GD and Essay Topic: The effects Swachh Bharat Abhiyan

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Updated on Dec 29, 2022 17:58 IST

The government launched “Swachh Bharat Abhiyan” on October 2, 2014. The initiative was launched to mark the 145^th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

By Marvin John

This article was first published on October 12, 2020.

Everyone wants a clean and pollution-free environment. From our childhood we are taught to practice hygiene and keep our surroundings clean. However, today due to the rising population in many metro cities in India, pollution has become a major deterrent.

After the elections of 2014, when BJP came to power and Mr. Narendra Modi took oath as Prime Minister, the government launched “Swachh Bharat Abhiyan” on October 2 of the same year. The initiative was launched to mark the 145^th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

The need for this initiative was also high because as per a UN report, India loses USD 54 billion annually due to shortage of toilet facilities and till 2013 India faced the highest rate of stunted growth among children. All this was due to open defecation and orally transmitted diseases, which has reduced due to proper implementation of this mission.

This mission was expensive, to be implemented at an estimated cost of Rs 62,000 crore. The aim was to cover more than 4,000 towns over a span of five years. This mission was launched with the motive to eradicate the sanitation crisis in India by 2019. The motive of the Central Government was to educate the citizens to practise clean and hygienic habits, like washing hands before and after eating, not to defecate in the open, etc.

The objective of primary health care can only be achieved through proper sanitation facilities. This will also reduce the spread of diseases. Often sanitation facility and education on such topics are ignored, but these are the basic habits that every citizen needs to learn and practise if they want the nation to grow.

Just like the government had spread awareness related to Polio and achieved eradication of the disease, the same is being done in case of promoting Swachh Bharat Mission. The government ran mass campaigns and advertisements related to Swachh Bharat Mission and ultimately succeeded in creating awareness among people.

This mission got its desired results due to:

High priority on this project by ruling party,
Efficient and effective monitoring system, and
High accountability from the rural and urban co-workers.

To make this mission more effective and check the applicability the government focuses on following points:

Adequate sanitation facilities provided to schools in rural as well as Urban areas.
To emphasise more on sanitisation and hygiene, and also to include such topics in children’s school syllabus.
To check the progress of this mission on ground level, from time to time.
Encouraging the Non-Government Organisations to participate and help the government in the cleanliness drive.
The PPP (Public Private Partnership) is used to fasten the construction process of sanitation facilities in rural areas.
To improve the methods and approaches of implementation of such policies.
By developing an efficient monitoring system that helps in regular checking on the project.

As we know that cleanliness and sanitation habits are something that come from within and this Swachh Bharat Mission has definitely helped to change people’s mentality, and adapt the safe and clean habits of sanitisation.

This implementation of this mission was not an easy task, as habits die hard. So changing people’s perception toward cleanliness and their beliefs was not easy for the government. Everyone has their own pre-set standards for cleanliness and hygiene, so convincing them to the standards set by WHO was the most difficult part; but due to smart marketing and advertising the government succeeded in implementing those steps.

The implementation of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan was earlier for the purpose of educating rural people to not defecate in open and build toilets, to create awareness for cleanliness as dirty environment is the main cause for many diseases among people.

This mission has helped in improving the lifestyle of Urban as well as Rural people. By improving the lifestyle, it has also helped them to lead a more health and disease free life. Thus making the people more healthy and more efficient.

When the citizens of a country are health and disease free so they can work more efficiently and improve the country’s economy. This Swachh Bharat Abhiyan has improved the country's labour force and has made them more strong and enthusiastic to work in the industry.

In its initial stage this mission was criticised by the opposition as a political propaganda and a gimmick that will fail soon, but this mission has proved to be effective in bringing the change which was most desired and need of the hour in a developing country like India.

Now each and every citizen feels it’s their responsibility to keep our country clean and pollution free, and many cities and industries are also adopting waste management and recycling steps to reduce the garbage pile on.

Many factories and industries have moved to using renewable resources like wind energy, solar energy etc. to reduce waste and save power. This step has helped our country to reduce pollution and waste generation hence leading to a cleaner and green environment.

The aim of this mission towards sanitation facilities was to construct 11 crore toilets till 2019 which was a massive target and it helped to make India cleaner and safe from diseases. The mission has contributed toward the aim to achieving a cleaner and greener India.

About the Author

Marvin John is from Raipur, Chhattisgarh. He is an MBA Finance and HHM (Hospital and Healthcare Management) student from MIT-WPU, Pune. He has done BCom from MATS University, Raipur. He has been recently recruited by Deloitte US India for Tax Consultant profile.

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