With over 60 per cent of rural households without toilet facilities, funds generated from the Swachchh Bharat cess of 0.5 per cent on all services is expected to go a long way in the creation of much-needed better sanitation facilities and safe disposal of burgeoning solid waste across the country.
While the additional resources mopped up through the cess is expected to expedite the achievements of Swachchh Bharat Mission (SBM) which aims to make India clean by 2020, the tax would make every citizen a direct partner and contributor towards addressing a problem which is caused by everyone and affects everyone.
“The Government proposes to utilize the cess to incentivise the construction and use of toilets for the poor and to finance the creation of infrastructure for collection, transportation, treatment, and safe disposal of solid waste,” said a senior official.
According to the NSSO 2012 Survey, just 40.6 per cent of rural households had access to toilets even 65 years after independence. Poor sanitation brings in multi problems: from malnutrition and poor learning abilities and poverty to opportunities for violence against women and children.
Apart from this, there is a huge economic loss to the nation as well. A 2006 World Bank study estimated that poor sanitation causes an annual loss of $53.8 billion or 6.4 per cent of the GDP by way of death and disease, lower productivity, loss of study and work times, lower tourism, and so on.
Under the SBM , the Government aims to construct about 12 crore individual toilets and develop solid waste management and treatment infrastructure across the country within the next four years.
The move to levy cess followed recommendations from sub-group of Chief Ministers on the Swachchh Bharat Abhiyan recently. The sub-group, with the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh as Convenor, and consisting of the Chief Ministers of Bihar, Delhi, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, West Bengal proposed cess to partly meet the cost of implementation of the SBM which was assessed to be approximately `2,23,692 crore.
“By specifically linking it with SBM, the cess would make every citizen a direct partner and contributor towards addressing a problem which is caused by everyone and affects everyone. Besides, to the extent of being direct contributors, a cess would also increase the public accountability for its effective implementation,” the official added.
And, since the campaign is implemented by states and local governments, the cess revenues would ultimately devolve on them. “Therefore, in the true spirit of fiscal federalism, the cess would help the central government assist the states, municipalities, and gram panchayats with additional resources to meet the campaign’s large resource requirements.”
Making case for the Swachh Bharat cess, the official noted that some of the most successful development initiatives like provision of school education infrastructure, including the mid-day meal scheme, national highways, and Pradhan Mantri Grameen Sadak Yojana have been financed through such taxes.