Swachh Bharat Research Articles

Fostering Scientific Temper in India: Can Bollywood be a Catalyst?

As the nation fervently and rightfully celebrates ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’, it is yet pertinent to investigate the status quo of scientific temper among the citizens to estimate the progress and development of our heterogeneous society. The very foundation of Indian democracy propagates the idea of a society with a scientific mindset. Two important areas, under the backdrop of the ‘Swachh Bharat Mission’, where the existence of scientific temper is to be investigated or rather reinvestigated are sanitation and menstrual hygiene because of certain deeply ingrained unscientific beliefs and practices dominant in our society. Cinema is a quintessential mass media to popularize the need for societal reforms. Taking leverage of it, cinema can act as an indispensable tool of change in society. In view of it, we embarked on evaluating the impact of four women-centric Bollywood films namely Toilet Ek Prem Katha (2017), PadMan (2018), Mission Mangal (2019) and Shakuntala Devi (2020)in instilling the spirit of scientific enquiry and reform. The study carries out a thematic analysis followed by a quantitative approach to decipher the mindset of people of various academic backgrounds and regions. It identifies two groups of women –(i) a neo-liberal group who is seen as a promoter of science and (ii) a group who is the bearer and victim of unscientific societal norms. It could also be inferred that due to the limited outreach of films, scientific temper is still managing to evade the doorstep of common people.

Role and impact of nav ratna nominees by our prime minister mr. narendra modi in promoting the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan

Role and impact of nav ratna nominees by our prime minister mr. narendra modi in promoting the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan

Household Survey on the Role of Social Norms in Defecation Practices in Aurangabad, Bihar, India

Introduction:In the recent decade, the study of social norms has become popular as it can explain and change harmful social behaviours, such as Open Defecation (OD). Open defecation is is a threat to public health. It causes diarrheal infections. Households formed the unit of study as they constitute an essential social institution to adopt and use latrines. Aim: To compare the social norms of the latrine user and OD practitioners of households with regard to disgust, purity and pollution, latrine and OD beliefs, and the preference for latrines that differ in cost. Materials and Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted among 486 participants at Aurangabad district, Bihar, India, from July 2019 to January 2020. The district is one of the worst performers in latrine adoption in the country, according to the census of India 2011, Swachh Bharat Mission 2016, and NFHS-5 2019-21 data. A pretested questionnaire prepared by Research Institute for Compassionate Economics (RICE) was used as a tool for data collection. Data collected were entered into Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25.0. Descriptive data analysiswas performed and represented in tabular forms. The categories of households were made on the basis of the defecation practices (latrine user and OD practitioners). Results: The study found that social norms regarding purity and pollution were the same across the two groups. Both the groups (latrine user and OD practitioners) agreed that OD was disgusting and polluting behaviour. The two groups were coherent in the preference for latrines based on cost. Conclusion: The social norms are evolving in the study setting. Households have recognised the relevance of latrine use in contemporary times. The gap in practice is the only difference between the two groups of households.

Access to Toilets and Violence Against Women

This paper examines if in-home access to toilets reduces the risk of violent crimes against women. We use the roll out of the Swachh Bharat Mission, a flagship toilet construction program in India, to ascertain if assault and rape of women reduce when women have access to in-home toilets relative to open defecation. We bolster our findings by using political alignment of locally elected representatives in close elections with the national government's political party, post the launch of the program, as an instrument in an instrumental variable strategy. Our IV estimation is robust to conditioning on average luminosity as a proxy for growth though we do not observe any correlation between our instrument and local economic growth measures in this time period. We find that construction of toilets reduces sexual assault of women, but we do not discern consistent changes in rape. Our findings are robust to a variety of controls, specifications, and identification approaches. We address reporting changes as a plausible alternative explanation.

Perception of Post Graduation Students Towards Clean India Programme with Reference To Mangalore City

Perception of Post Graduation Students Towards Clean India Programme with Reference To Mangalore City

Analysing challenges to smart waste management for a sustainable circular economy in developing countries: a fuzzy DEMATEL study

PurposeWaste can be converted to a high-value asset if treated properly with smart solutions. The purpose of this research is to identify critical barriers hindering smart waste management (SWM) implementation in developing economies using comparative analysis and a mixed-method approach. The objective of this work is to provide exhaustive insight including the smart cities projects to discuss the deferring parameters toward IoT-enabled waste management systems.Design/methodology/approachTo accomplish the objective, the present study followed mixed-method approach consisting of two phases: In the first qualitative phase, barriers in the adoption of IoT (Internet of Things) for SWM were identified using extensive literature review and discussion with selected experts. In the second phase, the quantitative analysis using the Fuzzy DEMATEL (Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory) method was performed on the selected barriers. The fuzzy DEMATEL methodology helps in prioritizing the most significant causal barrier by separating them into the cause-effect group. The comparative analysis was used to understand two different perceptions. To provide more detailed insight on the problems faced while implementing SWM in developing economies.FindingsThe results disclose that “Lack of government strict regulatory policies,” “Lack of proper financial planning” and “Lack of benchmarking processes” are the most critical causal barriers toward IoT-enabled SWM implementation that are hindering the vision of efficient and effective waste management system. Also, “Difficulty in implementing innovative technologies” and “Absence of Dynamic Scheduling and Routing” fall under the potential causal category. The effect barriers include “Lack of awareness among the community,” “Lack of source segregation and recycling commitment” and “Lack of service provider” as concluded in results considering the comparative analysis. The results can aid the policy-makers and stakeholders to identify the significant barriers toward a sustainable circular economy and mitigate them when implementing IoT-enable waste practices. Also, it assists to proactively build programs, policies, campaigns and other measures to attain a zero-waste economy.Research limitations/implicationsThe research is focused on the context of India but it provides new details which can be helpful for other developing economies to relate. The research addresses the call for studies from public-sector and citizen’s perspectives to understand the acknowledgment of SWM systems and critical success factors using qualitative and exploratory method analysis.Practical implicationsThe practical implications of the study include strict regulatory policies and guidelines for SWM acceptance, proper financial administration and benchmarking waste-recycling practices (prominent causal barriers). The practical implication of the results includes assistance in smart city projects in handling barriers proactively. The “Lack of Benchmarking processes” provides a critical application to standardized recycling practices in developing economies to improve the quality of the recyclable material/product. The comparative analysis also provides in-depth reflection toward the causal barriers from both the perspective which can help the government and stakeholders to work in a unified manner and establish an efficient waste management system. The results also conclude the need for targeted training programs and workshops for field implementation of innovative technologies to overcome the causal barrier. Moreover, policy-makers should focus to improve source segregation and recycling practices and ensure dedicated communication campaigns like Swachh Bharat Abhiyan to change the behavioral functioning of the community regarding waste. Lastly, developing economies struggle with the adequacy of resources to establish SWM systems, hence the authors conclude that proper financial planning is required at the ground level for smart city projects to overcome the spillover effects.Social implicationsThe social implications of the study include a reduction in pollution and efficient handling of waste resulting in a healthier and cleaner environment using IoT technology. Also, the results assist decision-makers in developing economies like India to establish smart city projects initiatives effectively to improve the quality of life. It proposes to establish standardized recycling processes for the better quality of recyclables and help in attaining a sustainable circular economy.Originality/valueThe research is novel as it provides comprehensive and comparative information regarding the barriers deferring SWM including the field barriers. To our consideration, the present study serves the first to address the comparative analysis of barriers in IoT-enabled waste systems and establish the relationship from both the perspective in middle-lower income economies. The study also suggests that the effect barriers can be overcome automatically by mitigating the causal barriers in the long run.

IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON HUMAN RIGHT TO ACCESS CLEAN & SAFE DRINKING WATER IN INDIA

IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON HUMAN RIGHT TO ACCESS CLEAN & SAFE DRINKING WATER IN INDIA

CURRENT SCENARIO OF WEALTH AND CHILD NUTRITION IN INDIA: MACRO AND MICRO LOOK

The level and relationship of child health, wealth, and basic amenities are changing fast in India. How strong are the relationships of state wealth, i.e., state Gross Domestic Product and basic household amenities like sanitation facilities with child health? Using the published National Family Health Survey 2015-16 at a macro level, the paper compares the change of stunting, underweight and under-five mortality over ten years (National Family Health Survey 2005-06 to 2015-16) and explores how far child health indices are associated with state Gross Domestic Product. Though wealth and child health are positively associated in India, the strength of the relationship is declining over time, indicating that wealth per se may not guarantee the betterment of child health. Undertaking a case study with 510 children in a low-income community of Mumbai, we further establish that the availability of basic facilities and recent infections play a stronger role in determining child nutrition status when household wealth is controlled. Higher-income, more years of schooling, less crowding in a household, covered drainage system, the non-occurrence of Gastro intestine, and infectious disease are significantly associated with better child nutrition status. Sincere attention to policy on improving basic facilities and living environment to address child health issues has become mandatory. National Health Mission or health programs like Swachh Bharat Abhiyan are good initiatives to focus on improving basic facilities and living environment to address child health issues.
 Key Words: Wealth, Child health, Stunting, Slum, Mumbai

Factors influencing sustainability of open defecation free (ODF) status in rural India: A cross sectional study

Tackling a simple and sensitive concern of ‘Open Defecation (OD)’ is such a compounded and righteous challenge that enormous efforts and resources are needed to bring in the desired changes in the villages. Towards this, attaining open defecation free (ODF) status by providing toilet facilities to every household is the foremost step in rural sanitation programme under Swachh Bharat Mission – Gramin (SBM –G) being implemented by the Government of India. The present paper aims to examine the factors that have influence in attaining ODF status in rural areas. In this study, various parameters that contribute to attaining ODF status in the villages were identified and an extensive primary survey was conducted in 32,390 households across 686 rural villages in Krishna District of Andhra Pradesh, India. The empirical analysis of the data using a multinomial logistic regression model revealed that the factors such as water availability, safe excreta disposal, technology used for toilet construction and awareness on Swachh Bharat have an influence in achieving the open defecation free status in the villages to a greater extent.

The clean plan: analysing sanitation planning in India using the CWIS planning framework

Abstract Sanitation in India has received national attention for over a decade, especially with the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) making it a political priority. However, due to the lack of appropriate sanitation planning practices, there have been little long-term gains made in urban sanitation beyond the ending of open defaecation. In this paper, we analyse the key barriers to sanitation planning, in India, in the context of the emerging paradigm of Citywide Inclusive Sanitation (CWIS). A mixed method approach of shit flow diagrams, social network analysis, policy analysis, interviews and workshops at the national, state (2) and city (4) levels was conducted. Eight factors were identified as important barriers for planning including inadequate planning capacities, lack of ownership of city sanitation plans among city governments, poor community involvement, absence of a uniform planning framework, unreliable political and financial support, overlapping jurisdictions, and scheme-based funding. The paper also proposes the CWIS Planning Framework which offers a perspective at overcoming these barriers with the recommendation of bridging top-down and bottom-up planning approaches. While there is increasingly more clarity on what CWIS means, there is little understanding on how to plan for it. Therefore, this framework provides the theoretical basis for planning with the CWIS approach.

Efficiency assessment of faecal sludge treatment plant (FSTP): An analytical study

The success of Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) has increased the number of toilets in India. Treatment of septage and faecal sludge is now a big challenge to main the sanitation and hygiene in the society. Therefore, in the present study an attempt has been made to explore the concept and efficiency of Faecal Sludge Treatment (FSTP) technology. The paper also includes the study of characteristics of faecal sludge and biochar produced from faecal sludge. The efficiency of plant for biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD) and Total Suspended Solids (TSS) was observed 99.88%, 99.91% and 99.88, respectively. After the treatment all the studied parameters of treated water was found below the standards set by MOEF for FSTP discharge. After dewatering and drying, the faecal sludge is analyzed for calorific value, ash, fixed carbon, volatile matter, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and sulphur. Calorific value of faecal sludge ranged from 3339.00 Kcal kg-1 to 3542.00 Kcal kg-1 with an average value of 3419.67 Kcal kg-1. Then the faecal sludge is pyrolysed to produce the energy and biochar. Biochar was analyzed for pH, colour, moisture, bulk density, potassium, nitrogen, phosphorus, lead, zinc, cadmium, copper, nickel, chromium, and mercury. All the parameters of biochar were found below the standard limits of Solid Waste Management Rules (SWM), 2016 except bulk density (2.07 g cm-3), potassium (1.02%), and nitrogen (3.09%). On the basis of biochar results, it may be concluded that the sludge produced can be used as manure in agriculture and gardening. Therefore, FSTP is a suitable, sustainable eco-friendly technology for the treatment of faecal sludge and also reduces the chances of soil and ground water pollution.

Justice and sanitation well-being: an analysis of frameworks in the context of slippage, based on findings from Shravasti, Uttar Pradesh, India.

Access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation is considered as a basic human right. Swachh Bharat Mission - Gramin (Rural), launched by the Government of India in 2014, is hailed as an attempt towards that direction. On 2nd October 2019, India was declared free from open defecation, with rural households having full toilet coverage. However, despite Government claims, the existing literature indicates the presence of slippage: where households practice open defecation despite having access to toilets. Equating progress in sanitation interventions with mere toilet provision presents a partial assessment of sanitation. To address the gap, the 'Sanitation Well-being' framework, based on Amartya Sen's concept of justice, has been proposed. It identifies slippage as an outcome of various underlying factors across the sanitation life-cycle. The framework provides a lens to analyse existing frameworks and secondary data sets and finds that they do not capture the dynamism inherent in the sector. The efficacy of the framework has been tested in the rural district of Shravasti, Uttar Pradesh, India, through the rapid rural appraisal method. Through our investigation, we found that slippage exists in the field, and that the framework is a feasible instrument to assess sanitation as a comprehensive phenomenon.

Comparative Analysis of Municipal Solid Waste Management in Kochi and Indore

Conventionally, the general understanding of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) management is collecting solid waste and its disposal through its developed channels or outside contracts. However, depending upon the situation and context, the definition of MSW varies between countries across the globe. For instance, in countries like Singapore and Japan, Municipal Solid Waste is defined as general waste. However, while categorizing the general waste, the industrial waste component is considered for Singapore and not for Japan. Similarly, different countries associate different definitions for MSW and it becomes a difficult challenge to suggest a single unified definition applicable for all countries. This paper aims to do a comparative analysis of Waste management in Tier-II cities of India, Kochi and Indore. Kochi is ranked 372nd and the latter 1st according to the latest Swachh Survekshan undertaken as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Urban) by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. This paper highlights what the key elements missing out in the management of waste in Kochi from the reference perspective of Indore and identifying the measures Kochi needs to undertake to improve its ranking among the cleanest city in India are.

A comparative study to assess the knowledge and attitude regarding Swachh Bharat Mission among community people in selected urban and rural area of Bhopal, (M.P.)

Open defecation and contamination of drinking and bathing water has been an endemic sanitarily problem in India in 2014 India was the country with the highest number of people practicing open defecation around 530 million people. Swachh Bharat mission campaign launched on 2 October 2014. 0n birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi aim to eradicated open defecation by 2 October 2019. The 150th anniversary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi by constructing 90 million toilets in rural India. At projected cost of 1.96 lack crore (us$2). The national campaign spanned 4,041statutory cities and town. Conceived in March 2014 a sanitation conference organized but UNICEF India and the Indian institute of technology. As part the laager totals sanitation campaign which the Indian government launched in 1999.

‘Automatic guns singing death verses’ and Swachh Bharat rainbows: Layered messaging, cultural citizenship and public wall art on Maharshi Karve Road, Mumbai

ABSTRACT This paper examines three panels of public wall art on Maharshi Karve Road (Marine Lines), Mumbai, specifically artwork found on the walls of a kabristan (Muslim cemetery). Some of the artwork appeared following the 26/11 Mumbai attacks in 2008 and more latterly, Swachh Bharat Mission images have appeared since the campaign launched in 2014. Drawing on fieldwork from April 2016 and December 2017, the paper examines how ideas of Indianness and (cultural) citizenship are evoked both textually and visually. Since the paper examines wall art produced intermittently, over a number of years, I suggest that the palimpsestic nature of the artwork appearing on the kabristan wall is central to the reading of these images. The ‘reading’ of the 26/11 wall art specifically is shaped by the fact that the fieldwork was conducted ten years on from the terror attack of 2008 and thus takes into consideration the hanging of Ajmal Kasab in 2012 as well as the burial of Yakub Memon, convicted of the 1993 Bombay bombings, in a ‘Marine Lines cemetery’ following his execution in 2015. Through these readings of the larger canvas that constitutes the wall artwork of Maharshi Karve Road, the paper considers how Indianness, notions of communities and citizenship are portrayed in these panels of wall art and moreover, how these are complicated by the physical surroundings, the transient nature of wall art and the passing of time.

WITHDRAWN: Swachh shithouse

Cleanliness is not the word that comes to our mind when we think of a community toilet. Everyone in India has the right to get dignified sanitation. But women in many parts of our Indian country struggle to find clean public toilets. A very big challenge in sanitation is building and maintaining clean toilets in villages because of limited resources. Unclean toilets are the major root cause for many contagious diseases which are hazardous for human life and so, toilets in public places have always been a major focus of concern. This paper addresses this problem by proposing a cost-effective model to promote our country’s “Swachh Bharat” project for a clean and hygiene toilet.

A Review on Internet of Things (IOT) Based Garbage Monitoring System

“Swachh Bharat” is a national campaign by the statutory cities and towns to clean the roads streets and infrastructure of the country. When the massive amount of waste material is collected, it is difficult to separate and unhygienic. Now a day’s garbage is separately thrown i.e. dry and wet. The Internet of Things (IoT) shall be able to incorporate transparently and coherently a large number of different and heterogeneous end systems, while providing open access to selected subsets of data for the developing a digital services. Building a general architecture for the IoT is hence a very complex task, mainly because of the extremely large variety of devices, link layer technologies. One of the main concerns with our environment has been solid waste management which in addition to disturbing the balance of the environment also has adverse effects on the health of the society. The detection, monitoring and management of wastes are one of the primary problems of the present period. The traditional way of manually monitoring the wastes in waste bins is a complex, cumbersome process and utilizes more human effort, time and cost which is not compatible with the present day technologies in any way. This is an advanced method in which waste management is automated. In this “IOT based garbage monitoring system” The separate the wet and dry garbage using the moisturized sensor. This system is based on the separation and monitoring of garbage using Arduino Uno, Wi-Fi-module, ultrasonic sensor. Online identification of the garbage level using IOT, ultrasonic sensor and Wi-Fi module makes this system more effective than other system.

Learnings from select Indian public welfare programs to catalyze the implementation of India’s national actional plan on antimicrobial resistance

Antibiotics are an easy, rapid and quick replacement to improved care within fragmented health systems with poor access and infection control measures in many countries, including India. India announced its national action plan for antimicrobial resistance (NAP-AMR) 2017-2021 but has made limited progress. Successful public welfare programs (Delhi metro rail corporation DMRC, swachh bharat mission (SBM), beti bachao beti padao (B3P) and national green tribunal NGT) were reviewed that had addressed critical national concerns similar to AMR. Valuable lessons from their implementation provide the opportunity to improve the governance and operationalization of the NAP-AMR. Unique features of the four programs identified above include resilient leadership, multi-stakeholder coordination with oversight and accountability of partnerships, innovation in program design and implementation and data-driven real-time monitoring for sustained behavior change. Incorporating these strategies into the program design and implementation of India's NAP-AMR will reinvigorate the program to accelerate the achievement of program targets.

Assessment of Services at Tertiary Care Hospital Located in Central India, using ‘Kayakalp Initiative Tool’

Background: Kayakalp is an innovative initiatory started by the Health and Family Welfare Ministry through Swachh Bharat Abhiyan campaign on 15th May 2015. These instructions concentrate on advancement of desirable schemes for housekeeping facilities, pest control procedure, water sanitation, appointment & tutoring of manpower, advancement and accomplishment of appropriate cleansing procedure in terms of protocols / Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), powerful management and inspection by the employees and inherent Machinery in the treaties linked with an organizational framework which places a bonus on excellent cleaning services and sanitary facilities. This study aims to describe the experiences and knowledge based on assessment of Acharya Vinoba Bhave Rural Hospital, Sawangi (Meghe), Wardha District using this tool.
 Objectives: To assess and document hospital upkeep, Sanitation, Hygiene Practices, Hygiene Promotion and to study Handling of Biomedical Waste, Infection Control and Hospital Support Services.
 Methodology: This cross sectional hospital based study that will be conducted at Acharya Vinoba Bhave Rural Hospital, Sawangi (Meghe), Wardha District.
 Apart from observation of various practices and Processes, the participants to be interviewed will be Nursing staff in-charge in different wards along with Biomedical engineers, Administrative officers and beneficiary patients. For Quantitative data collection, a kayakalp checklist will be used. Data will be collected through observation, staff interview, record keeping, and patient interview forms as per Kayakalp Initiative Tool.
 Results: This study would help to understand current hospital sanitation procedures, hospital hygiene, infection prevention, general maintenance, waste management, and support services, etc. and will help to improve services based on findings of the study so as to improve satisfaction of population catered by hospital and provide an ideal working environment for all stakeholders.
 Conclusion: This work will assist in improving hospital/facility management and will aid in improvement of sanitation and hygiene practices, it will also improve overall satisfaction of all stakeholders after due implementation of changes suggested at the end of study.

The Economic Growth–Income Inequality–Poverty Nexus and Its Impact on Environmental Degradation: Empirical Evidence from India

This study attempts to examine the main forces affecting short-run and long-run carbon emission patterns due to changes in economic growth, income inequality and poverty in India over the period 1982–2018. For this purpose, it uses the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) cointegration technique and the vector error correction model (VECM) based on Granger causality tests. The stationary properties of the variables are checked using the Ng–Perron test. The results of the ARDL bounds test confirm the long-run relationship among the variables. Further, the ARDL coefficient confirms that economic growth and poverty increase carbon emissions in both the short and long run. The empirical findings of the causality test indicate the presence of short-run causality running from economic growth and poverty reduction to environmental degradation. Hence, the study recommends that policymakers must devote more attention to alleviating poverty and reducing income inequalities through redistributing transfers, investing on universal access to health and education, implementing progressive taxation policies, empowering women and enforcing the Clean India mission, which will have a positive impact on reducing environmental degradation in India. Further, the study also recommends appropriate environmental regulations that can substantially stimulate innovations to increase energy efficiency and thereby reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.