Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) - Transforming India Through Cleanliness

Proper hygiene is key to the optimum health and well-being of individuals, and cleanliness is central to hygiene whether we talk about roads, slums, fancy outskirts of the cities and last but most crucial public toilets, especially in Gramin or Rural Areas. However, to tackle this problem, the government of India recently added a Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin toilet online application under its SBM facilities.

One can find this facility, under the Swacch Bharat Mission Toilet List or find the relevant details on the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan Toilet Online. Thus, to ensure cleanliness in India, the Government of India has initiated the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan on the 2nd of October, 2014 on the occasion of the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi. The father of the nation also used to say that cleanliness or Swachata was next to God and was fundamental in leading a healthy life.

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What Is Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban?

Launched for only the urban areas of India, the Swachh Bharat Mission (SMB)- Urban aims to make urban India clean and hygienic by eradicating the practice of open defecation.

Overview

Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) envisages the elimination of open defecation; replacement of poor quality toilets; proper management of solid waste; and promotion of healthy sanitation practises in urban India.

Key Goals

• Coverage: Proposed for 1,04,000 households with a focus on 2,50,000 community toilets and 2,60,000 public toilets.
• Implementation: The programme will be implemented over five years in 4401 individual towns.

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Financial Assistance

1. Individual Toilets:

• Some of the provisions include where the Central Government provides ₹4,000.
• Every state for general category ₹1000/- and for northeastern states ₹ 400/- minimum by the state government.

2. Community Toilets:

• Central Government bears up to 40 % of expenditure (approximately Rs six thousand five hundred only per toilet).
• Besides, states also give an additional 13.33 per cent (4 per cent for the North Eastern states).
• Budget
• The overall cost estimate for this mission is ₹60,209 crore for which the central share is ₹14,623 crore, for various activities including SWM and Public Awareness.

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Swachh Bharat Mission for Urban Areas 2.0

1. Goals

• Ensuring the cities are “Garbage Free” and proper & comprehensive wastewater management.
• The tests should be made to certify towns ODF+ (Open Defecation Free Plus and ODF++ for towns with less than 1 lakh population).
• On environmental provision, the emphasis should be on handling of solid wastes, recycling and rehabilitation of old dump sites.

2. Budget

• That is why, at least ₹1,41,200 crore has been proposed for the implementation of SBM-U 2.0 for 2021-2026.

3. Expected Outcomes

• All the towns achieve the ODF+ certification.
• As of today, 50 per cent of the town with a population less than 1 lakh population has Water certification.
• Every single town is awarded a minimum Garbage Free 3-star rating.

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How To Apply For Toilet Under Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin?

Here's how you can apply for a toilet under the Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin (SBM-G):

Apply Online: Fill out the Individual Household Latrine (IHHL) form online.

Apply Offline: Visit your Block Development Office or Chief Development Office at Vikas Bhawan.

Documents needed for online application:

• A scanned photo of yourself.
• Your bank account details.
• A scanned copy of the first page of your bank passbook.
• If you don't have an Aadhaar number, a copy of your Aadhaar Enrollment Slip.

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SBM-G provides subsidies to rural poor households to help them build toilets. These toilets can be built by the beneficiaries or with the help of community agencies in the village.

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What Are The Objectives Of The Swachh Bharat Mission Abhiyan?

The main goal is to make India open defecation-free and improve hygiene by building toilets and spreading awareness about cleanliness.

The main objectives of the Swachh Bharat Mission are:

• The second big step is in ending open defecation through the use of latrines.

• The improvement of low-standard toilets to pour-flush toilets.

• Proper handling of solid waste through the application of certain procedures.

• The elimination of manual scavenging, and providing better toilets.

• Conscientization to provoke behavioural changes in sanitation practises.

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What Are The Benefits Of The Swachh Bharat Mission?

It helps improve public health, reduces disease, promotes cleanliness, and ensures dignity, especially for women in rural areas.

The following points deal with the benefits of clean India (Swacch Bharat Abhiyan):

• Improved Health and Hygiene: They minimised diseases that would result from environmental inspection in residential areas that had poor standards of hygiene.

• Enhanced Public Sanitation Infrastructure: Improved establishment and usage of toilets and efficient disposal of human waste in the rural & urban areas.

• Social Awareness: The mission is to bring about a change in behaviour towards cleanliness and sanitation and make India a clean India or Swachh Bharat.

• Economic Development: The cleaning-up process has two immediate effects: it increases tourism and employment in the country.

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What Are The Challenges Of The Swachh Bharat Mission?

Challenges include maintaining the toilets, changing people's mindset towards cleanliness, and ensuring long-term sanitation practices.

Despite its successes, the mission faces several challenges:

• Changing old habits: Habitual cultural and behavioural patterns are not easy to change, where sanitation is an area of concern in the organisation.

• Sustaining facilities: Maintenance of the sanitation infrastructure as well as continued promotion of good practices is not an easy task.

• Waste management: Now and then, there emerge some problems touching on the proper disposal of solid waste and treatment of wastewater in cities.

• Reaching everyone: It is also relevant to address sanitation facility access and awareness of programmes in remote and marginalised areas.

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What Is The Rashtriya Swachhta Kosh?

Swachh Bharat Kosh was opened for public and corporate contribution within CSR towards Swachh Bharat Mission. This fund is applied to cleaning rural and urban areas, schools inclusive. To increase the chances of the donors giving their contributions, tax incentives may be Provided.