2. Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan
Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan (SBA) or the Clean India Campaign is an official initiative of the GOI,
envisaged and initiated by the Prime Minister of India, Sri Narendra Modi, on the 2nd
of October 2014 at
Raj Ghat, New Delhi. It is a campaign aimed at contributing towards universal cleanliness, sanitation
and a hygienic India and its people. The campaign has been bifurcated at an urban and gramin or village
level, with native objectives and well defined guidelines for implementation of the same.
Key highlights in SBA Urban are
 Elimination of open defecation
 Eradication of Manual Scavenging
 Modern and Scientific Municipal Solid Waste Management
 To effect behavioural change regarding healthy sanitation practices
 Generate awareness about sanitation and its linkage with public health
 Capacity Augmentation for ULB’s
 To create an enabling environment for private sector participation in Capex (capital expenditure) and
Opex (operation and maintenance)
Key highlights in SBA Gramin are
 Bring about an improvement in the general quality of life in the rural areas, by promoting cleanliness,
hygiene and eliminating open defecation.
 Accelerate sanitation coverage in rural areas to achieve the vision of Swachh Bharat by 2nd October
2019.
 Motivate Communities and Panchayati Raj Institutions to adopt sustainable sanitation practices and
facilities through awareness creation and health education.
 Encourage cost effective and appropriate technologies for ecologically safe and sustainable
sanitation.
 Develop wherever required, Community managed sanitation systems focusing on scientific Solid &
Liquid Waste Management systems for overall cleanliness in the rural areas.
Clear cut guidelines invoking complete state involvement has been defined in the implementation
process. Financial assistance and allocation of funds have been earmarked and the Ministries of Urban
and Rural development have been made the fore runners of the execution strategy. The PM also invoked
a process of nomination, whereby he selected 9 public figures to propagate this campaign. The names
included prominent people from all wakes of life and this brought about more publicity and awareness.
One would also see many union ministers, MP’s and MLA’s getting down on the streets and flagging
off the cleanliness drives in their home towns and constituencies, including the PM himself. Other steps
taken to ensure implementation and participation include a Swachh Bharat Run, Swachh Bharat App,
Swachh Bharat short film, real time monitoring and large scale construction of toilets.
The ultimate goal is to achieve the status of Swachh Bharat by 2nd
Oct 2019 which marks the 150th
birth
anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. Modi said that the Swachh Bharat mission is beyond politics, inspired
by patriotism and not politics. He also asked people to pledge “na main gandagi karoonga, na main
gandagi karne doonga” (I shall not litter and won't allow anyone to do so). He further flagged off a
walkathon as part of the Swachh Bharat Campaign, which is not just a slogan, but our responsibility.

3. Making a Difference
1. A UN report in May had said that currently, nearly 60 per cent of India's population practices open
defecation which puts them at risk of diseases like cholera, diarrhoea, typhoid etc. Under SBA
1565335 Individual Household Latrines (IHHL) have been sanctioned and 435805 constructed so far.
2. Less than a third of India's 1.2 billion people have access to sanitation and more than 186,000
children under five die every year from diarrhoeal diseases caused by unsafe water and poor
sanitation, according to the charity WaterAid. SBA will come a long way in reducing these numbers
significantly.
3. India also face economic loss because of poor hygiene and sanitation in the country as a World Bank
report in 2006 said that India losses 6.4 per cent of GDP annually because of the aforementioned
reason. The Swachh Bharat mission hopes to build 11 crore toilets in five years, at the rate of one
toilet every second.
4. If India and its tourist destinations are clean, it will bring more people and will also bring about a
paradigm shift in the country's global perception. The government plans to link SBA with Swachh
Bharat Swachh Smarak to improve tourism.
5. Urban India generates about 47 million tons of solid waste (garbage) every year or about 1.3 lakh
tons every day, according to a study by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). But this is only
in cities and towns with a municipal body reporting. Another 30% of urban India lives outside these
cities. If you add their garbage, the total would amount to about 68 million tons. Under SBA ULB’s
to engage in Solid waste management of their city in consultation with state governments. Smaller
cities can form clusters to become viable entities to attract private investment. 100% Cost
reimbursement for preparing the DPR shall be done by GOI as per unit cost and norms set up by
NARC.
6. Many civil society organisations and companies have also joined the campaign, spreading awareness
in urban slums and villages by putting on street plays about rubbish disposal, handing out leaflets
about washing hands and even giving out broomsticks to members of the public. Tata Consultancy
Services and Bharti Foundation, an arm of Bharti Enterprises had pledged a total of Rs 300 crore
each to build toilets in schools. Industry chamber CII has announced it would mobilise its members
to build 10,000 toilets across the country by 2015-16.
7. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley proposed that the donations made to the Swachh Bharat Mission and
the Clean Ganga Fund will be eligible for tax deductions under the Income Tax Act. The budget also
proposed Swachh Bharat cess on select services at the rate of up to 2 per cent.
8. CPCB estimates that in 2009, 38 billion litres of sewage was generated per day from 498 tier I cities.
Installed capacity to treat this giant river of wastewater is 12 billion litres or less than one-third of the
requirement. This means the remaining 26 billion litres is getting dumped into our streams and rivers
daily. on-site sanitation” (OSS) system to be implemented under the SBA to tackle this. The options
include Twin-pit latrines / Leach Pits, Septic Tank System with soak pit, Bio digester toilets
(Anaerobic – developed by DRDO, Aerobic Bio Tanks
9. The following has been achieved so far under the SBA:
2495 Urban Local Bodies Registered under the schemes | 30 Sanctions sent to various states | 12493
Swachhta Doots Identified | Existing Infrastructure upgrade and expansion for 253 Districts and 952
Urban local bodies | City Sanitation Plan extended to 163 districts and 560 ULB’s | Individual
Household Latrines (IHHL): Sanctioned-1565335 Constructed- 435805 | Community toilets
constructed: 13197 and public toilets constructed: 9222 | 31470 Wards with door to door collection |
15.33% Processing and Disposal of Solid Waste achieved.
10. Societal Acceptance has been high when it comes to SBA. Some may attribute it to the celebrity
endorsements, some to the cause and some to the approach. Irrespective, the attitude change is clearly
visible and there is no dearth in terms of effort and results.

4. SBA: Just a bubble..?
1. According to WaterAid research, about 16 million Indians a year gain access to a basic toilet.
This will need to increase to more than 100 million a year if the whole population is to have a
toilet by 2019. If the SBA aim is to fulfil its objectives by 2019 it requires to add 2, 73,927
toilets per day. Currently the best SBA aims to achieve 1 toilet per second, which are about
86,400 toilets per day. This huge gap will render the deadline set, unmanageable and unfulfilled
in the end.
2. The urban development ministry had calculated in 2009-10 that it would take Rs. 2.43 lakh crore
to build a suitable sewage network covering the whole of urban India. This includes only the
water sewage system and not garbage disposal. Hence the completion of the urban aspect seems
farfetched and may remain unrealised.
3. Time and again the question arises as to whether this entire hullabaloo is just symbolism or eye
wash. This campaign, apart from being a photo-op for the Netas and the Babus, is also a
platform for film-stars whose broom-in-hand pictures could do wonders for their careers. In the
end SBA may just end up on papers and photos
4. The futility of SBA stems from the single most important factor of ‘habit’ which remains to be
acknowledged, even with the removal of all physical impediments to cleanliness. A large
majority of the population habituated with unhygienic practices which have roots in centuries old
customs still continue to revel in the prospect of celebrating a Kumbh Mela without the slightest
notion of how it is instrumental to the beginning of the self-destructive cycle that people
dependent on the Ganges water lead themselves to, apart from the everyday acts of open
defecation, urination, bathing, cleaning clothes, dumping household garbage into these waters.
5. One of the biggest drawbacks in SBA is the lack of legal reinforcement to it. Littering in public
does not carry any fine or punishment with it in almost all of India. Even if a law was put in
place, the enforcement would be a nightmare with people habituated to public littering and there
would not be enough resources to deploy to ensure compliance.
6. If the P.C.I’s report is taken into consideration, which states that in 128 cities, except for street
sweeping and transportation, compliance to the NSW rules 2000 was less than 50%; in respect of
disposal compliance, it was a dismal 14%.
7. If the current 62 million tonnes annual generation of waste continues to be dumped without
treatment, it will need 3, 40,000 cubic metre of landfill space everyday (1240 hectares per year).
Considering the projected waste generation of 165 million tons by 2031, the requirement of land
for setting up landfill for 20 years (Considering 10 metre high waste pile) could be as high as
66000 hectares of precious land. Report of the task force on Waste to Energy dated 12th May
2014 by the P.C.I-
8. As per CPCB report 2012-2013, municipal areas in the country generate 133,760 metric tons per
day of NSW, of which 91,152 TPD waste is collected and 25,884 TPD treated”. This waste
generation figure covers only 31.15% population of India.
9. It’s said that SBA is a promulgation of pre-existing schemes such as Nirmal Bharat Abhiyaan
and others. Those schemes also had similar goals laid out, but reached no close at fulfilling them.
SBA might just end up being a pipe dream after all.
10. Political tussle exists to a large extent even in matters that are pro-nation. Many congress CM’s
refuse to be a part of the SBA whole heartedly as recently seen in the case of Karnataka CM who
declined to head the task force on Swachh Bharat.