Features
India@70: The Second Year Of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan Witnessed The First Swachh Bharat Related Survey, Increase In Sanitation Coverage Across India
The much needed concerns on urban sanitation were addressed during Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’s second year, when more than 13 lakh toilets were built across India’s numerous cities
Highlights
- During the second year, budget for the mission was increased significantly
- Toilet constructions in both rural and India went up
- A city wise survey was launched to see the impact of the mission
Eight months into the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, the first survey related to the programme was carried out. The Rapid Survey was carried out by National Sample Survey Office between May to June 2015, covering 3,788 villages and 2,907 urban blocks. The number of households surveyed was 73,176 in rural India and 41,538 in urban India. 45.3 per cent of rural households had toilets and 88.8 per cent of the surveyed urban households had toilets. One positive aspect of the survey was that over 95.6 per cent people in rural households with toilets were using them, as were 98.7 per cent urban Indians. But there was bad news as well as 55.4 per cent rural and 8.9 per cent households continued to contribute to open defecation.
Here are some of the key highlights of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan Year Two:
- Increase In Budget | The budget for Swachh Bharat Abhiyan Rural for the financial year 2015-16 was increased to Rs 3,625 crore, a 27 per cent increase from the previous financial year.The budget for the urban wing of the mission was at Rs 1,400 crore.
- Increased Focus On Information And Education | Information and Education activities were also given priority and given the unsatisfactory performance of the urban wing of the mission, focus was increased on building more urban household toilets during the year.
- Additional Problems Related To Waste Focused On | Other urban problems of waste management, waste segregation and sewage treatment were also to be given focus in this fiscal.
- More Than A Crore Rural Toilets Built | By the end of the financial year 2015-16, over 1.2 crore (1,26,38,041) toilets were built in rural India, taking the rural sanitation coverage up to 50.34 per cent.
- Improvement In Urban Sanitation | For urban India, the number of toilets built stood at 13.2 lakh. Though the number was a massive improvement over the previous year, it still was way short of the target of 25 lakh toilets to be built for the fiscal year.
- Swachh Survekshan Launched | The Ministry of Urban Development began an annual survey, ranking cities on the basis of cleanliness, availability of sanitation facilities and how well they are dealing with waste. The survey, titled Swachh Survekshan was conducted among 476 cities, with Mysore topping the list.
The 2015-16 year was an important one for urban sanitation as there was a big jump in the number of individual households constructed and the number of rural toilets constructed also continued with its good pace. The sanitation mission itself started gaining popularity as people from all social strata came forward with toilet building activities, campaigns related to sanitation and made the campaign more popular throughout India, said Devika Bhandarkar of Water.org.