council Of India in August 2017, so overall national rural “household access to toilet” coverage increased to 62.5% and usage of toilets to 91.3%, with Haryana topped the national ranking with 99% of households in rural areas covered and usage of toilets of 100%. World Health Organisation (WHO) has in its report stated that at least 180,000 diarrhoeal deaths were averted in rural India since the launch of the Swachh Bharat Mission

Conclusion:

The PM has rightly Confirmed that Swachh Bharat Abhiyan should be a combined effort, of both the Government as well as the people. We hope that the Swachh Bharat Mission does not become another Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan, started by the previous Government in 1999 with the same mission but was far from a success. Swachh Bharat Abhiyan should not be a mere re-branding exercise. There is no doubt about the fact that change begins at home. Every citizen of the country should take it upon himself to make this campaign a success rather than waiting for the government to do.

So, let us also hope that we can change the attitude, of the people towards hygiene and be the change we want to see in the future. Because the report for the cleanest cities has released by the government. The survey conducted in the 4237 cities shows Indore to be the cleanest city in India.  The state of Chhattisgarh followed by Jharkhand made it to the top of the table in state rankings.