NDTV-Dettol Banega Swasth Swachh India NDTV-Dettol Banega Swasth Swachh India

Open Defecation Free

More Than 1 Lakh Villages Take A Giant Leap Towards Being Open Defecation Free

Under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Prime Minister Modi aims to make India Open Defecation Free on 150th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi

Open Defecation Free
Highlights
  • 100 districts in rural India are also open-defecation free
  • 30 lakh individual and community toilets have been built across the country
  • Rural drive began with 3,000 villages achieving ODF Status

New Delhi: More than 1, 11,000 villages across India are now open defecation free. To understand the relevance of that, let’s look to a few years back, when about 48% of the population in the country defecated in the open according to report in UNICEF. Until a few years ago, the problem of open defecation didn’t even feature on the government’s development agenda. Prior to the launch of Swachh Bharat, nearly half of the people in the country did not even have toilets in their houses, and always relieved themselves in the open.

Despite rapid urbanization, there were barely any public toilets in our cities and towns.

Now, two years after the launch of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan, more than one lakh villages have attained the status of being Open Defecation Free (ODF). Every person in these villages have started using toilets.

The rural sanitation drive began with three thousand villages achieving the status of ODF last April. A year later, 1.70 lakh villages have combated the problem of the open defecation.

On an average 10,000 villages turn Open Defecation Free per month.

Also Read: This Australian Man Is Fighting To Keep India’s Girls In Schools

On March 15, the Water and Sanitation Ministry shared the latest progress report on the Swachh Mission.

“Under Swachh Bharat Mission, #OpenDefecationFree villages have increased enormously. Let’s keep the momentum going!”

Since the Swachh India Mission was launched, more than 30 lakh individual and community toilets have been built across the country. A total of 525 cities have been declared as ODF so far. 100 districts in rural India are also open-defecation free, a feat that was lauded by the Prime Minister himself.

 

 

The ambitious project is divided into two categories- Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) and Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban), and aims to have a completely open-defecation free and ‘Swachh’ India by 2019.

Also Read: 40 Steps To A Toilet, Yet She Defecates In The Open

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Highlights: Banega Swasth India Launches Season 10

Reckitt’s Commitment To A Better Future

India’s Unsung Heroes

Women’s Health

हिंदी में पढ़ें

This website follows the DNPA Code of Ethics

© Copyright NDTV Convergence Limited 2024. All rights reserved.