MoHUA data: India, except Bengal, declared open defecation-free under SBM-U

On December 23, 2019 the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) announced that the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban (SBM-U) has achieved the national target of becoming Open Defecation Free (ODF) across the country. Urban areas of 35 states / UTs (Union Territories) became ODF, but it is also to be noted that urban local bodies in West Bengal had not been declared as ODF.Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban:

i.Out of 4372 cities, 4320 were declared as ODF. Out of these 4167 cities were certified through third party verification.

ii.The above achievement was due to construction of around 65.81 lakh individual household toilets against the mission target of 59 lakhs and 5.89 lakh seats of community / public toilets which is also against the mission target of 5.08 lakh seats under the mission.

iii.Protocols: MoHUA launched ODF + and ODF ++ protocols. These protocols focus on sustainable ODF outcomes and also achieving holistic sanitation.

• The ODF+ protocol focuses on Operation & Maintenance (O&M) of community while ODF++ focuses on addressing safe management of faecal sludge from toilets. It also ensures that no untreated sludge is discharged into open drains, water bodies or in the open.
• As of now, 819 cities have been certified as ODF + while 312 cities have been certified ODF++.           

iv.Water+ protocol: The MoHUA has also introduced Water + protocol. This protocol was designed to make sure that no untreated wastewater is discharged into the open environment or water bodies.

v.Partnership with Google: The MoHUA has partnered with Google in mapping all public toilets on Google maps. This initiative made it very helpful for the citizens by improving ease of access to sanitation facilities. As of now, 2,300 cities have uploaded more than 57, 000 PTs(Public Toilets) mapped on Google maps, covering more than 50% of India’s urban population.

SBM:
The SBM was launched on October 2, 2014. The SBM-U under SBM has the focus on 100% wastewater treatment and reuse. The mission will also focus on strengthening source segregation, collection, transportation and processing. Some of the achievements of the mission are detailed as below:

i.Solid Waste Management: Till december 23, 2019, 96% of wards have door to door collection of waste, and approximately 60% of the total waste generated is being processed.

ii.SMART framework:

• The MoHUA has also launched Star rating protocol for garbage free cities. The protocol is based on 12 parameters and follows a SMART framework. The full form of the framework is SMART- Single metric, Measurable, Achievable, Rigorous verification mechanism and Targeted towards outcomes.
• Framework components: The framework includes components such as cleanliness of drains & water bodies, plastic waste management, managing construction & demolition waste, etc.
• Star rated cities: Till now 4 cities have been certified as 5-star cities. They are Indore (Madhya Pradesh), Ambikapur(Chattisgarh), Navi Mumbai(Maharashtra) and Mysuru (Karnataka). 57 cities were certified with 3 stars while 4 cities have been certified as 1 star.

iii.Plastic Waste Management: The MoHUA has partnered with several other ministries to control the rising menace of plastic waste. Some of its partnerships include such as

• Partnership with Cement Manufacturing Association(SMA) to map 46 cement plants within 100-200 kilometers from Urban Local Bodies(ULB). Here, plastics will be sent to CMA collection point to cement plants.
• Partnership with NHAI (National Highways Authority of India) in identifying 1500 points where plastic waste will be used for road constructions.  Cities were also asked to set up Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs) for handling segregation, processing and recycling of plastic waste.

iv.Swachhata hi Seva: Under the 2019 Swachhata hi Seva campaign participation from more than 7 crore urban residents, across 3,200 cities, from more than 1,06,000 events, and more than 7,700 MT of plastic waste were collected.

 v.Swachh Survekshan(SS): It is an innovative survey conducted by MoHUA under SBM-U. The survey was conducted in the concept of ‘swachhata’(Cleanliness). Cities will be ranked based on sanitation and cleanliness drives.

• Swachh Survekshan over years: In 2016, the 1st round of Swachh Survekshan was conducted among 73 cities with a population of 10 lakhs and above, and state / UT capitals of India.
• In 2017 the survey was conducted in 434 cities. And in 2018 4,203 ULBs were covered while 2019 covered 4,237 cities have been covered.  SS in 2019 was conducted completely online and paperless.
• SS which has impacted 43 crore urban citizens is the largest urban sanitation survey in the world.

vi.SS 2020: For the SS 2020 which was launched on August 13, 2019 the MoHUA newly introduced ‘continuous Survekshan’ concept to ensure that the mission outcomes will be sustained through continuous monitoring and verification. The survey will begin from January 4, 2020 and will continue till January 31, 2020.

vii.Capacity Building: Various components of SBM-U has been brought by MoHUA. Some of them in the year 2019 include Advisory on plastic waste management, advisory on emergency response sanitation unit, transforming the urban landscape etc.

• In 2019, over 900 participants have attended workshops on these components and additionally 30 workshops were conducted on SS 2020 which was attended with 12,000 ULB officials’ participation.

About Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs(MoHUA):
Founded- 1952.
Headquarters- New Delhi.
Constituency of Hardeep Singh Puri- Amritsar, Punjab.