Swachh Bharat Mission

The Swachh Bharat mission is a rearranged version of the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan that could not be successful in acquiring its planned targets in 2009. Its active slogan is stated as follows-‘ One step towards cleanliness. Hence its main goals are to follow the stated slogan accordingly in the best way. Initially, there are 2 phases of this mission, Phase 1 and Phase 2. Both the phases have its roles separately, that will be further explained in this article. The Swachh Bharat Mission was initiated by the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, on 2 October 2014. The scope of the programme was extended in 1999 and there was the launch of TSC- Total Sanitation Campaign. The government rebuilt TSC to Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan(NBA) in 2012. Before renaming as Swachh Bharat Abhiyan or SBM, which is commonly known today by NDA, which continued till late 2014. The vision of Mahatma Gandhi is what signifies the logo for this mission. The contest for the tagline for the logo has seen the success paid off by Bhagyasri Sheth of Gujarat.

Check out the complete UPSC Syllabus

The Two Phases of The Mission

Till October 2019, Phase 1 of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan lasted.

Implementation of Phase 2 took place between 2020-21 and 2024-25. For plastering, the work of Phase 1 was the objective of those phases.

An open defecation free (ODF) India was what the mission planned to achieve by 2 October 2019. This was planned to be achieved through the making of toilets on the 150th anniversary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi. In that period, the construction of toilets can be estimated as 89.9 million. The first phase of the mission included the following objectives such as elimination of manual scavenging, giving rise to awareness and also bringing the change in behavioral patterns regarding proper sanitation practices and contrary of capacity at the local level.

The aim of the second phase of the mission is to encourage an open defecation free status and the management of solid and liquid waste is being improved. It also pays attention to improving the lives of the workers involved in sanitation. Target 6.2 of the Sustainable Development Goals Number 6 is what the mission aims to show progress towards. However, this was established by the United Nations in 2015. 

Visit to know more about UPSC Exam Pattern

Campaign’s official name

The official name of the campaign is in the Hindi language. It shifts to ‘Clean India Mission’ when translated into English. Officially this campaign was launched on 2 October 2014 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Rajghat, New Delhi. It is the country’s largest cleanliness drive that employs 3 million government employees and also constitutes students from different parts of India that seem to be participating in 4043 cities, towns as well as rural communities. The Prime Minister called the campaign as Satyagraha se Swatchhagrah at a rally in Champaran in reference to Gandhi’s Champaran Satyagraha that was launched on 10 April 1916.

Aim of Swachh Bharat Mission

The main aim of the mission lies in making India an open, defecation free country in the coming five years. One lakh thirty-four thousand crore rupees will be required and hence spent for the making of about 11 crores 11 lakh toilets in the country under this mission.

A view on the cleanest cities according to its parameter

Under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan scheme, the National City Rating is published annually by the Ministry of Urban Development, the Government of India and the Central Pollution Control Board( CPCB ). Covering 72 per cent of the urban population in India, the rating includes around 500 cities.

Also see: UPSC Question Paper

Conclusion 

For the purpose of this survey, India was divided into five zones until 2017 and on 19 indicators, each city was being scored. The four classification colours of the cities were green, blue, black and red. The cleanest city was indicated by the green colour and the most polluted was marked by the red colour. These parameters were modified and cities were classified depending on other attributes such as population, metropolis, large, medium and small cities.

By the cleanliness survey Swachh Survekshan, Indore was marked as the cleanest city in India by 2021.