There has been a huge political and financial investment on the Swachh Bharat Mission

by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The programme however, is straining to achieve the
desired results. There is a struggle to bring in the much required behavioural change
among people to use toilets – the backbone of the programme’s success. One of the key
factors for this is the lack of credible on-ground data and the absence of institutionalised
tracking mechanisms to measure the health benefits of impacts of proper sanitation, or the
adverse impacts of the lack of sanitation.

While large-scale campaigns are essential to drive behavioural change, it is data that will
connect the issue with health impacts and lead to impact on the ground. This emerged as
one of the key takeaways from a National Consultation on Sustainable Rural Sanitation
organised here today by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). Currently, India
does not have any mechanism for tracking water-borne diseases to shed more light about
the progress on the sanitation programme.

Sunita Narain, director general, CSE, pointed out, “Our experience and our work in air
pollution bears out that change happens when we make a connection to people’s health.
And the issue needs to be handled differently for rural and urban areas. While in the
urban milieu toilets have to be linked with disposal and treatment systems, in rural areas
the priorities should be address the issue in the context of poverty, behavioural change by
linking it with health, water availability, toilet design and waste disposal.”

The major issue with the current approach of the Swachh Bharat Mission, is the undue
focus on construction of toilets. October 2, 2016 marked the completion of two years
since the ambitious Swachh Bharat Abhiyan was announced from the ramparts of the Red
Fort. One of the key promises made was to make India open defecation free (ODF) by
2019, by constructing toilets for 1.04 crore households, apart from 250,000 community
toilets and 260,000 public toilets. 

The reality on the ground however paints a dismal picture, with the government leagues
behind in meeting its target. According to an analysis by the recently launched Hindi
edition of Down To Earth magazine, which CSE helps publish, 82.3 million (or 823 lakh)
toilets are yet to be constructed across India by October 2, 2019. This means the country