Year End Review-2017: Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation

Year End Review-2017: Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation

Swachh Bharat Mission

To accelerate the efforts to achieve universal sanitation coverage and to put focus on access to safe sanitation, the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi launched the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) on 2^nd October, 2014, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi . SBM aims at achieving Open Defecation Free (ODF) nation and a Swachh Bharat by 2^nd Oct, 2019 thereby paying a befitting tribute on his150^th anniversary.

Behavior change is the primary focus and fundamental tool for achievement of ODF outcomes. The Ministry is doing it by its focused Information, Education and Communication (IEC) programme. It promotes gender sensitive information, behavior change guidelines and various mass education activities. The Ministry issued gender guidelines in 2017 and Menstrual Management Guidelines on 2015.

Sanitation Coverage at the launch of SBM(G) on 2^nd Oct, 2014 was 38.70%. This has increased to 74.15% as on 18^th Dec, 2017.

SBM (G) Milestones
568.15 IHHLs built (in Lakh) since 2ndOct 2014	35.45 % increase in sanitation coverage since  2ndOct 2014
255 No. of ODF Districts Self Declared	4470 ODF villages in Namami Gange
8 ODF States/UTs (Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Gujarat, Daman & Diu and Chandigarh)	2,92,896 No. of ODF Villages Self Declared

Swachh Bharat Mission: Making Swachhata Everyone’s Business

MDWS is mandated to convene and coordinate all activities and initiatives towards achievement of a Swachh Bharat, besides its allocated charge of SBM-Gramin. In fulfilling this responsibility, the Ministry constantly works with all other Ministries, the state governments, local institutions, NGOs, Faith organizations, media and the rest of stakeholders. This approach is based on the Prime Minister’s call that Swachhata has to be everyone’s business and not only that of sanitation departments. A host of special initiatives and projects have come out in quick time in this process. The response from all the stake-holders has been extremely encouraging.

Swachhata Pakhwada

Swachhata Pakhwada started in April 2016 with the objective of bringing a fortnight of intense focus on the issues and practices of Swachhhata by engaging Central Ministries and Departments in their jurisdiction. An annual calendar is pre-circulated among the Ministries to help them plan for the Pakhwada activities. 

NamamiGange

NamamiGange Programme is an initiative of Ministry of Water Resources (MOWR), comprising of making villages on the bank of River Ganga ODF and interventions dealing with solid and liquid waste management are being implemented by MDWS.

All 4470 villages located across 52 districts of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal have been declared ODF with active help of state governments. Now the Ministry has taken up 24 villages on the bank of River Ganga to transform them as Ganga Grams in coordination with NMCG.

Swachhta Action Plan (SAP)

SAP, a first of its kind inter-ministerial programme for Swachhta, is a concrete realization of Prime Minister’s vision that Swachhta is everyone’s business. All Union Ministries/Departments have started to work for its realization in a significant manner with appropriate budget provisions. A separate budget head has been created for this by the Ministry of Finance. During the financial year 2017-18, 77 Ministries/Departments have committed funds worth Rs12468.62cr for their SAPs. SAP implementation started on 1^st April 2017. 

Swachh Iconic Places (SIP)

Under the inspiration of Hon’ble Prime Minister, the Ministry has taken up a multi-stakeholder initiative focusing on cleaning up 100 places across India that are “iconic” due to their heritage, religious and/or cultural significance.

The goal of the Initiative is to improve the cleanliness conditions at these places to a distinctly higher level. This initiative is in partnership with Ministries of Urban Development, Tourism and Culture with MDWS being the nodal ministry. So far in first two phases, 20 iconic places has been taken up. All these 20 Iconic Sites have designated PSUs or corporates for financial and technical support.

Swachh Shakti, March 8, 2017

Swachh Shakti was organized on March 8^th, 2017, International Women’s Day, at Mahatma Mandir, Gandhinagar. The Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi addressed the gathering on this occasion. Around 6,000 selected women sarpanches, grassroots workers from across the country attended the event, and Swachhta Champions were honoured for their outstanding contribution towards making Swachh Bharat a reality in rural India.

Freedom from Open Defecation (FOD) week (Aug 9 – Aug 15)

IEC activities like door to door IPC, Swachhata Raths, Rallies, Marathons, Felicitation of Champions, Quiz/painting competitions for Awareness generation and mass mobilization of communities across the rural hinterland was carried out for triggering Behaviour Change.

Swachh Sankalp se Swachh Siddhi Competition (Aug 17-Sep 8)

The Hon’ble Prime Minister has given the clarion call to achieve a New India by 2022 under Sankalp se Siddhi, a mass resolve to make all dirt and filth quit India. In pursuit of this vision, MoDWS organised countrywide Film, Essay and Paining Competition between 17 August and 8 September 2017 as another major step towards making Swachhta a people’s movement.

Darwaza Bandh Media Campaigns

Aiming at Behavior Change, an aggressive mass media campaign titled 'Darwaza Band' featuring Amitabh Bachchan to promote continued toilet use especially by men has been launched. The campaign includes 5 TV and Radio spots in 9 languages including Hindi and has been successfully launched on the mass media across the country.

Swachhata Hi Seva (SHS), Sep 16-Oct 2, 2017

In his Mann Ki Baat address on August 27, 2017, the Prime Minister called upon the nation to invoke a spirit of cleanliness and perform activities or SHRAMDAN and urged all NGOs, schools, colleges, social, cultural and political leaders, corporates, government officials, Collectors and sarpanches, to accelerate Swachhata activities during the Sept 15 – Oct 2, 2017 period.Prime Minister, Narendra Modi led the campaign by performing shramdan for twin pit toilet construction in Shahanshahpur village, Varanasi. He commented that “Swachhata has to become ‘Swabhav’ – it is our collective responsibility to keep our nation clean”. SHS received a huge response and saw massive mobilization of citizens including armed forces and Divyangs across the length and breadth of the country volunteering for Shramdaan towards sanitation and cleanliness through various activities.