Completing 9 years of a pivotal Cleanliness Drive

In consonance with Prime Minister Modi’s citing Clean India as a “shared responsibility” where every effort counted and urging collective participation in this noble endeavor that would shape a cleaner India, the mission gained good momentum. It was heartening to note that, with enthusiastic participation from people, the figures for 2019 registered over 100 million household toilets constructed. This benefited 500 million people residing in 630,000 villages. This mission became a trendsetter of sorts, as other countries like Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Indonesia replicated similar policies. Since 2020, this has also paved the way for investing in the entire cycle under SBM Phase II.

The financial sharing of this project was allocated and divided between the central and state governments. Thus, local ownership was established for its results, which was in turn supported by key development partners. The modalities of the decentralization of funds were left to the states to decide the right to the funding further down to the household level.

An exclusive allocation of a proportion of the funding was made for sustaining the uptake and use of toilets. This included social and behavior change campaigns and IEC, or information, education, and communication materials. Promoting key behavior changes through role modeling, intention building, peer monitoring and support at the community level, and regular exposure to media messaging were recognized as important in sustaining the use of toilets.

SBM advocated involvement from all and projected access to sanitation as everyone’s business. Annual work plans were developed by all ministries for streamlining sanitation programs within their sectors. Even though this was not a part of their core mandate,. This went a long way in ensuring the construction of an adequate number of toilets in preschool centers, schools, government and private sector buildings, healthcare facilities, farms, and many other places where it was needed. The prevalent government standards ensured that both boys and girls had access to it, and the girls had the requisite privacy and materials that were needed for practicing safe menstrual hygiene.

A team of Swachhgrahis, or community volunteers, who numbered over 600,000, was trained and mobilized by the government. They were imparted training on understanding the importance of safe sanitation and how to deliver crucial messages to their communities on a day-to-day basis. They were also taught how to monitor progress by using their mobile devices. They were also instrumental in organizing campaigns that involved children from households, community members, healthcare facilities, schools, government offices, and many other entities.

SBM unveiled multiple advantages. Apart from the primary one of preventing public or open defecation, it also prevented or minimized the contamination of soil and groundwater as compared to villages that did not have complete toilet coverage. A 2019 estimate revealed the creation of 7.5 million full-time jobs. This had a spillover benefit for the promotion of other SDG goals, namely those promoting environmental protection and upward mobility for vulnerable populations. The project of sanitation access, therefore, has provided both economic and environmental benefits. 

A quick look at the factors that are enabling the successful execution of SBM and the constraints being faced could be summed up as follows: this mission has had huge support from high-level stakeholders, including the Prime Minister, whose brainchild it was. It was easy to employ appropriate financing and monitoring systems and train volunteers and many role models and influencers supported this campaign. A special tax was introduced for SBM and accountability was promoted by treating it as “everyone’s business.” While these were a few crucial enabling factors, the constraints or challenges were the diverse geographic areas for implementation and the diverse cultural needs that needed to be addressed by the state governments and district implementers on how to initiate this activity at a local level. The COVID-19 pandemic brought with it economic distress and the migration of workers on a large scale. With schools and establishments shutting down, maintenance and new construction too took a major hit.

Sustainability and replicability came through by promoting long-lasting behavioral changes through a CLTS or community-led total sanitation approach. Rural communities started needing and requiring toilets through effective education and information. Cost-effective and sustainable sanitation models were developed. The low-cost twin-pit toilet model provided the utilization of local materials, turned the filled pits into safe fertilizer, and reduced the dependence on costly fecal sludge treatment systems. The training was imparted at the grassroots level to the implementers, who in turn delivered crucial messages to the households that worked in favor of the execution of this mission. This also formed the basis for scaling up this project. 

After delving into the launch and recap of the SBM progress, it would now be to fast forward to October 2, 2023, this year the date which saw the sapling of the Clean India drive planted and taken stock. This year marked the 154th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and was celebrated with the ‘Ek Tareekh, Ek Ghanta, and Ek Saath.’ Prime Minister Modi, during his 105th “Mann Ki Baat, “appealed to the people of India to pay a unique tribute to Bapu, our father of the nation, through ‘Swachhanjali’. As part of the mega cleanliness drive, people from all walks of life could join in the actual activities at public places on October 1, 2023. This initiative led to the ‘Swachhata Pakhwada-Swachhata Hi Seva’ 2023 campaign.