Context:
Analysis of India's past sanitation policies and find out better learnings to achieve SDG 6 by 2030
SDG 6 and Constitutional Provisions
- Article 47 - It is the duty of the state to raise the level of nutrition and the standard of living and improve Public Health.
Evolution of India's Sanitation Policies:
1. 1981: With only 1% of rural sanitation coverage. Government launched the Central Rural Sanitation Programme(CRSP), it includes the construction of ‘individual household latrines’ .
- Issues: The programme was criticized for slow construction and lack of demand-led ‘behaviour change communication’.
2. 1999: The CRSP was restructured as a Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC), main component was the educational emphasis in achieving community-led total sanitation .
- Issues: TSC was also criticized, it lacked the training needed for educational activities. Like the CRSP, it was also infrastructure-focused rather than demand-led.
3. 2012: The government launched the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (NBA) in 2012
- Issues : No concrete study on the programme.
4. 2014: Government launched its Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) ,with the goal of achieving an OD-free India within five years. Under the SBM, India achieved the construction of around 100 million toilets and was declared an OD-free nation on 2 October 2019.
- Issues: Many independent studies, along with NFHS-5 data, didn't substantiate these claims.
Case study of Bangladesh
Bangladesh used the community mobilization power, and was very committed for providing basic sanitation facilities to all, and also recognized the significance of change in sanitation attitudes of the population. This comprehensive approach led the reduction in Open Defection from 42% in 2003 to 1% in 2016.
Key Learnings for the future sanitation policies:
- Top-down approach with a focus on building toilets is not sufficient. The need is to bring a sustainable behavioural change in toilet adoption. Thus , bottom to top approach like strong partnerships with village councils, schools, role learning needs to be carried out.
- The strong need to induce disgust over Open Defecation, and also explain the merits of using toilets and having clean surroundings ,for instance heath benefits and lesser out-of-pocket medical expenditure
- Social norms should be remoulded in such a manner that toilets begin to be associated with the household’s dignity and social status.
Conclusion
- Studies has shown that even after successful adoption of toilets, there is always the possibility of a reversion to Open Defecation, if toilets are not kept structurally intact and suitably clean.
- Hence, the need is the proper maintenance of toilets to lower the chances of any slide-back.
- Finally, linking the SDG 6 goal with the sanitation programmes of governments at all levels—national, state and local—will allow a unified approach towards that end.
GS: 2 : Government policies and Interventions , Issues arising out of their Design and Implementations
Key phrases: SDGs, Public Health , Sanitation ,Social Norms, community led efforts, sustainable behaviour change
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