More than half of the states attain ‘ODF +’ status under the Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin: But north-eastern states still lag behind

By: Yash Gupte

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.

India has reached a new milestone under the Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin (SBM-G) with half of the villages that is 50 percent 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 2.96 lakh villages that have as of now proclaimed themselves ODF Plus.

Out of the 2,96,928 ODF Plus villages, 56,285 are ODF Plus Model villages, 2,08,613 are ODF Plus Aspiring villages with arrangements for either solid waste management or liquid waste management, 32,030 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, 1,65,048 villages have plans for managing solid waste, 2,39,063 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 2^nd 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 in which households have access to functional toilet facilities, all Schools/Panchayat Ghars/Aanganwadi Canters have access to functional access to toilet, with separate toilets for men and women and where there is facility of solid waste management or liquid waste management is categorized as ODF plus aspiring village. In the case of ODF plus rising village, it is different from the previous one in only one sense as this category has both- solid waste management facility and liquid waste management facility unlike the ODF plus aspiring village. 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. The goal under the programme is that all the villages achieve the ODF model status at the earliest.

Telangana is the top performing state under the Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin with all the 12,769 villages with a status of ODF plus. Out of the total 12,769 villages, 6,087 are ODF plus aspiring villages and 6,616 are ODF plus model villages. Coming over to the second best performer- Karnataka, the state has total 26, 292 villages out of which 26,207 are ODF plus villages and the number of ODF plus aspiring villages is 25,622. Uttar Pradesh, once considered as a BIMARU state due to the lack of development and facilities has emerged as one of the best performing states under the SBM-G. Out of the total 95,826 villages in Uttar Pradesh, 91,622 villages have the badge of ODF Plus villages and 81,957 villages are ODF plus aspiring villages. Among UTs – Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Dadra Nagar Havelli & Daman Diu and Lakshadweep have 100 percent ODF Plus Model villages

Talking about the worst performing states, the north-eastern state of Manipur has topped the chart for wrong reasons as out of the total 2,556 villages in Manipur, only 114 villages have the status of ODF plus and only 37 villages are ODF aspiring villages. Arunachal Pradesh has also been performing very poorly as out of the total 5,410 villages, only 114 are ODF plus villages. Even the resource rich Punjab is among the worst performing states as only 1,326 villages have attained the status of ODF plus out of the total 11,889 villages in the state. The data shows that most of the north-eastern and eastern states except Sikkim are performing poorly under the SBM-G. This highlights the lack of development in the north-eastern and eastern states of the country.

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.