Table of Contents
SWACHH BHARAT MISSION
- Run by the Government of India, the mission aims to achieve an “open-defecation free” (ODF) India by 2 October 2019, the 150th anniversary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi, by constructing 100 million toilets in rural India at a projected cost of ₹1.96 lakh crore (US$28 billion).
WHAT FAMOUS PERSONALITIES HAVE SAID ON INDIA’S SWACH BHARAT MISSION
HOW ODF WORKS?
HOW IT WORKS?
- According to the SBM guidelines, a village can declare itself ODF by passing a resolution to the effect in the gram sabha.
- This information is then uploaded on the SBM database and the village concerned is marked as ‘declared ODF’.
DETAILS
- For verification of the ODF declaration, the guidelines suggest that ‘at least’ two verifications be carried out.
- The first level of verification should be done within three months of declaration and the second level – to ensure that villages don’t fall out of the ODF status – within six months of the first verification.
THE PROBLEM
- First-level verification has not been carried out in about 10% these villages.
- Several states have verified, according to the database, 100% of their villages. But some states such as Bihar and Odisha remain laggards.
WHAT ABOUT SECOND LEVEL VERIFICATION?
- According to the SBM guidelines, second-level of verification should be carried out within six months of first-level verification. This is key to ensure that villages do not fall out of ODF status. But only 24% of villages in India have undergone second-level verification. There are 10 states where not a single village has performed the second-level of verification.
- Sanitation coverage in the rural areas of the country, which was 38.7 per cent on October 2, 2014, has been increased to more than 98 per cent, the government has said.
- However, problems remain in some areas. Lack of running water, poor maintenance and slow behaviour change are hampering the programme.
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