Swachh Bharat Mission: Progress & Impact Analysis

Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) is India’s largest-ever sanitation and cleanliness drive. Launched on October 2, 2014 — Mahatma Gandhi‘s 150th birth anniversary — it set the goal of making India Open Defecation Free (ODF) by October 2, 2019. Rural India officially achieved ODF status on that date, though debates about quality and sustainability persist.

SBM runs in two streams — SBM-Gramin (SBMG) for rural areas and SBM-Urban (SBMU) for cities — under two different ministries. Phase 2 (2020-21 to 2024-25) extended both with upgraded targets: ODF-Plus status, solid waste management, grey water treatment, and complete elimination of open defecation even in areas with toilets.

For UPSC, SBM covers GS-2 (welfare schemes, health), GS-1 (urbanisation, social issues), and connects to federalism, women's safety, and public health.

Background: Why Swachh Bharat Was Needed

India's Sanitation Crisis in 2014

Before SBM launched in 2014:

• 60% of rural households lacked access to toilets — India had the world's largest open defecation problem
• Around 550 million Indians (rural) defecated in the open — more than all of sub-Saharan Africa combined
• Open defecation was a leading cause of diarrhoeal diseases and child malnutrition — the "faecal-oral" contamination route
• Women and girls faced severe dignity and safety challenges in the absence of toilets
• India's urban areas had inadequate solid waste management — 90%+ of waste went untreated

The Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (NBA) — the predecessor rural sanitation scheme — had poor outcomes. It supplied toilets but didn't change behaviour; constructed toilets often remained unused. SBM changed the approach — from supply-driven hardware provision to behaviour change communication alongside infrastructure.

SBM Phase 1 (2014–2019)

Rural: SBMG Phase 1

Over 10.28 crore household toilets were constructed between 2014 and 2019 — the largest sanitation drive in human history in a 5-year period. Over 6 lakh villages were declared ODF.

Urban: SBMU Phase 1

SBMU focused on cities with three components: individual toilets, community/public toilets, and solid waste management.

ODF vs ODF-Plus: What Changed in Phase 2?

What Is ODF Status?

A village, ward, or city is declared ODF (Open Defecation Free) when:

• Every household, school, and anganwadi has a functional toilet
• No one is observed defecating in the open

But ODF verification showed a problem: toilets existed on paper but weren't used, or toilets constructed were damaged or pit-filled within months. This is why Phase 2 introduced more stringent categories.

ODF-Plus (SBMG Phase 2)

ODF-Plus has two sub-categories:

The progression from ODF → Rising → Budding → Model village represents escalating cleanliness and sustainability. The government runs competitions and provides additional incentives to villages achieving Model status.

SBM-Gramin vs SBM-Urban: Key Differences

SBM Phase 2 (2020-21 to 2024-25)

SBMG Phase 2 — Beyond Toilets

Phase 2 extended SBMG with ₹1.41 lakh crore outlay over 5 years (2020-21 to 2024-25), focused on:

1. Sustaining ODF: Re-verifying toilet use and behaviour; re-building damaged toilets
2. Solid Waste Management (SWM): Village-level collection, segregation at source (wet/dry/hazardous), composting of biodegradable waste
3. Liquid Waste Management (LWM): Grey water (kitchen/bathroom wastewater) treatment through soak pits, waste stabilisation ponds, constructed wetlands
4. Plastic waste elimination: Collection and sending to recycling units
5. Gobardhan: Converting cattle dung and biodegradable waste into biogas/CNG and organic fertiliser — a circular economy approach

SBMU Phase 2 — Garbage-Free Cities

SBMU Phase 2 targets Garbage-Free Cities — certified on a 1-star to 5-star scale. The criteria include door-to-door collection, source segregation, material recovery, and zero waste-to-landfill. Only about 15 cities have achieved 5-star status as of 2024, reflecting the difficulty of the target.

Swachh Survekshan: Annual Sanitation Survey

Swachh Survekshan is the annual survey that ranks India's cities on cleanliness. Started in 2016 with 73 cities, it now covers all 4,354 urban local bodies — the world's largest urban cleanliness survey.

Ranking Methodology

The survey uses three components:

1. Service level progress (40%): SWM facilities, door-to-door collection, segregation
2. Direct observation (30%): Field visits by independent assessors
3. Citizen feedback (30%): App-based and telephonic citizen surveys

Consistent Toppers

Indore's consistent top rank reflects sustained political will, daily door-to-door collection in 100% of wards, source segregation, and processing of 1,700+ tonnes of waste per day with near-zero landfill.

Health Impact of SBM

Child Mortality and Stunting

Open defecation is directly linked to child undernutrition through the faecal-oral route. Studies have found:

• Districts with higher toilet coverage had measurable reductions in stunting (low height-for-age) among children under 5
• The POSHAN Abhiyan explicitly recognises the SBM-sanitation-nutrition connection — "WASH" (Water, Sanitation, Hygiene) is a key determinant of child nutrition outcomes

Diarrhoeal Disease Reduction

The World Health Organization and UNICEF have documented that improved sanitation can prevent 10–30% of diarrhoeal disease burden. India's diarrhoea-related child mortality has declined, though attributing it solely to SBM is methodologically complex.

Women's Safety and Dignity

One of SBM's most documented social outcomes: women reported reduced fear of assault when going to the toilet. The hashtag "No Toilet, No Bride" — women refusing to marry into families without toilets — became a popular campaign reflecting behavioural change.

Criticisms and Challenges

Quality vs. Quantity

Independent surveys by researchers (including SQUAT survey by RICE Institute) found that even in areas declared ODF, a significant percentage of rural households continued open defecation — either because toilets weren't functional, pits had filled, or behaviour hadn't changed.

The government responded by introducing ODF-Sustainability verification and the ODF-Plus framework, but quality concerns about Phase 1 toilets persist.

Who Cleans the Community Toilets?

Urban community toilet blocks are often filthy. Without sustained cleaning budgets, operator accountability, and user willingness to pay, community toilets degrade rapidly. SBMU Phase 2 introduced the community toilet maintenance model linking payments to cleanliness outcomes, but implementation is patchy.

Solid Waste — The Bigger Urban Challenge

Even well-resourced cities struggle with solid waste:

• Source segregation adoption is below 60% nationally
• Processing capacity lags waste generation — India generates 1.5 lakh MT of solid waste daily; only 70% is collected and even less is treated
• Landfill sites are overflowing in most major cities

Related: PM Awas Yojana: Housing Scheme Complete Guide Related: Poshan Abhiyaan: National Nutrition Mission

Key Facts Summary for UPSC

Frequently Asked Questions