Swachh Bharat 2.0

Context: As India celebrates the 75th anniversary of its independence much can be said about the progress the country has made in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) concerning sanitation.

• The concept of sanitation in the Indian context has been around since the Indus Valley civilisation.
  • However, till 2014, sanitation coverage in India was as low as 39 per cent. Around 55 crore people in rural areas were without a toilet facility before 2014 and this severely affected the health and dignity of our people, especially women and children.

Impacts of poor sanitation:

• Impact of poor sanitation on health:
  • Exposure to contaminated drinking water and food with pathogen-laden human waste is a major cause of diarrhoea and can cause cholera, trachoma, intestinal worms, etc, leading to the “stunting” of huge swathes of our children.
  • Poor hygiene and waste management practices also impact the environment with untreated sewage flowing directly into water bodies and affecting coastal and marine ecosystems, contaminating soil and air, and exposing millions to disease.
• Economic impact of poor sanitation:
  • A study by the World Bank states that the absence of toilets and conventional sanitation costs India 6.4 percent of its GDP in 2006.
  • The economic impact of poor sanitation for India is at least $38.5 billion every year under health, education, access time, and tourism.

Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM):

• The launch of the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) had a unique goal — to achieve universal sanitation coverage and to make the country Open Defecation Free (ODF).
• By offering financial incentives for building household toilets, as well as community toilets for slums and migrant populations, the government gave a huge fillip to the toilet infrastructure.
• To bring changes to the age-old idea that toilets in the home were unclean, the government ran several programs with the participation of the private sector and NGOs to educate the population on the benefits of ODF in what is acclaimed as one of the largest behaviour change programs in the world.
• From 2014 to 2020, more than 10 crore toilets were constructed. The country declared itself ODF on October 2, 2019.

About SBM-U 2.0:

• SBM-U 2.0, announced in Budget 2021-22, is the continuation of SBM-U first phase.
• It was launched on 1st October 2021 to achieve the vision of ‘Garbage Free Cities’ over the next five years.
• The government is also trying to tap safe containment, transportation, disposal of faecal sludge, and septage from toilets.
• It will be implemented over five years from 2021 to 2026 with an outlay of Rs.1.41 lakh crore.
• SBM-U first phase was launched on 2nd October 2014 aiming at making urban India Open Defecation Free (ODF) and achieving 100% scientific management of municipal solid waste. It lasted till October 2019.

Mission Outcomes:

• All statutory towns will become ODF+ certified (focuses on toilets with water, maintenance and hygiene).
• All statutory towns with less than 1 lakh population will become ODF++ certified (focuses on toilets with sludge and septage management).
• 50% of all statutory towns with less than 1 lakh population will become Water+ certified (aims to sustain toilets by treating and reuse of water).
• All statutory towns will be at least 3-star Garbage Free rated as per MoHUA’s Star Rating Protocol for Garbage Free cities.
• Bioremediation of all legacy dumpsites.

Lighthouse Initiative (LHI):

• The Lighthouse Initiative (LHI) commissioned by the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation as part of the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav is to be implemented through PPP, across villages in 75 Gram panchayats in 15 states in Phase1.
• LHI is based on the principle of inclusive sanitation and leaving no one behind.

Aim of the Initiative:

• LHI aims to effectively implement solid and liquid waste management structures by employing a participatory and consultative approach through mobilization of the village communities, corporates, district and block administration, and gram panchayat officers.

Significance of LHI:

• Joint ownership and accountability between local governments, communities, and corporates will ensure the success of the initiative.
• Managing household and plastic waste as well as wastewater at a village level, defining and implementing solutions to convert waste to achieve a remunerative return not only creates hygienic surroundings for the communities but allows them to become economically self-sufficient in the medium to long term.
• Recovery of precious grey water through minimal treatment and treatment of sewage helps tackle scarce water resources, encouraging reuse and conserving water bodies.
• The ability of corporates to team up with the village communities to convert their waste to wealth by utilizing simple and cost-effective technologies that can be managed by them independently in the long run, as well as their ability to help build the capacity of the gram panchayats in understanding how to manage the various programs are areas where PPPs can excel.

India Sanitation Coalition (ISC):

• Multistakeholder platform:
  • The India Sanitation Coalition (ISC) is a multi-stakeholder platform that creates meaningful collaborations.
  • These stakeholders include the private sector, government, financial institutions, civil society groups, media, donors, etc.
  • ISC is recognized as the official intersection between the government and the private sector for engagement in helping build solid and liquid waste management infrastructure sustainably.
• Private sector partnerships:
  • In choosing to partner with ISC on the LHI initiative and the early batch of corporates that have come forward such as ITC, Jindal Steel and Power, JSW, Nayara, HCL, and foundations such as Ambuja Cement, Tata Trusts and Aga Khan Trust, the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation has recognized the benefits of working with the private sector.

Funding of the Initiative:

• Understanding the on-ground need for solid and liquid waste management infrastructure, has included activities such as the construction of soak pits, waste stabilization ponds, drainage channels, compost pits, collection and segregations sheds, and biogas plants as part of the Rs1,40,881 crore that will be provided over the next five years. The private sector will supplement this through CSR funding.

Management and technology expertise:

• The ISC will continue to focus on the government’s position about the thematic interlinkages between WASH and sectors such as health, education, gender, nutrition, and livelihoods.
• This will include urban and rural challenges and create viable programs where government funding will be used primarily for infrastructure building and the private sector comes in as a strategic partner providing expertise in management and technology.

Way Forward:

• These successful collaborations, “lighthouses” should be documented and disseminated to enable replication across the country, holding the promise of taking forward the remarkable success of the first phase of SBM.
• All these efforts together endeavour into culminating a Swachh (Clean), Swasth (Healthy), and Sundar (Beautiful) Bharat that we dreamt for us and future generations to inherit which will be a real tribute to the ‘Father of the Nation’.

Source: Indian Express

Additional Information:

SWACHH SURVEKSHAN AWARDS 2022:

Key Highlights –

• Indore has been adjudged the cleanest city of India for the sixth year in a row, while Madhya Pradesh is the cleanest state in the country.
• Surat is the second cleanest city and Navi Mumbai comes a close third in the category of cities with a population more than a lakh.
• In the population category of less than one lakh, Panchgani and Karad from Maharashtra bagged the first and third positions respectively, while Patan from Chhattisgarh bagged the second position.
• Tirupati received the best city award in Safai Mitra Suraksha category, while Haridwar in Uttarakhand received the award for the best Ganga town in more than one lakh population cities.
• Shivamogga in Karnataka received the fast mover city award.

Source:  The Hindu