Swachh Bharat Abhiyan

Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), launched on 2nd October 2014, is a massive mass movement that seeks to create a Clean India by October 2, 2019 (150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi).
It has 2 components – urban and rural.
SBM Urban aims for the elimination of open defecation, conversion of unsanitary toilets to pour flush toilets, eradication of manual scavenging, municipal solid waste management and bringing about a behavioural change in people regarding healthy sanitation practices.
SBM Rural aims to make India an open defecation free country. It seeks to improve the levels of cleanliness in rural areas through Solid and Liquid Waste Management activities and making Gram Panchayats Open Defecation Free (ODF), clean and sanitised.
The urban component of the mission is implemented by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, and the rural component by the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Jal Shakti.

In 2020, the Union Cabinet approved the Phase II of the Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) till 2024-25
It will focus on Open Defecation Free Plus (ODF Plus), which includes ODF sustainability and Solid and Liquid Waste Management (SLWM). The program will also work towards ensuring that no one is left behind and everyone uses a toilet.

The Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) launched the ODF+ and ODF++ programmes towards sustaining and maintaining the toilets built under SBM Urban.
It aims to further scale up and sustain the work undertaken by the cities after achieving the ODF status under Phase I of the SBM-Urban.
Cities that have been certified ODF at least once, on the basis of the ODF protocols, are eligible to declare themselves as SBM-ODF+ & SBM-ODF++.
While ODF+ focuses on toilets with water, maintenance and hygiene, ODF++ focuses on toilets with sludge and septage management.

Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen – Phase 2, is making steady progress amidst COVID-19 Pandemic with 1249 villages declared ODF Plus.

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