Swachh Bharat Mission: On October 2, 2014, the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, India embarked on one of the most ambitious public health and sanitation missions the world has ever seen. The Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), or Clean India Mission, was launched not merely as a government program but as a jan andolan—a people’s movement. Its goal was audaciously simple yet monumentally challenging: to eliminate open defecation and ensure solid waste management across the entire nation, thereby fulfilling Gandhi’s dream of a clean India.
Nearly a decade later, the mission has transformed the landscape of rural and urban India, impacting millions of lives, especially those of women, and triggering a behavioral shift towards sanitation and hygiene. This comprehensive guide delves deep into the genesis, objectives, twin components, monumental achievements, critical challenges, and the future roadmap of the Swachh Bharat Mission. We will explore how this initiative became a cornerstone of public policy and how you, as a citizen, can contribute to its enduring success.
1. The Historical Context: Why India Needed a Swachh Bharat
To understand the significance of the Swachh Bharat Mission, one must first appreciate the scale of the challenge. For decades, India grappled with a massive sanitation crisis. Before 2014, over 500 million people in India defecated in the open. This practice was not just a matter of inconvenience; it was a severe public health hazard.
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Public Health Emergency: Open defecation was a primary cause for the spread of diarrheal diseases, which were a leading cause of child mortality. It contributed to malnutrition, stunting, and the cycle of poverty.
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Safety and Dignity, Especially for Women: Women and girls faced immense hardship, having to wait for darkness to relieve themselves, making them vulnerable to harassment and assault. The lack of toilets in schools was a significant reason for girl students dropping out after puberty.
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Environmental Pollution: Unmanaged solid waste clogged drains, polluted water bodies, and degraded land, creating unsightly and unhealthy living conditions in both cities and villages.
Previous government efforts, like the Central Rural Sanitation Programme (1986) and the Total Sanitation Campaign (1999), made incremental progress but lacked the scale, intensity, and behavioral change focus required to tackle the problem holistically. The Swachh Bharat Mission was conceived as a mission-mode, time-bound initiative to break this cycle.
2. The Launchpad: Vision and Objectives of Swachh Bharat Mission
Launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the mission was built on a clear vision and a set of specific, measurable objectives.
Vision: To achieve a clean India by October 2, 2019, as a fitting tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th birth anniversary.
Key Objectives:
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Eliminate Open Defecation: Eradicate the practice of open defecation by constructing household-owned and community-owned toilets and establishing mechanisms for their monitoring.
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Eradicate Manual Scavenging: Completely eliminate the inhuman practice of manual scavenging.
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Modern Solid Waste Management: Introduce modern and scientific municipal solid waste management practices.
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Bring Behavioral Change: Effect a behavioral change in people regarding healthy sanitation practices.
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Generate Awareness: Generate awareness among citizens about the link between sanitation and public health.
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Strengthen Urban Local Bodies: Build the capacity of Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) to design, execute, and operate waste management systems.
3. The Twin Pillars: SBM-Gramin and SBM-Urban
Recognizing the distinct challenges of rural and urban India, the mission was bifurcated into two segments, each under different ministries but working in synergy.
SBM-Gramin (SBM-G): Revolutionizing Rural Sanitation
Implemented by the Ministry of Jal Shakti, SBM-G’s primary focus was to make rural India Open Defecation Free (ODF). The strategy was multi-pronged:
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Construction of Individual Household Latrines (IHHLs): Financial incentives were provided to below-poverty-line (BPL) households and other identified categories to construct toilets.
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Community Sanitation Complexes: For densely populated areas and places with space constraints, community toilets were built.
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Intensive Behavior Change Communication (BCC): This was the cornerstone. Instead of just building toilets, the mission focused on triggering a desire for using them through campaigns, interpersonal communication, and community mobilization. The term “ODF” became a household word.
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Solid Liquid Waste Management (SLWM): Projects were taken up for managing liquid and solid waste in villages to ensure overall cleanliness.
SBM-Urban (SBM-U): Transforming City Landscapes
Under the purview of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, SBM-U aimed to make urban India clean. Its components were more complex due to the scale of waste generation.
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Household Toilets: Construction of individual household toilets where space was available.
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Community and Public Toilets (CT/PT): A massive drive to build and maintain clean and hygienic public sanitation facilities, especially for slum dwellers, floating populations, and tourists.
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Door-to-Door Waste Collection and Segregation: Mandating 100% door-to-door collection of municipal solid waste and its segregation into wet, dry, and domestic hazardous categories.
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Scientific Waste Processing: Setting up material recovery facilities (MRFs), compost plants, and waste-to-energy plants to ensure that less than 15% of waste ends up in landfills.
4. Phase 1 (2014-2019): The ODF Revolution and Unprecedented Achievements
The first phase of SBM was a whirlwind of activity and achievement. The government, along with millions of citizens, worked relentlessly to meet the 2019 deadline. The results were staggering.
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Toilet Construction: Over 100 million household toilets were built across rural and urban India, dramatically increasing sanitation coverage from around 39% in 2014 to 100% by 2019.
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Open Defecation Free (ODF) Status: All states and Union Territories declared themselves ODF by October 2019. This meant that every village, town, and city had access to a toilet and the practice of open defecation had been effectively stopped.
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Waste Management Infrastructure: In urban areas, door-to-door waste collection coverage increased from 70% to over 99%. Waste processing capacity saw a six-fold increase.
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A People’s Movement: The mission saw unprecedented participation from corporates under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), NGOs, and celebrities who became “Swachhata Ambassadors.” The “Swachhata Hi Seva” campaign became a national phenomenon.
According to a World Health Organization (WHO) report in 2018, the Swachh Bharat Mission could prevent over 300,000 deaths from diarrheal disease and protein-energy malnutrition by the time the mission was complete. You can read more about the global recognition of SBM on the World Bank website, which provided a $1.5 billion loan to support the mission, citing its impressive results. (Outbound Link 1: [World Bank – Supporting India’s Sanitation
5. Phase 2 (2020-Present): Towards ODF+ and ODF++ and a Garbage-Free India
Declaring India ODF was a historic milestone, but it was just the beginning. The focus of SBM Phase 2 (2020-2025) shifted from ODF to ODF+ and ODF++, and ultimately to Garbage-Free Cities (GFC).
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ODF+: Focuses on sustaining ODF behavior and ensuring functional toilets with water, maintenance, and hygiene.
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ODF++: Aims to address safe management of fecal sludge and sewage, ensuring that no untreated waste is discharged into the environment.
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Garbage-Free Cities (GFC): This is the ultimate goal, where cities are rated based on their solid waste management performance, achieving 100% waste segregation, processing, and remediation of legacy dumpsites.
