Ten years of a national developmental programme such as the SBM is a good time to take stock of its progress and achievements.
The recent release of the scientific report in the Nature journal on the Swachh Bharat Mission’s (SBM) impact on the reduction in infant and child mortality broadly coincides with the 10-year anniversary of the programme. Announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Independence Day speech to the nation from the Red Fort on August 15, 2014, it was formally launched on October 2 of the same year. Focused on the massive challenge of eliminating open defecation in the country by October 2, 2019 (the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi), the SBM sought to change the behaviour of about 550 million Indians from their traditional habit of defecating in the open to using the over 100 million household toilets constructed for them by the government. While the success of the programme had many positive spinoffs, including providing dignity and security to women and girls, the Nature report validates its significant health impact, asserting that the provision of toilets under the Mission saved the lives of 60,000–70,000 infants and children under the age of five on an annual basis.
Ten years of a national developmental programme such as the SBM is a good time to take stock of its progress and achievements. To begin with, the audacity of Prime Minister Modi’s announcement on August 15, 2014, took not just the nation, but the world by storm. This was the first time in history that any head of government in the world was publicly committing to ending the scourge of open defecation in his country in a specified time frame. Firstly, the Prime Minister was not shirking from bringing out the hitherto taboo topic of sanitation from the closet and, secondly, he was talking about a scale and level of speed almost unimaginable — changing the behaviour of 550 million people in five years. If ever there was a big hairy audacious goal, this was it. No wonder there was a simultaneous sense of shock and awe at the announcement. But, under the personal leadership of the Prime Minister, the programme took shape and, in the form of a jan andolan (mass movement), was successfully implemented in village after village, district after district and state after state.
Communicating directly with the people through multiple platforms, including his monthly Mann Ki Baat radio address, the Prime Minister fired the people’s imagination and inspired them to make the SBM a community and village-led initiative. The entire population of a village would passionately work to make their communities open defecation free (ODF) and when they achieved success, would take out a gaurav yatra (pride tour). It was a matter of pride for a village community to declare itself ODF and soon a friendly competition broke out across the country between villages, districts and even states. Once states like Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Uttarakhand and Haryana declared themselves ODF, other states followed suit and finally on October 2, 2019, all the states declared themselves ODF. However, the behaviour change focus and work to sustain the achievements of the SBM continued under phase two.
In terms of the outcomes of the SBM, in addition to the health benefits outlined in the Nature journal and enhancement of the dignity and security of women and girls, there were other positive spinoffs. One of them was its economic benefit — a study conducted by UNICEF estimated that achievement of ODF status in a village resulted in each of its households saving approximately Rs 50,000 annually on account of avoided medical fees, time savings, etc. One of our annual Sudhir Dar SBM cartoon calendars showed a bored doctor at a primary health centre sitting outside his clinic and idly swatting flies as he had run out of business since the villagers had stopped defecating in the open — and consequently stopped falling chronically ill of diarrhoea.
The SBM also had several lessons and experiences to share with the world. At the Mahatma Gandhi International Sanitation Convention in October 2018, the Prime Minister chaired the concluding session alongside the Secretary General of the United Nations and in attendance were 55 Health and Sanitation Ministers from around the developing world — all there to share the swachhata experience and learn from it. The visiting Nigerian Minister for Water and Sanitation was so impressed by what he learned at the conference that he returned to his country and started the Clean Nigeria Campaign. The four key lessons of the SBM which were enshrined in the Delhi Declaration of the conference became known as the four Ps. These four Ps — political leadership, public financing, partnerships and people’s participation — are now globally recognised as vital for the success of most large, transformational developmental programmes. They are being applied in the sanitation sector around the world and leading to significant progress on Sustainable Development Goal number 6: Access to sanitation and water.
As we know, the Swachh Bharat Mission was only one of the many successfully articulated and implemented schemes of the government. Other national basic service initiatives which improved the quality of life and ease of living of ordinary Indians include Ujjwala (cooking gas cylinders), Jan Dhan (bank accounts), the Awas Yojana, the Ayushman Bharat medical insurance scheme and, of course, the Jal Jeevan Mission, which has made tremendous progress in providing har ghar jal to a targeted 180 million households.
Without question, the bold vision and political leadership of Prime Minister Modi are the key underpinnings of such transformational programmes.
The writer is the former Secretary of the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Government of India and is currently India’s Executive Director at the World Bank. Views are personal
