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Open defecation is a huge problem in developing countries like India. It is also one of the world’s biggest problems, as quoted by the United Nations. Due to the open defecation system in India, the child mortality rate has drastically increased, and infections and various diseases are at their peak. The Clean India Mission was introduced by Indian Prime minister Narendra Modi and was inspired by the principles of Mahatma Gandhi (Father of India). The mission aims to make India free of open defecation in the coming five years. This article talks about the Swachh Bharat Mission’s annual benefits.
What is the Swachh Bharat Mission or the Clean India Mission?
Clean India Mission was started in 2014 with only one aim: to make India open defecation free in the upcoming five years. As the mission progressed, other goals were added. In Swachh Bharat Abhiyan 2.0, the goals included giving access to equitable sanitation to everyone, especially girls and women living in rural areas.
Through various government-run initiatives and awareness programmes, the government has installed and constructed 100 million toilets in Indian households by 2019. This scheme benefited more than 500 million people in 630,000 villages across India. This campaign has inspired many countries like Nigeria, Ethiopia and Indonesia. Given the success of this policy, many global campaigns and initiatives are now implementing policies like the Clean India Mission. The mission has entered its second phase in India.
If we look at India’s health and hygiene scenario, India is home to more than 60% of the world’s defecators. Out of every 10 households, only four owned the toilet and utilised it. But due to this mission, the government could drastically reduce the numbers.
When this mission was initiated in 2014, the Prime minister termed it as the people’s movement to end the open defecation system in India. The programme deadline was chosen as 2nd October 2019, which was the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
Swachh Bharat Mission’s annual benefits
The Indian Government’s plan to make India free of open defecation by 2030 is called Swachh Bharat Mission or Clean India Mission. This mission has increased the country’s monetary conditions. According to official reports, India’s financial budget has reaped more than 727 US dollars (Rs 53,000) per household in rural areas.
There are also fewer cases of diseases, infections, and diarrhoea due to the increased access to sanitation. Swachh Bharat Mission (Clean India Mission) has also benefited financial returns that were earlier spent on various rural household spending as compared to over 10 years by up to 1.7 times. Spending on the health sector, sanitisation and other public services has also halved.
Tourism and Swachh Bharat Mission go hand in hand
As Indian cities are rich in culture and history, many tourists visit India every year. But due to unhygienic conditions like an open defecation system and lack of proper toilets, the tourists have faced many problems.
With the Clean India Mission, finances have become three-fold in the tourism sector. More than 62.5 people are employed in the tourism sector, which accounts for 6.6% of India’s GDP. Due to the increase in tourists, the country’s GDP has increased and has also created employment for more than 2.3 crore people.
Health conditions due to this Mission
Unhygienic conditions are the cause of many infections and diseases. An increase in infections and diseases impacts a country’s financial condition directly. Health conditions could lead to an increase in potential revenue and a burden on health officials. Due to bad health conditions, India loses about ₹ 26000 every year per household of four members. The Clean India Mission helped in decreasing the burden and improving the sanitation condition in India.
Foreign direct investment
If we look at India’s financial budget, we see that we desperately need financial investment. For example, Singapore once implemented a similar initiative to clean their country in the year 1977 to 1987. This mission helped them to gain some financial investment. Due to this, Singapore’s status changed from being a developing nation to a developed country. If we collectively work, we can also do similar wonders for India as well.
Conclusion
In this article, we learnt about the government’s Clean India Mission’s annual benefits. This ambitious mission of the Indian government is to stop the open defecation system in rural parts of India. The mission is to clean and remove all the waste from streets and other public places. Indian cities, towns and villages were once very dirty and unhygienic, causing various diseases and infections. Due to this Mission, the Indians understood the importance of hygiene and overall health.
