The citizens of Madhya Pradesh and the state machinery have enabled change at the grassroots level.
Narendra Modi, the newly elected Prime Minister on 2 October 2014, launched a nationwide cleanliness drive On the occasion of the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. Together with tackling open defecation through behavior change, the now famous Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, or Swachh Bharat MissionIt aims to provide sanitation facilities including toilets, solid and liquid waste disposal systems to each family.
for the betterment of society
Their Call to achieve target by 2nd October 2019 And make it a fitting tribute to the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, on his 150th birth anniversary, which was well received by all Indian citizens and the international community as well. Indeed, it was a historic moment in India’s growth story, as this campaign was to become the biggest cleanliness drive of any country.
This path-breaking idea initiated by the Prime Minister was beyond partisanship and politics. It evoked a patriotic spirit and came to be known as a masterstroke to unite a nation which had suffered a lot at the hands of some divisive forces.
This visionary and courageous idea of social reform inspired me to rally the people of Madhya Pradesh and do open defecation, in fact, it is a thing of the past.
Before starting the program in the state, it was important for me to understand the ground reality. We launched a comprehensive exercise to identify the sanitation issues facing the people through a series of interactions with all the identified stakeholders. It was an opportunity for us to initiate a social transformation the world had never seen before, contributing to the story of an Atmanirbhar Bharat.
operated by person
Through a series of interactions with such stakeholders, we gathered insights to inform our strategy to make Madhya Pradesh 100% Open Defecation Free (ODF) by 2019. We understood that people, as individuals, hate unclean environments and try to keep it. Their homes are clean, no one takes responsibility when it comes to collective integrity. Instead, people believe that it is the responsibility of the government to keep its surroundings clean and tidy. What the prime minister did was to make cleanliness an individual responsibility, both at the personal and public level. We wanted to ride this wave of a renewed public understanding of cleanliness and ensure that Public Participation (People’s participation) was the driving force behind the success of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in Madhya Pradesh.
As the chief minister of the state, it would have been very easy for me to issue directions only to build toilets, guarantee the provision of piped water supply and fine the offenders to achieve the goal. But one lesson I learned is not to go for short-term solutions, but instead, to address all issues from a long-term perspective. Therefore, I decided on a multi-pronged strategy involving implementing stringent regulatory measures such as building toilets, imposing fines for open defecation, and encouraging behavior change through both communication-based and engineering solutions. This approach guaranteed the retention of changed behaviors and the longevity of the effects of our efforts.
power of simple solutions
We take advantage of the age-old understanding that good leadership encourages continuous change in behavior. As a result, we ensured that from a collector to a local level leader at the gram panchayat level, the message of cleanliness reaches the people. This accelerated the movement. The more people the leaders connected with, the more they were able to open new lines of communication and create deeper bonds of trust.
After this there was a marked change in the attitude of the people as they started adopting the movement at the grassroots level and started preaching to their peers and community members with the message of cleanliness.
We encouraged and recognized simple yet path-breaking engineering innovations locally. I remember that one of our collectors from Sehore district had devised an innovation called ‘Tippy-Tap’. It is a simple foot-operated device that uses a can with a hole to draw water out for hand washing. We implemented this ‘tippy-tap’ solution in all anganwadis and schools in Sehore district, and this easy-to-operate solution was welcomed by all. Another simple solution was to put a small hook in the toilet to help seniors and people with disabilities get up easily from a sitting position. After the success of these simple solutions, my belief is strengthened that simple solutions can bring about lasting change.
record so far
As a result of this comprehensive and scientific approach, urban Madhya Pradesh got its ODF certification on 2nd October, 2017 – much ahead of time; Rural Madhya Pradesh received ODF certification on 2nd October, 2018 the following year. Therefore, in today’s situation, it is no surprise that Madhya Pradesh ranks third in the country in the Sanitation Survey, 2020. Not only this, many of our cities have consistently topped the list of clean and green cities in India.
Take for example Indore, which has been ranked cleanest city in the country In the Swachh Survekshan (Cleanliness Survey) since 2017. Leading the frontline, Indore has become India’s first ‘Water Plus’ city in Swachh Survekshan 2021. It has achieved this feat by treating its wastewater to a satisfactory level, before releasing it into the rivers. Thus maintaining cleanliness in the rivers and streams under its administration.
Bhopal, popularly known as the ‘City of Lakes’, has also shown the way to other state capitals by securing the title of the cleanest and greenest capital of the country in the cleanliness survey of 2020. The result is clear: the steps taken by the state government towards realizing the Prime Minister’s call to enable sanitation have turned out to be life-saving during the Novel Coronavirus pandemic by ensuring less interaction during the lockdown and preventing the transfer of infection.
Formula
My vision of providing holistic sanitation facilities to the people of Madhya Pradesh stems from my understanding of traveling and interacting with many people and watching and learning from their struggles. Without our “sub-on-the-deck” approach and ‘the provision of an integrated sanitation approach that includes water supply, water connections and waste management’, our efforts to build toilets and implement regulatory measures alone would not would have brought about a tangible behavioral change at the grassroots level. ODF Plus status to 355 urban bodies in the state and ODF double plus status achieved by 71 urban bodies in the last one year is a resounding testament to the effectiveness of our strategy.
I feel immense joy when I see that the collective efforts of the citizens of Madhya Pradesh and the state machinery have brought about an irreversible positive change in cleanliness, directly at the grassroots level, emphasizing Gandhiji’s words – that “Sanitation is more than The key is “freedom”.
Shivraj Singh Chouhan is the Chief Minister, Government of Madhya Pradesh
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