Bharat Mission Research Articles

Correlation of Gandhi with cleanliness drive and Swachh Bharat Mission: Study on methodology of spreading awareness and motivating rural section of Chandigarh to maintain hygienic conditions

The cleanliness drive most popularly known as “Swacch Bharat Mission” started by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from 2nd October, 2014 to 2nd October, 2019 as a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th Anniversary lays its foundation from Gandhi’s effort to eradicate the Untouchability and humiliation of Indians on account of their unhygienic lifestyle and poor sanitation habits. Receiving a negative feedback from white Europeans about Indians lifestyle, he observed, analyzed and accepted the views received by European’s, instead of defending them. Mahatma Gandhi motivated Indians to self-groom themselves to become capable to compete with white European’s, instead of fighting for Independence. Modi took over the drive in order to complete the incomplete task planned and furnished by Mahatma Gandhi. This drive is supported not only by each Indian citizen, but also by each educational institute, academic institutes, research institutes and many more. As a part of this program we also conducted a cleanliness drive in Daddu Majra colony, Chandigarh. The program begun while delivering talks to group of people of the colony highlighting the significance of cleanliness in day-today life of an individual as well as community. The role of community and collective effort of people in maintaining clean environment while practicing appropriate sanitation and hygienic conditions was discussed. The community was well motivated and inspired to work collectively for up liftment of their village area while maintaining proper surroundings, cleaning them regularly to prevent themselves from harmful diseases such as malaria and dengue. A special session was also conducted for Women in order to guide them to ensure proper disposal of their wastes during menstrual cycles and taking care of other hygienic practices during their periods. People were also motivated to spread awareness in their nearby developing villages and other rural areas and encouraging people to use proper toilets during disposal of their wastes. A well supportive behavior was shown by the community indicating the interest of community in amending their lifestyles by practicing appropriate hygienic practices.

Evaluating the declarations of open defecation free status under the Swachh Bharat (‘Clean India’) Mission: repeated cross-sectional surveys in Rajasthan, India

BackgroundThe most ambitious sanitation campaign to end open defecation (OD) in India came to a close on 2 October 2019 and there are limited independent, robust data to measure its...

An Empirical Analysis of the Environmental Kuznets Curve for River Water Pollution in Uttar Pradesh

This article attempts to test the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis for river water pollution for a panel dataset of 15 districts of Uttar Pradesh. There are sharp socio-economic and demographic variations within India; therefore, a regional study can give a better insight into the pollution income relationship of a specific region compared to a national study. Panel unit root tests, Pedroni cointegration test and fully modified ordinary least square (FMOLS) method have been employed to investigate EKC for two water pollutants—biochemcial oxygen demand (BOD) and total coliform (TC). Findings suggest that there is no evidence of an EKC for BOD, but results validate the existence of an EKC for TC. The Swachha Bharat Mission launched in 2014 aimed at eliminating open defecation and increasing toilet access in rural India can be a credited for the reduction in TC levels since 2014. The success of NAMAMI Gange so far seems to be localised to regions where political thrust has expedited the completion of projects.

Determinants of open-air defecation in rural Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu

Background: Open defecation refers to the practice whereby people go out in fields, bushes, forests, open bodies of water, or other open spaces rather than using toilet to defecate. This practice contributes to the emergence of infectious diseases which forms a threat to health of people. This study attempts to find the prevalence of open-air defecation (OAD) and to explore factors influencing the practice.Methods: The present study was a community based cross-sectional study taken up in the C. Manampadi village covering 153 households. A semi structured questionnaire along with the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) questionnaire was used to collect data.Results: Our study results show that 35.3% of the households had no toilet facility in their houses and were practicing open air defecation. There was a significant association between open air defection and variables like literacy level of head of the family, community and water adequacy.Conclusions: This study highlights that the study population practices OAD not due to economic in sufficiency but due to social constraints.

Assessment of Epidemiological Implications Due to Serial Tropical Cyclones in India: Introspecting the Recent Sanitation Interventions

The Indian subcontinent is prone to tropical cyclones that used to originate in the North Indian Ocean. Through this study, an inventory of disease outbreaks for the tropical cyclone-affected regions from 2010 to 2018 has been compiled. This inventory is used to assess the success of recent sanitation intervention, Swachh Bharat Mission, also known as the Clean India Mission. Meteorological parameters from the Indian satellites were used to demarcate the cyclone-affected area. Disease outbreaks and epidemics during the tropical cyclones were compiled from the Integrated Disease Surveillance Program and other relevant sources. The inventory has been used to track the effect of recent sanitation interventions on disease outbreaks. Districts in the eastern coast of India are frequently affected due to tropical cyclones that have originated from the North Indian Ocean. Infectious diseases like the acute diarrheal diseases, vector-borne diseases, viral fevers, enteric fevers, and food poisoning have recursively occurred during the cyclonic events and persisted up to 2 weeks from the cyclonic episode. The effectiveness of the Clean India Mission is evident during the recent cyclones, Ockhi, Titli, and Gaja, where a significantly lower number of infectious disease outbreaks were recorded. The Clean India Mission has exhibited positive results on the public health consequences associated with tropical cyclones.

Impact of swachh bharat summer internship by medical students at a village in Trichy, Tamil Nadu

BACKGROUND: Inadequate sanitation and hygiene is one of the important public health issues in rural communities of India. Swachh Bharat Gramin was initiated by the Government of India to accelerate sanitation services in rural areas. Recently, Swachh Bharat Summer Internship (SBSI) program was introduced to involve students of higher educational institution to contribute 100 h of service for cleanliness activities and mass awareness creation in villages. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of SBSI activities by medical students at a selected village in Trichy district. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Under SBSI program, a community-based educational intervention study was done in a rural area of Trichy district from May to July 2018. The intervention was provided by a team of medical students to about 1600 individuals residing in the village. Among them, 100 individuals were included in pre- and posttest survey to assess the impact of intervention. The activities include Information, Education, and Communication, community mobilization, and participation to prevent open-air defecation (OAD), promote handwashing, and proper solid waste management. The Chi-square test was used to compare baseline and postintervention results. RESULTS: In baseline survey, 45% have ever heard about Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), 58% were practicing OAD, and 55% were unaware about waste segregation at household level. Awareness on SBM, waste segregation at household, and practice of handwashing improved in postinterventional survey (P CONCLUSION: The internship program improved the knowledge and behavior on sanitation at the rural community, and it also provided a learning opportunity for medical students.

Assessment of Swachh Bharat Mission - Clean India Campaign’s Contribution in Combating Violence against Women

Assessment of Swachh Bharat Mission - Clean India Campaign’s Contribution in Combating Violence against Women

Reasons of Open Defecation Behavior in Rural Households of Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India

Background: According to World health organization (WHO), open defecation (OD) is a major public health concern in India both in rural and urban counterparts. Therefore, Government decided to eliminate open defecation (OD) by 2019 with the introduction of Swachh Bharat Mission. But, still, many individuals found to choose to defecate in open fields. The study was conducted to find out the prevalence of open defecation and its reasons.
 Material and methods: The present cross sectional, descriptive study was carried out across villages coming under rural field practice area for one year. Total five villages were randomly selected consisting of 1000 population approximately. Data was collected using pre designed questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS 23.0.
 Result: Out of total 1000 study subjects, 27.7% study subjects opt for defecation practices. Out of them, 76.5% opt due to their habits. Next reason (57%) came out was feeling comfortable followed by unawareness (36.4%) and lack of water (34%).
 Conclusion – The present study concluded prevalence of open defecation 27.7%. Due to their habits, feeling comfortable, unawareness and lack of adequate water in study area were major factors contributing persistence of open defecation.

Study of Knowledge, Attitude and Practise (KAP) Regarding Swachh Bharat Mission Among High School Students in Field Practise Area of Medical College in Dakshina Kannada, Karnataka

Background: India generates about 60 million tonnes of garbage every day, of this around 45 to 50 million tonnes is left untreated. Wastes are thrown on the streets. Open defecation is still a problem in rural India. All these actions cause health hazards among population.Objective: To assess the knowledge, attitude and practices regarding Swachh Bharat among 8th to 10th standard students.Methodology: This cross-sectional study was carried out in seven government high schools in the field practice area of a medical college in Mangalore. A total of 441 government high school students from 8th to 10th standard were included in the study. Collection of data was done by interview method using pretested semi structured questionnaire.Results: Total of 441 students were included in the study. 55.32% were boys and 44.68% were girls. According to scoring done for students, 84.35% had good knowledge, 95.23% had good attitude but only 50.34% had good practice about environmental cleanliness and personal hygiene.Conclusion: To improve the good practice various health educations and practical demonstrations about the cleanliness and benefits of practicing them can be conducted as school-based initiatives to create awareness among students.

Citywide Inclusive Sanitation Through Scheduled Desludging Services: Emerging Experience From India

The focus of Swachh Bharat Mission (Clean India Mission) was to build toilets to make India open defecation free. While India has succeeded in achieving this goal, to move towards “safely managed sanitation” as per target 6.2 of the Sustainable Development Goals, it is necessary to ensure that all fecal waste is safely collected and treated. The common practice for desludging of septic tanks is ‘demand-based desludging’ rather than a regular service. Such practices have adverse social and environmental impacts. To overcome these shortcomings, scheduled desludging is advocated. This paper first reviews the need for regular desludging of septic tanks. It then outlines the emerging experience of design and implementation of scheduled desludging for inclusive, equitable, and sustainable sanitation to achieve social and environmental benefits in two Indian cities. In these cities, a performance-linked annuity payment framework is used to engage a private desludging enterprise. Payment is met through a sanitation tax and transfer from the general property taxes. It outlines the benefits of scheduled desludging in Indian cities and argues that it is critical to achieve improved sanitation.

Increasing latrine use in rural Karnataka, India using the risks, attitudes, norms, abilities, and self-regulation approach: A cluster-randomized controlled trial

Recent years have seen unparalleled efforts by the Swatchh Bharat Mission (SBM) to make India open defecation free. While latrine coverage has been boosted very successfully, latrine use has remained low in many areas of the country. Consequently, the aim of this study was to use robust psychological theory to develop and rigorously evaluate low-cost and scalable behaviour change interventions to promote latrine use in rural India.This study reports findings from a cluster-randomized controlled trial (N = 1945) conducted in rural Karnataka, India, from January 2017 to February 2019. The evaluated behaviour change interventions were developed using the risks, attitudes, norms, abilities, and self-regulation (RANAS) approach.Results showed that latrine use changed by more than 15% in both treatment and control arms. The intervention triggered an additional, statistically significant increase in latrine use of approximately 5% to reach 97% use at endline.The results suggest that external factors had a strong influence on latrine use, with intensive efforts by SBM likely to be among these. The added value of the campaign was to increase latrine use to almost complete uptake and to successfully tackle the most change-resistant individuals. This intervention or selected components could complement future latrine use promotion in India.

Participation in solid waste management: Lessons from the Advanced Locality Management (ALM) programme of Mumbai

Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) is the national flagship programme of the Government of India that aims to achieve the vision of “Clean India’. The Solid Waste Management (SWM) component of the SBM envisages to become a ‘janandolan ’(people's movement) with participation from a wide range of stakeholders. This assertion emphasizes the importance of community and civic groups in maintaining cleanliness of cities. The ‘Advanced Locality Management’ Programme (ALM) of Mumbai is one of the earlier efforts of citizen-government partnership for SWM in India. Initiated in 1997 it is still operational in Mumbai. This paper traces the evolution of the ALM programme, with particular reference to engagement of civic groups, their changing roles and responsibilities over time. In doing so, the paper argues that for true ‘janandolan’ on urban civic issues, a broader mandate for participation that encompasses wider concerns of citizens is required.

Impact of sanitation and socio-economy on groundwater fecal pollution and human health towards achieving sustainable development goals\xa0across India from ground-observations and satellite-derived nightlight

Globally, ~1 billion people, mostly residing in Africa and South Asia (e.g. India), still lack access to clean drinking water and sanitation. Resulting, unsafe disposal of fecal waste from open-defecation to nearby drinking water sources severely endanger public health. Until recently, India had a huge open-defecating population, leading declining public health from water-borne diseases like diarrhoea by ingesting polluted water, mostly sourced to groundwater. However, in recent past, sanitation development to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has been encouraged throughout India, but their effect to groundwater quality and human health conditions are yet-unquantified. Here, for the first time, using long term, high-spatial resolution measurements (>1.7 million) across India and analyses, we quantified that over the years, groundwater fecal coliform concentration (2002–2017, −2.56 ± 0.06%/year) and acute diarrheal cases (1990–2016, −3.05 ± 0.01%/year) have significantly reduced, potentially influenced by sanitation development (1990–2017, 2.63 ± 0.01%/year). Enhanced alleviation of groundwater quality and human health have been observed since 2014, with initiation of acceletated constructions of sanitation infrastructures through Clean India (Swachh Bharat) Mission. However, the goal of completely faecal-pollution free, clean drinking water is yet to be achieved. We also evaluated the suitability of using satellite-derived night-time light (NLan, 1992–2013, 4.26 ± 0.05%/year) as potential predictor for such economic development. We observed that in more than 80% of the study region, night-time light demonstrated to be a strong predictor for observed changes in groundwater quality, sanitation development and water-borne disease cases. While sanitation and economic development can improve public health, poor education level and improper human practices can strongly influence on water-borne diseases loads and thus health in parts of India.

Children Unwelcome - Socio-physical Study of Children’s Community Toilets Usage in Mumbai’s Slums

In light of growing concerns among experts to achieve SDG 6.2 by 2030, and in view of the Swachh Bharat Mission – an initiative launched in 2014 to eradicate open defecation (OD) in India, this field research-based paper sets out to explore the physical and social enabling environment for children of informal settlements in Mumbai to use communal toilets. First stage of the research involved shortlisting 6 community toilets across 3 informal settlements and documenting them for spatial conditions and user experience. 2nd stage consisted of data collection from 986 random samples across all ages and genders, regarding usage patterns. The findings revealed that only 6.7% of the users were children. This led to the 3rd stage, where 80 children ages 14 and younger were interviewed, to understand their concerns, perceptions, habits and related interactions with adults. The research, spanning 18 months, exposed deficiency in the enabling environment to promote and sustain usage of toilets and diminish OD. Especially for children, the research revealed aspects of discrimination in the form of inequity bylaws; inappropriate ergonomics; adult intimidation; and parental indifference to sanitary choices. The paper suggests systemic children-specific mitigations, thereby lending a voice to their unique concerns and needs. Keywords: Children’s Sanitation, Enabling Environment, Discrimination & Exclusion, SDG 6.2, informal settlements

Explaining the outcomes of the 'Clean India' campaign: institutional behaviour and sanitation transformation in India

IntroductionMany less developed countries are struggling to provide universal access to safe sanitation, but in the past 5 years India has almost reached its target of eliminating open defaecation.ObjectiveTo understand...

Impacts of Swachh Bharat Mission on awareness and health of rural population in Kanpur Nagar, Uttar Pradesh

Impacts of Swachh Bharat Mission on awareness and health of rural population in Kanpur Nagar, Uttar Pradesh - IJFCM- Print ISSN No: - 2394-6768 Online ISSN No:- 2394-6776 Article DOI No:- 10.18231/j.ijfcm.2019.024, Indian Journal of Forensic and Community Medicine-Indian J Forensic Community Med

Health Care Delivery in India - SWOT Analyses

Healthcare in India is undergoing a change that will meet the demands of the citizens from the village to the metropolitan city level. The National Health policy announced in 2017 is focused on 'wellness' of patients and guarantees healthcare with suitable insurance to cover from primary to tertiary care. Ayushman Bharat Mission is a policy that promotes healthcare with a center-state co-operation. Program Indra Dhanush aims to cover immunization of children in rural and urban areas including those who were not covered in the previous program like Pulse Polio.

From Administrative to Political Evaluation: Estimating Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Indicators for Parliamentary Constituencies in India

With the launch of the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), India accelerated access to improved sanitation in a ‘mass movement’ emphasising people’s participation and political leadership. However, SBM continues to be implemented at the administrative unit of districts, disassociated from the political and electoral units of Parliamentary Constituencies (PC). We provide estimates of India’s 543 PCs by their performance on three important Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) indicators: unsafe disposal of child stool, unimproved drinking water supply, and unimproved sanitary facilities. We used multilevel modelling to generate precision-weighted estimates of each indicator at PC-level, based on recently developed methodologies linking cluster GPS data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), 2016 to potential PCs. We found very high heterogeneity across PCs ranging from 0.95 per cent–95.85 per cent for unsafe stool disposal, 0.35 per cent–64.17 per cent for unimproved drinking water source, and 0.19 per cent–90.69 per cent for unimproved sanitation facility. Unsafe child stool disposal and unimproved sanitary facility were strongly correlated ( r = 0.85, Pearson and r = 0.83, Spearman). Monitoring of SBM data at the PC level will allow parliamentarians to effectively improve WASH conditions in their constituencies, while accounting for critical between-PC variability that may be obfuscated in an approach focussed on state or district means.

Projected Behavioural Change in Swachh Bharat Mission: A Public Policy Perspective

The Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) is the largest behavioural change programme in the world. The mission has shifted its focus from production outputs (i.e. toilet construction) to behavioural outcomes (open-defecation-free [ODF] India). The SBM’s emphasis on behavioural change in rural sanitation at the grassroots level also leads to rigorous verification and sustainability of the benefits accrued to rural communities. The SBM targets to achieve an ODF India by 2019, on the eve of the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. In addition to this, the mission will also contribute to India reaching the UN Sustainable Development Goal 6, which calls for ensuring availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. It is in this context that the article critically analyses the sanitation services in general and with special reference to SBM in India from a public policy perspective. It seeks to establish the linkages between public health and sanitation and problemetises the issue of open-defecation and its health implications. It provides an analysis of behavioural change techniques in community-led total sanitation (CLTS) and its application in achieving Swachh Bharat (clean India). The article presents a historical account of sanitation situation in colonial and post-independence India, followed by an in-depth analysis of the formulation of the SBM. Lastly, the article examines the current status of implementation of SBM and it also discusses the emerging issues and concerns that could be addressed in achieving ODF India.

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Practices in Rural Area of Goa: A Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: Access to water, sanitation and hygiene is a major challenge in developing nations and more among rural population. In India, Swachh Bharat Mission was launched with the objective to provide sanitation facilities and eliminate open defecation.
 Objective: To assess the existing facilities and practices related to drinking water, sanitation and hygiene among household members in the rural population of Goa.
 Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in the field practice area of Rural Health and Training Centre, Mandur, Goa. Individuals aged ≥ 18 years were interviewed from 100 households by house to house visits using semi-structured questionnaire.
 Results: Out of 100 households, 87 (87.0%) were having piped water supply into dwelling, 5 (5.0%) were using public tap and 8 (8.0%) were using water from well. Majority of the households, i.e., 94 (94.0%) were using sanitary latrine for defecation, 1 (1.0%) had community toilet and 5 (5.0%) were practicing open field defecation. Closed container was used by 89(89.0%) of the households for storing drinking water and 96 (96.0%) were using soap and water for hand washing.
 Conclusion: This study revealed that overall water and sanitation practices among the study population were satisfactory. However, measures need to be taken to abolish some of the bad practices such as open defecation and drainage of waste water in the open which was seen in few participants.