The Clean India Mission campaign was started in 2014 as a people’s movement to end open defecation; reports showed that fewer than four in ten Indian households owned a toilet. The government started the programme under the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation and Housing and Urban Affairs. Ever since the inculcation of the mission, more than 100 million toilets have been constructed and are in use in rural and urban areas, including public washrooms.  

India used to be home to 60% of world defectors, but as per the government, this number has come down drastically since the launch of the Clean India Mission. 

A brief guide to Clean India Mission 

The campaign’s main aim was to dispel the myths and misconceptions related to toilets; it encouraged people to build more and more toilets to break the taboo that only women, the elderly and sick people can use them. 

The misconception about not using the washroom after the mission’s launch.  

Famous personalities from different fields like cricketers, actors and politicians have campaigned for the mission. “Swachhagrahis” trained grassroots level volunteers who played a crucial role in assisting the construction of toilets, including campaigning and monitoring. They are also called “Ambassadors of Cleanliness”. 

Since the Clean India Mission launch, the link between cleanliness and better health has been promoted. Famous personalities from the film fraternity, politicians and sportspeople like famous cricketers have advocated and campaigned for the mission demanding a cleaner India. 

In 1990, death due to contaminated water and sanitisation resulted in 13% of death in the country. But, by the year 2016, the numbers dropped to 5%. Even after a drastic decline, the numbers are still in large quantities. The sanitation coverage rate is 80% in states like Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, which state considerable gains in sanitation. 

Objectives of the Clean India Mission

The objectives of the Clean India Mission are listed below:

• Construction of individual cluster and community toilets 
• To eliminate or diminish the incidence of open defecation. Hundreds of young children have died due to it 
• The mission’s main objective is to build toilets, and it will also provide an accountable process for monitoring the use of washrooms 
• The Clean India Mission aims to provide public awareness related to open defecation and promoting latrine use 
• The qualified ground will be recruited to bring behavioural change and promote latrine use 
• The mission’s main objective is to change the mindset of people and their behaviour to promote proper sanitisation. 
• Solid and liquid waste management will keep villages clean 
• Gram Panchayats are in charge of solid and liquid waste management 
• Another primary object of the Clean India Mission was to provide water pipelines in all the villages, making sure that all households had access to clean water 
• The object is to make India free from open defecation, with everyone having access to toilet facilities 
• Schools to have a separate washroom for boys and girls 
• Toilets to be provided to all Anganwadi workers

Impact of the Clean India Mission

The impact of the Clean India Mission has been significant all over, with massive door-to-door waste collection and disposal efforts being launched as part of the initiative. It resulted in resolving the garbage disposal issue. 

As per Swacch Survekshan’s report, Indore has been the cleanest city in India for the fifth consecutive year; this success of Indore shows that other states across the country are also following the same path of cleanliness. 

As per the data, 51,344 people have participated in the campaigning of the mission, and 6,106 pakhwada activities have been completed. The mission also had a wide range of social, economic and environmental effects. 

Conclusion

Various organisations have documented their observations across the country to research and know the impact of the Clean India Mission. Still, no national or state survey has been conducted yet. 

According to the Global Health Observatory reports, the number of children dying from diarrhoea in India decreased from 1,21,889 in 2014 to 1,17,285 in 2015. The numbers are staggering. The ratio has reduced the number of children dying from diarrhoea from 13% to 9% in two years. Current research is to be conducted. 

The impact of the Clean India Mission is still being studied as of yet. The mission and its objectives are still being implemented to make our country free from all the dirt. In constructing public washrooms, this mission has been highly impactful. The cases of open defecation have lowered in the past years, and households in Gramin areas have received the bare minimum of the mission in the form of toilets, pipelines and clean water.