Dr. Banarsi Lal
The Swachh Bharat Mission is a mass movement for a clean, healthy and sustainable India. This mission lays the foundation for a long-term vision, addressing waste management in both urban and rural areas ,which has been made possible through the action various organisations. This campaign lays the foundation for a long-term vision, addressing the waste management in both urban and rural areas which is possible through a collaborative efforts by all the sections of society. It is because of this resolve that India has achieved over 4.4 lakh ODF villages, constructing more than 11.25 crores household toilets and 2.36 lakh community sanitary complexes. Swachhata Hi Seva has played a major role in achieving the targets which enables the mass level participation. Presently the population of India is about 1.43 billion and around 65 per cent of its population is below 35 years of age. There are 686 districts, 6849 blocks, 2.51 lakh Panchayats and 6.46 lakh villages in India. Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) was launched by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Sh. Narinder Modi on October 2, 2014 with the objective to eradicate open defecation. Theme of Swachhata Hi Seva -2023 was ‘Garbage Free India’ with a visual cleanliness and welfare of Safai Mitras.It is a pivotal component which enables mass participation towards this mission. It is not an ordinary campaign. It calls to citizens to actively engage in ‘shramdhan’ through voluntary activities aimed at fostering a sense of shared responsibility and to reinforce the message that sanitation is everybody duty. Like earlier years the spirit of cleanliness activities is voluntarism/shramdaan. This particular mission has received cooperation from the states/UTs, on-states agencies and most importantly from the people. There is need of more strenuous efforts on the waste management and garbage shouldn’t be considered as the waste but wealth. Swachhata has become a national movement and many people are coming forward in this national campaign. Swachh Bharat Mission aims to end the open defecation, build more toilets and effectively manage the waste products across the nation. It has attracted the attention of each and every one not only in India but in abroad also. About 1.7 billion people across the globe do not have access to basic sanitation of which 673 million people still go for open defecation. Open defecation is mostly practiced in the countries where there is high level of undernutrition, poverty and wealth disparity. The mission is urgently needed not only in India but for the whole world. The main objective of Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) is to improve the quality of life among the people by promoting the cleanliness, hygiene, eradicate the open defecation, motivating the different communities and Panchayati Raj institutions to adopt the sanitation practices, encouraging the appropriate technologies for ecologically safe and sustainable sanitation, scientific solid and liquid waste management for overall cleanliness. The mission also focuses on the healthy environment. Swachh Bharat Mission is helpful for strengthening the federal structure of the country. The mission also provides functional toilets for elementary and secondary schools of the country. Some states/UTs have really shown remarkable results while others are on the verge of open defecation free. In order to make a strong working force India needs to adopt good sanitation practices across the nation. Health status of the nation directly influences its economic development. In order to achieve the desired results, there is need to change the behaviour of the people. Still in some areas open defecation is practiced because of the attitude of the people as that has become a habit of the people. There is need to create awareness among the people to stop the open defecation. People should come to know the disadvantages of open defecation and understand the importance of toilets. The schools should have separate toilets for the boys and girls.
The Government of India is making strenuous efforts to make Swachh Bharat Mission a nationwide movement by involving the prominent ambassadors, NGOs, media, corporate sectors etc. There are various success stories of the mission and many social workers, children, teachers, people with disabilities etc. who have motivated the different communities in this positive direction. They are considered as the Swachhta champions in the movement. UN Environment Programme awarded environmentalist Afroz Shah with the “Champion of the Earth” Award. He is the first Indian to receive this honour. Some villages have kept particular day in the week for cleaning their vicinities while some villages have nominated Swachhta agents. Local authorities are cooperating in the movement. The village Sarpanches and Panches guide the people for the construction of toilets in their respective homes. All this is possible when we will make the efforts with full dedication and commitment at all levels. Social media can play a pivotal role for the dissemination of information regarding the mission. We need to seek support of every citizen of the country to clean up our nation. It can be made sustainable for the future generations. The open defecation practice poses some ill effects on our health which ultimately have a cascading effect on the economic well-being of the nation. Only the construction of toilets will not work on but there is need to change the behaviour of the people to use them. There is need of coordination, capacity building, finance etc. for the mission. Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin has strived to improve the levels of cleanliness in rural areas by solid and liquid waste management and making villages Open Defecation Free (ODF). Special guidelines, strategies and steps have been put by the government to get Open Defecation Free status for all the villages.
Sanitation is a state subject and state governments can decide their implementation mechanism and policies. The states are required to develop a framework with a roadmap of activities comprising planning, implementation and sustainability phases. The central government is complementing the state government to achieve the goals. This particular mission is different from earlier sanitation initiatives as it seeks proactive engagement with the corporate sector leveraging corporate responsibility opportunities. In 2014 Independence Day speech Hon’ble Prime Minister Sh. Narinder Modi spoke “Has it pained us that our mothers and sisters have to defecate in open? Poor womenfolk of the village wait for the night; until darkness descends, they can’t go out to defecate. What bodily torture they must be feeling”. Can’t we just make arrangements for toilets for the dignity of our mothers and sisters? “The sanitary disposal of human waste is sewerage in the developed countries. But in India due to the financial constraints and maintenance and operational costs sewerage is not possible. Neither the government nor the beneficiaries can bear the total expenditures, maintenance and operation of sewerage system. Also it requires skilled persons and good management for operation. Septic tank system is expensive and it requires large quantity of water for flushing. Periodic cleaning and disposal are another problems. Mismanagement of the disposal can cause mosquitoes breeding, foul smell and health hazards. In 1968 a revolutionary technology was innovated -the two pit pour flush toilet. Sulabh flush compost toilet is eco-friendly, technically appropriate, socially and economically acceptable. It is popularly known as Sulabh Shauchalaya and has been accepted by not only the Indian government but bymany other countries also. It does not require the scavengers to clean the pits. Sulabh flush compost toilets does not cause water pollution. It will be a centrally sponsored scheme through the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation. Sulabh approach has substantially improved environment quality and is based on the partnership of local governments and local communities. Toilets under this approach can be easily made and maintained. Sulabh organization has also introduced pay and use public toilets. The public toilets include bathing facilities and other free services for the children, poor and disabled. Sulabh campaigns provide health education to millions of people. The organization’s trains the people to construct more and more toilets by themselves. We all need to join our hands together to make India garbage free.
(The writer is Chief Scientist & Head of KVK Reasi SKUAST-J).
