the steps taken/proposed to be taken by the UnionGovernment to address the health relatedissues arising due to the unhygieniccondition of villages all over the countryparticularly in Bihar due to whichspecifically children and women are badlyaffected by cancer of the cervix, under weightness of children, malaria, dengue etc.?
MINISTER OF STATE FOR MINISTRY OF DRINKING WATER & SANITATION
(SHRI RAMESH CHANDAPPA JIGAJINAGI)
The Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) launched on 2nd October, 2014, with aim to attain Open Defecation Free India by 2nd October, 2019, by providing access to toilet facilities to all rural households. Provision of incentives for the construction of Individual household latrine (IHHL) has been raised to Rs.12000 for all Below Poverty Line (BPL) households and identifiedAbove Poverty Line (APL) households.Solid and Liquid Waste Management (SLWM) is one of the integral component of SBM(G).Under SBM (G), the following steps have been taken/being taken:-
• Focus on collective behavior change of Community entails triggering the entire village, 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.
• The programme provides flexibility to the States in the implementation in view of vast socio-economic-cultural diversity of India with promotion to innovations.
• Media campaigns rolled out centrally by the Ministry make people aware about issues arising out of open defecation. Apart from these, states also run media campaigns about health issues arising out of open defecation.
• A greater emphasis on capacity building, especially in community approaches and programme management. The 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. The key official at the district level-Collector-has been roped in the programme to provide leadership at the district level.
• 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.
• Innovations in technology is being promoted at the National and State levels. There is a National Committee under Prof. R.A.Mashelkar that examines all new technologies from the point of view of safety and feasibility.
• Monitoring and Evaluation has also been strengthened. The IMIS has data up to household level, with provision to capture geo-tagged photographs of toilets.
The above mentioned measures aim to address the problem of open defecation resulting in an ODF society, this would greatly help in solving the health related complications existing across different age groups and sections arising out of unhygienic conditions due to open defecation.