Swachh Sarvekshan Survey

Karnataka's Mysore was voted India's cleanest city. Chandigarh, Tiruchirapalli and the New Delhi Municipal Council were the other three names topping the list of 73 cities surveyed for sanitation and hygiene conditions as part of the Swachh Bharat Mission.
Components of survey:

• Strategies for tackling open defecation and integrated solid waste management.
• Efforts for education and behavioural change.
• Methods for sweeping and door-to-door collection and transportation.
• Processing and disposal of solid waste.
• Provision of public and community toilet seats.
• Construction of household individual toilets.

About Swachh Bharat Mission:

It was officially launched on 2nd October 2014 and is India’s biggest ever cleanliness drive. The mission seeks to achieve clean India and aims to provide access to toilets to all households in the country.
Objectives of the mission:

• Eliminate open defecation.
• Conversion of insanitary toilets to pour flush toilets.
• Eradication of manual scavenging.
• 100% collection and scientific processing/disposal reuse/recycle of Municipal Solid Waste.
• To bring about a behavioral change in people regarding healthy sanitation practices.
• Generate awareness among the citizens about sanitation and its linkages with public health.
• Strengthening of urban local bodies to design, execute and operate systems.
• To create enabling environment for private sector participation in Capital Expenditure and Operation & Maintenance (O&M) costs.

Analysis:

• The purpose of the survey is to encourage cities to fix their sanitation and sewerage infrastructure by showing them the performance of the other cities. Competition makes one strive better.
• South and east India have taken better to the Swachh Bharat Mission than cities in north and west India.
• A total of 31.83 lakh toilets were built between April 2014 and January 2015 under this campaign, which is 25.4% of the target for 2014-15. Over the next 5 years, the government plans to invest nearly Rs 2 lakh crore to construct 12 crore toilets across India.
• The ambitious campaign has its fair share of challenges too. An impact assessment study conducted by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) revealed that toilets built in rural areas were lying unused, as the villagers were wary of using them.
• The problem is that rural sanitation policy does not address the real reasons why people do not like to use toilets. Many people in rural India, where 90% of the country’s open defecation occurs, believe that the kinds of toilets the government promotes are impure. There is also substantial concern over what will happen when the pits of these toilets fill up, since emptying a pit is associated with manual scavenging. Unfortunately, the government’s awareness campaigns are not addressing these concerns. Any policy that hopes to eliminate open defecation in the next 4 years will certainly need to take these important barriers into account.
• The mission will be successful only if the implementation is focused, time-bound and dedicated funding is made available. Regular monitoring and handholding of municipalities is also crucial. There is need to bring about a toilet usage culture through a sustained awareness campaign. The community has to be involved to make the programme successful.
   

By: Vishal