Written by Manoj Khetan
Manoj Khetan, a skillful and immensely creative journalist with a commitment to high-quality research and writing. Proven history of achievements in the field with several awards in Public speaking and Debates. Dedicated to creating high-quality investigative research for drafting an article with a desire to know the truth of the matter.
The objective of the study is to analyze the impact of Swachh Bharat Mission in improving the sanitization facility in Gujarat and thereby decreasing the spread of water-borne diseases in the region. This social revolution has stood out among all the other initiatives led by the government at the national level.
1.1 Introduction
The paper presents the perceived details about rural and urban sanitation in Gujarat, a state in India with a population of 60.4 million. It needs to be recognized that sanitation is not only a local issue but shares a vast concern on the global level too.
Mahatma Gandhi never compromised on cleanliness. He gave us freedom. We should give him a clean India. – Narendra Modi
India is a developing country where open defecations have fiddled major roles in dragging its feet towards a dark future and unhygienic norm of living. 60% of the world’s open defecation happens in India, not only local governments for both rural and urban areas need to be made accountable but equally the central government should be clench responsible. Adequate empowerment, resources, and a sanitation strategy are all we lack in the execution of the hygienic society. The sanitation strategy should be just, inclusive, and suitable. Toilets and sanitation systems are one of the most basic human functions where poor sanitation, water, and hygiene have serious repercussions on health and multipronged effect on the environment and economy of the nation.
Indian government first launched the Central Rural Sanitation Programme, in 1986. The programme had no specific target year and in ambiguous extents spoke about improving the quality of life. Apart from the toilets building government focused on several sanitation programmes which were launched in the next 28 years, like the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan in rural India and Basic Services for Urban Poor in urban India.
Sanitation is a basic need, yet more than one-third of the population is defecating in open due to the lack of facilities according to a report ‘Progress on Water and Sanitation’ by WHO and UNICEF in 2014.
Hence, India’s hope to be ODF remained as bruised as its millions of toilets that were built but never came in day to day use. Despite of creating infrastructure and led interventions over the decades in the form of five-year plans, the traditional thinking and religious behavior of the countrymen did not yield results. While the absence of monitoring led to defacement of the figured Toilets. When the infrastructure focuses have found to have certain limitations, the government shifted its focus to promote behavior and mentality by creating a positive image of Toilets through hitting sentiments of nationhood.
The initiative of the ambitious Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) in October 2014 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was a new thrust in the sanitation mission.
At the time when BJP became the ruling party in 2014 less than 50 percent of households in the nation had access to sanitation facilities and only 30 % of the liquid and solid waste and sewage generated in urban India was treated before being let into running water bodies. Every year, an assessed number of 0.4 million children died of diseases which were inherently because of sanitation facilities, and many suffered from stunted growth.
After some years of progress, household toilet coverage and water management have been found to take place so immediately that India would beat Modi’s deadline by half-a-year. According to a report in August 2018 by the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (MDWS), the target of making India open defecation free will be reached much before the deadline set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The states are fast becoming open defecation free.
Overall, the drifts advocate substantial progress in access to domestic amenities across the country during 2011-14 and supplementary at much wilder speed during 2014-18.
- Tap water: Over the period, the ratio of households with tap water in their homes has increased by 26 % and 65% total coverage done during 2014-18 while 12 percentage points upsurge during 2011-14
- Toilet: The expanse of households with toilets has moved up by 14 % during the last four years with the accomplishment of an estimated 68% where an increase of 7 percentages is done during 2011-14
- Waste Management: While the Toilet building rate is increasing constantly waste management system is also moving high. The government is playing a crucial role and now 16 percentage estimated growth is observed totaling 70% during the last 5 years
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