‘Sanitation miracle’ in Rural India – A critical view

‘Sanitation miracle’ in Rural India – A critical view

Context: While India has significantly improved public sanitation from 2014 to 2019, moving towards being Open Defecation Free there continue to remain challenges in ensuring toilet use and addressing social norms.

Sanitation coverage in India:
• Sanitation coverage in India has vastly improved from 39% in 2014 to 100% in 2019, as per the Government of India.
• The Swachh Bharat Mission-Grameen (SBM-G), launched in 2014, aimed to make India Open Defecation Free (ODF) by October 2019. The government’s current goal is to transition from ODF to ODF Plus by 2024- 25, with about 85% of villages already achieving ODF Plus status.
• The National Annual Rural Sanitation Survey (NARSS) Round-3 (2019-20) reports that 95% of India’s rural population had access to toilets. Of these, 79% owned their toilets, 14% shared facilities, and 1% used public toilets.
• Although 96% of these toilets were functional and had water access, concerns were noted as only 85% of the rural population used safe and hygienic toilets.
• Between 2014 and 2019, approximately 10 crore toilets were constructed under the SBM-G.

What are the issues with sanitation coverage in India?
• Problems continue to persist with malfunctioning facilities, unhygienic conditions, and structural issues like full pits or collapsing superstructures restrict toilet usage.
• Lack of water in dry regions on the country as seen in Dahod lead to higher non-use of toilets.
• Toilet access and usage vary across castes, with upper castes shockingly showing higher rates of non-use of toilets.

What initiatives have been taken for sanitation coverage in India?
• Swachh Bharat Mission (Clean India Mission): Launched in 2014, this initiative aims to provide every Indian citizen with access to clean toilets, eliminate open defecation, and ensure scientific waste disposal. It is arguably the world’s largest ever behavior change program.
• Training and Grassroots Campaigns: An army of 450,000 ‘sanitation soldiers’ or Swachhagrahis have been spreading awareness of safe sanitation.
• Swachh Bharat Mission-Grameen (SBM-G): Launched in 2014, this mission aimed to make India Open Defecation Free (ODF) by October 2019. The government aims to transform India from ODF to ODF Plus by 2024-25.
• Annual Surveys: These surveys monitor progress and gather feedback from millions of citizens, encouraging competition between cities to advance the clean India initiative.

Way Forward
• Ensure toilets are functional and hygienic, addressing issues like collapsing structures and full pits.
• Ensure focus remains on household that could not be part of sanitation drive in initial phases.
• Continue to influence behavioral norm towards sanitation, hygiene.