Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin)

The Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) launched by the Government of India on 2 October 2014 has a noble objective of making India cleaner by improving the sanitation conditions in the country. The mission has two major sub-missions, rural (gramin) and urban, focused on sanitation improvement in rural and urban areas respectively. The mission has the target of achieving total sanitation by 2019 and to make India cleaner and healthier for its people. This initiative is also expected to lift India’s image in the international arena so that the world looks at it as a better place to live, travel, and invest.

The mission enhanced the “incentive” for constructing each individual household latrine (IHHL) from ₹10,000 to ₹12,000 for most states in India, and this is shared by the central and respective state governments in the ratio of 75:25. Few states like Andhra Pradesh are offering an additional ₹3,000 from the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) for building IHHLs with bathing facilities. Providing sanitation facilities in all schools, anganwadis (child and mother care centres) and provision for community toilet facilities in areas where necessary are also planned for achieving saturation in sanitation coverage. Improving solid and liquid waste management (SLWM) is also an important component of SBM (Gramin).