To complete the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, the period has been fixed for 5 years (2 October 2019). This campaign has been estimated to cost about two lakh crores. Under this 4041 cities will be included. In order to ensure the success of this campaign, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation will provide 1 lakh 34 thousand crore and Central Urban Development Ministry Rs. 62 thousand crore financial assistance.
A study conducted by the Institute of Development Studies, Water Aid and Praxis, which was published in October 2017, claimed that several ODF villages are not free from open defecation. The study was done in three villages of Madhya Pradesh’s Sehore district, two of Uttar Pradesh’s Shamli district and three of Rajasthan’s Pali district. All of these villages were not only declared ODF but even verified so by a third party for the government. In all the surveyed villages of UP and Rajasthan, the researchers found open defecation prevalent and even identified the areas of open defecation in few of them. In one of the villages of Pali, where 900 households were surveyed, they found that the total current usage of toilets was only 1 per cent. While in two villages of Shamli, it was 63 per cent and 16 per cent respectively. But when the report was discussed in Parliament in December, the government dismissed it and refused to conclude anything from it. Nonetheless, the government’s Economic Survey quotes National Sample Survey Study (NSSO, 2016) and Quality Council of India (QCI, 2017) on usage of toilets and claimed that over 90% of the individuals who have access to toilets are using them. The Economic Survey also cites several health and economic benefits of areas declared ODF as compared to non-ODF, quoting a study of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation done especially for the purpose.
According to the Economic Survey of 2017-18, 296 districts and 307,349 villages have been declared as ODF. Eight states and two Union Territories—Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Arunachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Daman & Diu and Chandigarh—have been declared as completely ODF.
Out of the total budget allocated to SBM, Rs 15,343 crore has been allocated to rural areas while the rest has been given to the urban. According to the budget documents, the government aims at building 188 lakh individual household latrines in the financial year 2018-19. Among medium-term deliverables, the document enlists reducing open defecation from 20% to 10%. The other enlisted aim is to improve the solid liquid waste management of gram panchayats. Another budget document, “Status of implementation of budget announcements, 2017-18” claims that out of 8,02,054 habitations in Open Defecation Free (ODF) declared villages, 4,22,305 habitations have been provided Piped Water Supply Schemes (PWSS) up to 01.01.2018.
Simultaneously, Union Minister Shri Nitin Gadkari announced a grant of Rs 20 lakh annually to each Gram Panchayat under the Clean India campaign. This campaign is still in the initial stage but it is being realized by the government's efforts that the government is committed to complete this campaign in a time-bound manner. In order to educate the masses towards this campaign, the government is also using social media in addition to newspapers, advertisements etc.
Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is also called Swachh Bharat Mission and Sanitation Campaign. Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is a national level campaign. On the occasion of 145th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, Honorable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi announced the beginning of this campaign. This campaign is one of the important projects of the Prime Minister. On October 2, 2014, he addressed the masses on Rajpath and asked all the nationalists to participate in Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and make it successful. In the context of cleanliness, this statement is by far the biggest hygiene campaign. Our Prime Minister is very serious to change the image of India around cleanliness. Their desire is to make Swachh Bharat Abhiyan a mass movement and to connect the countrymen with it seriously.
To complete the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, the period has been fixed for 5 years (2 October 2019). This campaign has been estimated to cost about two lakh crores. Under this 4041 cities will be included. In order to ensure the success of this campaign, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation will provide 1 lakh 34 thousand crore and Central Urban Development Ministry Rs. 62 thousand crore financial assistance.
Simultaneously, Union Minister Shri Nitin Gadkari announced a grant of Rs 20 lakh annually to each Gram Panchayat under the Clean India campaign. This campaign is still in the initial stage but it is being realized by the government's efforts that the government is committed to complete this campaign in a time-bound manner. In order to educate the masses towards this campaign, the government is also using social media in addition to newspapers, advertisements etc.
