As the Swachh Bharat Mission approaches
the third anniversary of its launch by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi,
the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation today launched a third party
verification survey report to take stock of the progress already made by the
Mission in rural India. The Quality Council of India (QCI) has conducted a
transparent third-party assessment of the present status of rural sanitation in
all States and UTs, called Swachh Survekshan Gramin 2017.
Under the Swachh Survekshan Gramin 2017,
QCI surveyed 1.4 lakh rural households across 4626 villages, and found the
overall toilet coverage to be 62.45%. At the time of the survey, i.e.
May-June 2017, the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) MIS reported the coverage to
be 63.73%. The survey also observed that 91.29% of the people having
access to a toilet, use it. The Swachh Survekshan Gramin 2017 report was
launched at a press conference today in New Delhi by the Union Minister,
Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar, and the
Secretary, Shri Parameswaran Iyer.
It was also announced at the press
conference that, to encourage States and districts to improve their Sanitation
coverage and Solid Liquid Waste management (SLWM), the MDWS will also begin
ranking all districts in India based on the data available on the SBM-G IMIS
quarterly. The ranking will be done based on parameters of Performance,
Sustainability and transparency, and the first ranking will be announced on 2nd
October, 2017 for the quarter July-September 2017. To instil healthy
competition amongst districts, they will also be given awards based on this
ranking on a quarterly basis. The formula for calculating these rankings will
be:
Total score (100) =
Performance (50) + Sustainability (25) + Transparency (25)
Further, in response to the Prime Minister’s
call to the nation to Quit Filth, it was announced by Shri Tomar that the
Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) will celebrate the week leading up to the 70thIndependence
Day as “Khule Mein Shauch Se Azaadi”saptaah. Highlights of this week
are:
1. More
than 24 States
have prepared their Swachhta Action Plan for the week to reinforce their
swachhta efforts by innovative methods and with community engagement.
2. On
12 August, 2017, MDWS and MoWR, RD & GR will jointly announce 24 Ganga
Grams from five States, Uttarakhand (3), UP (10), Bihar (4), Jharkhand (5) and
West Bengal (2) to make them Aadarsh Ganga Gram.
3. 30
SwachhtaRaths will be launched at Allahabad on August 12, 2017 in the presence
of the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Union Minister of Water Resources,
River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation and Shri Tomar.
4. Swachhta
Raths will also be launched in other parts of the
country.
Shri Tomar also announced that, in the
run up to completion of three years of Swachh Bharat Mission, MDWS is planning
various Swachhta events across the country from 25th September to 2nd October
2017. During this week, National Swachhta Awards will be given to grass root
level swachhta champions, district officers, Best Pakhwada Ministries,
outstanding contributions by Ministries, PSU sponsors for Swachh Iconic Places
and Swachhta Action Plan.
Over 4.54 crore household toilets have
been constructed since the launch of the Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin. 2,20,104
villages, 160 districts and 5 States declared ODF.Sanitation Coverage has
increased from 39% in October 2016 to 66% in August 2017.
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