Swachh Survekshan

Launched in 2016, Swachh Survekshan is a ranking exercise taken up by the Government of India to assess rural and urban areas for their levels of cleanliness and active implementation of Swachh Bharat Mission initiatives in a timely and innovative manner.
It is also aimed at inculcating a spirit of healthy competition among cities towards becoming India’s cleanest cities.

The Government is set to launch Swachh Survekshan Grameen, 2021, to support acceleration of Open Defecation Free plus interventions and results in the country.
As part of Swachh Survekshan Grameen, 17,475 villages in 698 districts across the country will be covered.
The Survekshan is a survey that assesses the state of hygiene, cleanliness and sanitation in rural India as a part of the Centre’s initiative to award Open Defecation Free (ODF) Plus status to villages.
Before this, the Swachh Survekshan Grameen had been carried out by the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation in 2018 and 2019.

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.

In the latest Union Budget, the government unveiled Urban Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0. It will stress on further strengthening of the ‘swachhata’ (cleanliness) campaign of urban India and the government allocated the budget of Rs. 1.41 lakh crore, which will be implemented over five years from 2021.
The government intends to focus on complete faecal sludge management and wastewater treatment, source segregation of garbage, reduction in single-use plastic, reduction in air pollution, especially waste from construction and demolition, and bio-remediation of dumpsites.

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