Year End Review-2018: Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation Swachh Bharat Mission

Context:

  • The Prime Minister, launched the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) on 2nd October, 2014 to accelerate the efforts to achieve universal sanitation coverage in India and promote access to safe sanitation in India.
  • The SBM aims at achieving an Open Defecation Free (ODF) nation by 2nd October, 2019,a befitting tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th birth anniversary.
  • The SBM identifies behaviour change as the primary and fundamental tool for the achievement of ODF outcomes.

Swachhata Pakhwada

  • Launched in April 2016, Swachhata Pakhwada is inspired by the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision to engage all Union Ministries and Departments in Swachhata-related activities.
  • The respective fortnights place intense focus on the issues and practices of Swachhata. 

NamamiGange

  • The Namami Gange Programme is an initiative of Ministry of Water Resources (MOWR). As an inter-ministerial initiative, making villages on the bank of river Ganga ODF and interventions dealing with solid and liquid waste management (SLWM) are being implemented by MDWS.
  • All 4470 villages located across 52 districts of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal have been declared ODF with active help of state governments.
  • Now the Ministry has taken up 25 villages on the bank of River Ganga to transform them as Ganga Grams in coordination with NMCG. 

Swachhata Action Plan (SAP)

  • A first of its kind, inter-ministerial programme for Swachhata, Swachhata Action Plan is led by all Union Ministries in order to ensure annual planning and implementation of sanitation related activities.
  • All Union Ministries/Departments have begun work for its realization in a significant manner with appropriate budget provisions. A separate budget head 96 has been created for this by the Ministry of Finance. 

Swachh Iconic Places (SIP)

  • Under the inspiration of Hon’ble Prime Minister, MDWS has undertaken a multi-stakeholder initiative focusing on cleanliness in 100 locations across the country, which are “iconic” due to their heritage, religious and/or cultural significance.
  • The goal of the initiative is to improve the cleanliness conditions at these locations to a distinctly higher level. This initiative is in partnership with Ministries of Housing and Urban Affairs, Tourism and Culture with MDWS as the nodal ministry. So far, in the first three phases, 30 iconic places have been identified. Most of these SIPs have also received financial and technical support from PSUs and corporate.

Satyagraha Se Swachhagraha campaign(3rd to 10th April, 2018)

  • The Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation, in coordination with the Government of Bihar, organized a week long campaign“Satyagraha Se Swachhagraha” from 3rd to 10th April, 2018, in Bihar, culminating in East Champaran on 10th April, 2018, where over 20,000 Swachhagrahis came together and to “trigger” Bihar. 

GOBARdhan scheme

  • MDWS launched the Galvanising Organic Bio-Agro Resource dhan or “GOBARdhan” scheme on 30th April 2018, at Karnal, Haryana.
  • The scheme is aimed at keeping villages clean while increasing the income of farmers and cattle owners by promoting local entrepreneurs to convert cattle dung, and other organic resources, to biogas and organic manure.

Swachh Bharat Summer Internship 2018

  • MDWS, in association with the Ministry of Human Resource Development and the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, launched the ‘Swachh Bharat Summer Internship (SBSI) 2018’ aimed at engaging college students and NYKS youth with Swachhata work in villages during the summer vacation.
  • The SBSI engaged lakhs of educated youth across the country, helped develop their skills and orientation for the sanitation sector and amplified the mass awareness aspect of Swachh Bharat Mission.
  • As part of the internship, candidates were required to undertake 100 hours of sanitation related activities including shramdaan, creation of sanitation infrastructure, system building, behaviour change campaigns and other IEC initiatives in and around nearby villages.Over 3.8 lakh students registered for SBSI 2018.

Swachhata Hi Seva (SHS), (15th September 2018 to 2nd October 2018)

  • The Hon’ble Prime Minister launched the second edition of the Swachhata Hi Seva campaign on 15thSeptember 2018 through a video conference interaction with 17 locations, in order to re-intensify the people’s movement in the run up to 2nd October 2018.  Post the launch, shramdaan activities were undertaken by dignitaries like Shri Amitabh Bachchan, Shri Ratan Tata, Sadguru, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Mata Amritanandmayi, and others.
  • The campaign mobilised people between 15th September and 2nd October 2018 reigniting the “jan-andolan” for sanitation. Union Ministers, MLAs, MPs, iconic celebrities of India, sports stars, inter-faith leaders, corporates, etc., participated and appealed to others to join in this campaign towards swachhata.

Mahatma Gandhi International Sanitation Convention (MGISC) (29th September to 2nd October 2018)

  • The Mahatma Gandhi International Sanitation Convention (MGISC) brought together Ministers of sanitation and sector specialists from around the world.
  • Approximately 200 delegates from 67 countries attended the Convention, which was inaugurated by Hon’ble President of India on 29th September 2018 at Pravasi Bhartiya Kendra, New Delhi. The participating countries shared sanitation success stories and best practices, along with learning from the experience of the Swachh Bharat Mission.
  • The MGISC culminated on October 2nd, 2018, with the launch of Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth year celebrations, as SBM entered its fifth and final year of implementation.
  • The Hon’ble Prime Minister of India addressed the nation on 2nd October 2018 from the platform of the convention.

Swajal

  • Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation launched Swajal, a community demand driven, decentralized, single village, preferably solar powered, mini PWS programme for the 117 aspirational districts identified by NITI Aayog.
  • Gram Panchayats in partnership with rural communities and State sectoral agencies would be involved in the execution of the scheme and also operate and maintain the scheme. The programme would also sustain ODF status.

Source:PIB

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