About SBM

• The Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) was launched in 2014 to fulfil the vision of a cleaner India by 2 October 2019, as a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th birth anniversary.
• The campaign is one of the biggest-ever drives to accelerate efforts towards achieving universal sanitation coverage, improving cleanliness and eliminating open defecation in India. 
• The Mission comprises components such as the construction of individual household toilets, community and public toilets, and solid and liquid waste management, etc.
• 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.  

Phase II of SBM Urban 

• The government launched Urban Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0 in 2021. It will stress on further strengthening of the ‘swachhata’ (cleanliness) campaign of urban India. 
• 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.

Why in News?

• A study published in the science journal ‘Nature’ says ‘Swachh Bharat Mission’ has helped avert around 60 thousand to 70 thousand infant deaths annually between 2011 and 2020 in India. 
• Researchers from the International Food Policy Research Institute, the University of California, and Ohio State University conducted a quasi-experimental study to investigate the association between the Swachh Bharat Mission and infant and under-five mortality rates in India. 
• They studied infant mortality and under-five mortality data from 35 states and 640 districts between 2011 and 2020. 
• The study said that after the Swachh Bharat Mission period, India exhibited accelerated reductions in infant and child mortality compared to the pre-Swachh Bharat Mission years. 

https://www.newsonair.gov.in/swachh-bharat-mission-in-india-averted-60-to-70-thousand-infant-deaths-annually-between-2011-and-2020-says-study/