Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (MDWS) - Year End Review, 2017

Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM)

• Objective - SBM is intended at accelerating the efforts to achieve universal sanitation coverage.
• It aims at achieving Open Defecation Free (ODF) nation and a Swachh Bharat (Clean India) by 2^nd Oct, 2019, the 150^th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
• Implementation - Behaviour change is the primary focus and fundamental tool for achievement of ODF outcomes.
• This is carried out through the Ministry's focused Information, Education and Communication (IEC) programme.
• It also promotes gender sensitive information, behaviour change guidelines and various mass education activities.
• In this line, the Ministry issued the gender guidelines and Menstrual Management Guidelines.
• Freedom from Open Defecation (FOD) week was organised from Aug 9 to Aug 15.
• IEC activities Rallies, Marathons, Felicitation of Champions, competitions, mass mobilization of communities across the rural hinterland was carried out during the week.
• Swachh Sankalp se Swachh Siddhi Competition is another major step towards making Swachhta (cleanliness) a people’s movement.
• Countrywide Film, Essay and Painting Competitions were organised as part of this.
• Swachhta Action Plan (SAP) is in line with achieving a Clean India by making swachhata everyone’s business.
• SAP is a first of its kind inter-ministerial programme towards this end.
• A separate budget head has been created for this by the Ministry of Finance.
• This is to carry out the specific activities charted out by different ministries.
• The sanitation ministry thus coordinates the works with all other Ministries, the state governments, local institutions, NGOs, media and the rest of stakeholders.
• Besides, the ministry is also allocated the charge of SBM-Gramin (rural sanitation programme).

Swachhata Pakhwada

• The objective is to bringing a fortnight long cleanliness drive by engaging Central Ministries and Departments, in their jurisdiction.
• An annual calendar is pre-circulated among the Ministries to help them plan for the Pakhwada activities.
• The activities include 'mass pledge' by the employees, inspection and repair work of all sanitary facilities in office premises, disposal of old items, pest control, etc.

NamamiGange

• NamamiGange Programme is an initiative of the Ministry of Water Resources (MOWR).
• It is intended at making villages on the bank of River Ganga ODF.
• Hence, the interventions dealing with solid and liquid waste management are being implemented by MDWS.
• Around 4500 villages located across Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal have been declared ODF with active help of state governments.
• The Ministry has now taken up 24 villages on the bank of River Ganga to transform them as Ganga Grams.
• The works include rural sanitation, development of water bodies and river ghats, construction/ modernization of crematoria, etc.
• These works on Ganga Grams are done in coordination with NMCG (National Mission for Clean Ganga).

Swachh Iconic Places (SIP)

• This is a multi-stakeholder initiative that focuses on cleaning up 100 places across India that are “iconic” due to their heritage, religious and/or cultural significance.
• It is done in partnership with Ministries of Urban Development, Tourism and Culture with MDWS being the nodal ministry.
• Designated PSUs or corporates are roped in for financial and technical support.

Swachh Shakti

• This is an event organized on March 8^th, 2017, International Women’s Day.
• Swachhta Champions were honoured for their outstanding contribution towards making Swachh Bharat a reality in rural India.

Darwaza Bandh Media Campaigns

• This was an aggressive mass media campaign organised towards the objective of Behaviour Change.
• It featured film star Amitabh Bachchan to promote continued toilet use, especially by men.

Swachhata Hi Seva (SHS) (Sept 15 – Oct 2, 2017)

• This is an initiative to involve people from various walks of life to take up the cleanliness drive as a service.

• It may include NGOs, schools, colleges, social, cultural and political leaders, corporates, government officials, Collectors and sarpanches, etc.
• It carries forward the message that Swachhata (cleanliness) is a collective responsibility of all citizens to keep the nation clean.

Source: PIB