As Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet project Swachchh Bharat Mission — aiming to make the country open defecation free by 2019 — completes one year on Thursday, a reality check has shown that while the programme is yet to make expected impact in the urban areas, it is gradually picking up in the villages.
As per the Government’s latest data, nearly 4.64 lakh toilets were constructed till September 4 against the target of 25 lakh till March 2016 in the urban areas. The project in urban areas is being implemented under the supervision of the Urban Development Ministry. However, the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, which is implementing the programme in rural areas, has surpassed the target of 60 lakh toilets for 2015-16 and built 80 lakh toilets so far.
While admitting that the Mission is yet to pick up momentum in many States like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu said the message regarding clean habits and keeping one’s surrounding clean has certainly reached all, including the youth.
“This needs to be further reinforced and consolidated to propel people into action for cleanliness… Swachchh Bharat initiative is different from others in the sense that this targets the minds of people while others seek to meet the needs already felt in the minds of the people,” Naidu said.
He was talking to reporters on the occasion of completion of one year of the Mission which was launched last year on October 2 by the Prime Minister.
The Minister added that the initiative is unique in nature and more challenging since it aims at creating demand for sanitary services and infrastructure, and involves behavioural changes.
Talking about the achievements, he said, “Based on reports received till August this year, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Punjab, Chattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana have performed well in construction of individual household toilets.”
“Some major States like UP, Bihar and Tamil Nadu are still to pick up momentum in this regard. Construction is still to begin in Union Territories of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Delhi and four North-Eastern States of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya and Tripura, besides Kerala and Tamil Nadu,” he said.
Under the Mission in urban areas, construction of 1.04 crore household toilets and 5.28 lakh community and public toilet seats besides 100 per cent door-to-door collection of solid waste and its scientific disposal are planned at a total cost of Rs 66,009 crore.
Speaking about the Mission’s one-year achievement in the rural areas, Joint Secretary (Water and Sanitation Ministry) Sarswati Prasad said, “No doubt we have managed to surpass the target of construction of toilets from 60 lakhs to 80 lakhs, the issue pertaining to behavioural changes continue to dog us.”
Neeraj Jain, Chief Executive of WaterAid, felt that a lot is yet to be done to achieve the targets set under the Mission. He pointed out that not only the budget was insufficient to complete the enormous task at hand, shortage of human resources, and low priority given to sanitation in decision making from the district to the village level, where it actually matters.
However, IMRB (International Market Research Bureau) consumption data shows toilet cleaning products are growing at a pace of 10-12 per cent quarterly since the launch of the sanitation program.
Not just the demand for cleaning products have risen, the cleaning aids such as toilet brushes, brooms, scrubbers, etc, have also seen a surge in demand, said Praveen Khandelwal of Pranay Impex a leading domestic manufacturer of household cleaning aids, adding that that the demand for such items have risen by 30 per cent in the last one year.