Debolina Kundu’s column – In the last ten years, ‘cleanliness’ has become a mass movement | देबोलिना कुंडू का कॉलम: बीते दस सालों में ‘स्वच्छता’ एक जनांदोलन बन गई है

Debolina Kundu Director, National Institute of Urban Affairs, Delhi

Cleanliness doesn’t just mean keeping your surroundings clean; This means transforming lives, conserving resources, and building a sustainable future for future generations.

Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), launched in 2014 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, launched one of the world’s most ambitious sanitation drives, aimed at making the country’s cities and villages clean through better sanitation practices and waste management. Had to be made neat.

Over ten years, the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban (SBM-U) aims to transform urban India by focusing on eliminating open defecation, improving solid waste management, eliminating waste and promoting sustainable living. Adequate progress has been made.

It has also advanced the SDG (Sustainable Development Goals) objective in many ways, linking its climate-actions with India’s commitments to the Paris Agreement. The Mission has also improved public health outcomes by improving lives in cities.

The main objective of SBM was to eliminate open defecation. For this, more than 44,636 public and 27,015 community facilities were constructed in the cities. Maharashtra led the effort with 9,049 public facilities, while Tamil Nadu topped the list with 8,932 community facilities. Pollution of water bodies has been reduced, which has reduced the spread of diseases. The World Health Organization says better sanitation could reduce diarrheal diseases by 32%.

But the impact of SBM goes beyond improved sanitation. The Mission has achieved tremendous success in getting Solid Waste Management (SWM) back on track, which had been the bane of India’s urban centers for a long time. Door-to-door garbage collection has been done in 93,433 out of a total of 96,084 municipality wards.

It has been important in maintaining the general cleanliness of cities. India generates about 1,58,619 tonnes of solid waste every day in its urban areas. Till a few years ago, most of this waste was thrown into landfills without processing. An estimated 35,503 tonnes of waste is still going to dump sites daily, meaning more investment in infrastructure is needed. Open dump sites are major sources of the greenhouse gas methane.

Waste produced on a large scale seriously pollutes air, soil and water. Under SBM, approximately 912 lakh tonnes of waste has been treated and 4,432 acres of land has been reclaimed. This not only helps in cleaning up hazardous dump sites, but also helps in providing land for green spaces, parks or other urban development projects.

The Swachhta Mission processes 19,623 TPD of non-biodegradable waste from 48 waste-to-energy plants and converts urban waste into energy, thereby reducing fossil-fuel dependence. At the same time, recycling of materials like plastic, metal and glass also reduces the energy used to produce new materials and the emissions caused by their related manufacturing. Due to the cleanliness mission, 4,520 plants have also been established for the treatment of liquid waste. It is primarily responsible for the treatment of sewage in cities with a population of less than one lakh.

But the most important legacy of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is that it has brought about a qualitative change in the behavior of the urban population. The Mission has engaged citizens with a mass movement approach to tackle waste, reduce plastic use, etc. When ordinary people engage in sustainable consumption patterns, it reduces carbon footprint and improves the resilience of urban ecosystems.

Now as the mission reaches its final phase in the year 2024, there can be no question about its long-term impacts on the future of India’s cities, environment and climate; This has created the basic framework for a cleaner, healthier and sustainable urban landscape.

The most important legacy of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is that it has brought about behavioral changes in the urban population. This has created the basic framework for a cleaner, healthier and sustainable urban landscape.

(These are the author’s own views. This article was co-authored by Paromita Dutta Dey)