About SBM

• 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.  

1. 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.  
2. 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.

Phase II of SBM Rural

• 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.  

Why in News?

• The Union Cabinet has approved the continuation of Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) till 2025-26 with a focus on sustainability of Open Defecation Free outcomes. 
• Over the next five years, the focus of the mission will be on sustaining the sanitation and solid waste management outcomes achieved. This will accelerate the momentum generated, to achieve a Garbage Free Urban India. 
• The Mission will focus on ensuring complete access to sanitation facilities to serve additional populations migrating from rural to urban areas in search of employment and better opportunities over the next five years. 
• This will be done through the construction of over three lakh 50 thousand individual, community and public toilets.