(a) the details of the efforts made as apart of the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM)in rural areas;
(b) the major sanitary issues in ruralareas of the country and the steps taken bythe government to resolve them;
(c) whether the local population invillages have been deputed as volunteers toimplement the SBM; and
(d) if so, the details thereof?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF DRINKING WATER & SANITATION
(SHRI RAMESH CHANDAPPA JIGAJINAGI)
(a) The Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) (SBM(G)) has been launched on 2nd October, 2014, which aims at attaining Swachh Bharat by 2nd October 2019. Under this programme, the States are provided technical and financial guidance to accelerate rural sanitation coverage, including reduction in Open Defecation and promotion of solid and liquid waste management. The focus of the scheme is on behavior change and usage of toilets. Under Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin), there is a provision of an incentive of Rs. 12,000 for the construction of Individual household latrine (IHHL)to all Below Poverty Line (BPL) households and to identified Above Poverty Line (APL) households (all SCs /STs, small and marginal farmers, landless labourers with homestead, physically handicapped and women-headed households).Under the ongoing rural sanitation programme (Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin), solid and liquid waste management is an integral component and funds with a cap of Rs. 7/12/15/20 lakh is available for Gram Panchayats having upto 150/300/500 more than 500 households.
(b) Sanitation is mainly a behavioral issue. It involves change of mindset amongst people to stop open defecation and to adopt safe sanitation practices. Since this requires engagement of community and skill in facilitation, the process takes some time. The challenges pertain to capacity building of the implementing machinery, continuing focus on community involvement and collective (i.e. village as a whole) behaviour change, promoting flexibility, so that States take a lead and choose approach best suited to them, targeting district leadership, so that Collectors lead the programme proactively, promoting technological innovations, making the campaign a Janandolan, streamlining financial and programme management, converging other development schemes with sanitation to promote sustainability and having a robust monitoring and evaluation system to measure both outputs and outcomes.
In order to address the above challenges, a number of measures have been taken/being taken. These include:
• Focus on behavior change: Community based collective behavior change has been mentioned as the preferred approach, although the States are free to choose the approach best suited to them. Focus is also on creation of complete open defecation free (ODF) villages, rather than only on construction of individual toilets. This entails triggering the entire village into changing their behavior rather than dealing individually with beneficiaries.
• The programme provides flexibility to the States in the implementation. This is essential, given the vast socio-economic-cultural diversity of India, and also from the point of view of promoting innovations.
• There is a greater emphasis on capacity building, especially in community approaches and programme management. Lack of adequate capacities is a major challenge in scaling up the programme. Therefore, various initiatives are being taken to reach out to all the stakeholders. From the Government of India side, the States and select organizations (called Key Resource Centres) are being trained. These in turn are, carrying out trainings at the sub-State level. The key official at the district level-Collector-has been roped in the programme to provide leadership at the district level. They are being exposed to best practices, both through workshops and exposure visits. More than 450 Collectors from across the country have been trained. In order to provide exposure to officers at their entry level itself, a training module has been developed for LBSNAA, Mussoorie. The IAS and other Group A probationers are being given training for better implementation of SBM(G), including ‘triggering’ behavior change in communities.
• The programme is being run as a janandolan with cooperation of all sections of the society including the NGOs, Corporates, youth etc. The Panchayats are being actively involved.
• There is an emphasis on streamlining administrative and financial procedures, both to cut down on time, as well as to increase accountability.
• Innovations in technology is being promoted at the National and State levels. There is a National Committee under Prof. R.M. Mashelkar that examines all new technologies from the point of view of safety and feasibility.
• Sanitation is being prioritized amongst the overall development agenda. The Government has taken a decision to prioritise all Centrally Sponsored Schemes in ODF villages. Various other development schemes are being converged with the sanitation outcomes.
• Monitoring and Evaluation has also been strengthened. The IMIS has data up to household level, with provision to capture geo-tagged photographs of toilets. A Swachhta App has been developed that provides online information on sanitation status up to household level. The citizens can also do ranking of swachhta on the Swachh App
(c) and (d) The SBM(G) is being implemented as a ‘janandolan’ with participation of all sects of the society. Community engagement and involvement of local population of villages is integral to the sustainability of the programme.