Sitamarhi becomes 1st ODF district in Bihar

• Under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Construction of over two lakh toilets in the last two months ensured that Sitamarhi became the first open defecation free(ODF) district in Bihar. Sitamarhi became the 416th ODF district in India.
• The district administration disbursed Rs 12,000 per toilet to 50,000 beneficiary households on July 21.
• Presently, Bihar needs to construct another 6 lakh toilets across its 37 remaining districts.

Swachh Bharat mission:

• Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (SBA) (Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) or Clean India Mission in English) is a campaign in India that aims to clean up the streets, roads and infrastructure of India's cities, smaller towns, and rural areas.
• The objectives of Swachh Bharat include eliminating open defecation through the construction of household-owned and community-owned toilets and establishing an accountable mechanism of monitoring toilet use.
• Run by the Government of India, the mission aims to achieve an Open-Defecation Free (ODF) India by 2 October 2019, the 150th anniversary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi, by constructing 90 million toilets in rural India at a projected cost of ?1.96 lakh crore (US$30 billion). The mission will also contribute to India reaching Sustainable Development Goal Number 6 (SDG 6).
• The mission contains two sub-missions: Swachh Bharat Abhiyan ("Gramin" or rural), which operates under the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation; and Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Urban), which operates under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

By: Ziyaur Rahman