Friday, 17 May, 2024
An ODF Plus village is one that has implemented solid or liquid waste management systems in addition to maintaining its Open Defecation Free (ODF) designation. Image Source: IANS
Out of the 4,45,295 ODF Plus villages, 96,361 are ODF Plus Model villages, 2,93,361 are ODF Plus Aspiring villages with arrangements for solid waste management or either liquid waste management
India has reached a new milestone under the Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin (SBM-G) with more than 75 percent of the villages achieving Open Defecation Free (ODF) Plus status under phase II of the mission. An ODF Plus village is one that has implemented solid or liquid waste management systems in addition to maintaining its Open Defecation Free (ODF) designation. The SBM-G phase II goals will be accomplished by 2024–2025 thanks in large part to the more than 4.40 lakh villages that have as of now proclaimed themselves ODF Plus. As of September 25, 2023, more than 4.45 lakh villages have declared themselves ODF Plus.
Out of the 4,45,295 ODF Plus villages, 96,361 are ODF Plus Model villages, 2,93,361 are ODF Plus Aspiring villages with arrangements for solid waste management or either liquid waste management, 55,573 are ODF Plus Rising villages with arrangements for both solid waste management and liquid waste management. ODF Plus Model Villages are those that are maintaining their ODF status and have plans for both solid waste management and liquid waste management, observe visual cleanliness, i.e., have little to no litter, little to no stagnant wastewater, and no plastic waste dump in public areas, and display ODF plus Information, Education & Communication (IEC) messages. As of now, 2,31,654 villages have plans for managing solid waste, 3,78,513 villages have plans for managing liquid waste, 4,57,060 villages have little or no stagnant water, and 4,67,384 villages have minimal litter.
The Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin has received a total of INR 83,938 crore from the Central Government between 2014–15 and 2021–22. The budget for 2023–2024 is Rs. 52,137 Crore. Sanitation funding from the 15th FC are clearly allocated in addition to the SBM-G funds. These funding have been used to develop sanitary infrastructure, encourage behaviour modification, and put solid and liquid waste management systems in place.
Sustaining Open Defecation Free Status (ODF-S), Solid (Biodegradable) Waste Management, Plastic Waste Management (PWM), Liquid Waste Management (LWM), Faecal Sludge Management (FSM), GOBARdhan, Information Education and Communication/Behavior Change are the main facets of Phase-II of SBM (G).
Under the mission, all villages, Gram Panchayats, Districts, States and Union Territories in India declared themselves "open-defecation free" (ODF) by 2nd October 2019, the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, by constructing over 100 million toilets in rural India. The Government of India launched the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) in 2014 with the goal of eradicating open defecation and enhancing solid waste management across the nation. It is an updated version of the 2009-launched Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan. The SBM’s Phase 1 concluded in October 2019, and Phase 2 is being executed between 2020–2021 and 2024–2025. The mission's goal was to build enough toilets to make India "open-defecation free" (ODF) by 2 October 2019, the 150th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi's birth. Eliminating manual scavenging, raising knowledge of sanitary methods and changing people's behavior, and building capacity locally are the goals of the mission's first phase. The second phase of the mission aims to sustain the open defecation free status and improve the management of solid and liquid waste, while also working to improve the lives of sanitation workers.
The Ministry of Jal Shakti is responsible for funding and overseeing "SBM - Gramin" in rural regions, while the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs is in charge of "SBM - Urban" in urban areas. As noted above, the main primary focus of the mission is to make all the villages in India open defecation free.
The chart below shows the states with highest and lowest Open Defecation Free (ODF) villages.
Source: Ministry of Jal Shakti
A village is considered to be ODF plus aspirant if all households have access to functional restrooms, all schools, Panchayat Ghars, and anganwadi canters have access to functional restrooms, with separate restrooms for men and women, and there is a facility for managing solid or liquid waste. The ODF plus rising village differs from the previous one in only one way: whereas the ODF plus aspiring village lacks both a solid waste management facility and a liquid waste management facility, this category does. The ODF plus model village is different from the rising and aspiring village due to the minimal litter, minimal stagnant wastewater and no plastic waste dump in public places.
As per the information available with the Ministry, there are 4,97,130 community compost pits, around 3,17,024 vehicles for collection and transportation of waste and 12,36,471 community soak pits.
According to Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, union minister of Jal Shakti, the total budget outlay for SBM Phase II is Rs 1.43 lakh crores, of which Rs 52,497crore need to come from SBM-G and the remaining funds from the 15th Finance Commission (Rs 51,057 cr) and MGNREGA (Rs 24,823 cr) must be used. The states have budgeted Rs 22,264 cr from all sources for this year, which is more than the central share allocation from SBM-G of Rs 7,192 crore for 2023–24. A total of Rs 18,686 cr has been spent thus far, including FFC and MGNREGA, against this sum, including Rs 4,690 cr from SBM-G funding. This year, the states with the highest SBM-G fund expenditures were West Bengal (Rs 367 cr), Bihar (Rs 752 cr), and Uttar Pradesh (Rs 1,214 cr).
Some of the recent initiatives undertaken by the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation under Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin are- 1) Swachh Survekshan Gramin (SSG) which is being conducted since 2018 to rank the States and Districts on the basis of their performance on key quantitative and qualitative Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin parameters. - SSG has proven to be not just a ranking exercise but also a vehicle for creating a ‘Jan Andolan’ (people’s movement) and ensuring prompt action for achievement of SBM-G targets and 2) Swachh Iconic Places- An initiative wherein all stakeholders are involved for maintaining cleanliness of 100 places across India that are “iconic” due to their heritage, religious and/or cultural significance i.e. Ajmer Sharif Dargah, Ajmer, Rajasthan, CST, Mumbai, Maharashtra, Golden Temple, Amritsar, Punjab.
Though the number of aspiring villages in the country is high, the number of rising villages and model villages is still low. The success of the scheme lies in the maximization of ODF plus model villages in the country. Data shows that the north-eastern states have not been able to perform very well under the Swachh Bharat Mission and some more serious efforts are required to improve their performance and ensure the reach and successful implementation of the mission in all parts of the country. The central government, state governments, and local government bodies must work hand in and in successful implementation of the scheme, thus upholding the spirit of cooperative federalism.
