President talks about a plan to make all six lakh villages of India open defecation free in the second phase of Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin
President talks about a plan to make all six lakh villages of India open defecation free in the second phase of Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin
Telangana won the first prize under the category of large states under the Swachh Survekshan Gramin (SSG) 2022, which looked at the sanitation status of rural areas, with Haryana adjudged second and Tamil Nadu third. Presenting the award on Sunday, President Draupadi Murmu said that the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan which had brought about a population-wide behavioral change, acted as a shield during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Swachh Survekshan Grameen-2022 Award ranks states and districts on the basis of key quantitative and qualitative Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin (SBM-G) parameters and their performance in improving the sanitation status of the rural community. Among smaller states and union territories, Andaman and Nicobar secured the first position, followed by Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu and Sikkim.
“Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin is a movement to bring about behavioral change in our population. The use of toilets, the habit of washing hands with soap and water supply through taps act as a shield for the country during the pandemic,” said Ms Murmu.
The President said that since the launch of the Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin in 2014, more than 11 crore toilets have been constructed and about 60 crore people have given up defecation in the open. Ms Murmu also informed that the Government of India is implementing the second phase of the Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin, which was launched in 2020 and aims to make all six lakh villages in the country ‘Open Defecation Free Plus’. “Having achieved success against open defecation, we now have to address more complex and technical problems such as solid and liquid waste management,” she said. Since the start of the second phase of Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin, more than 1.16 lakh villages have declared themselves as ‘ODF Plus’ and solid and liquid waste management work has also started in about three lakh villages.
“Having achieved success against open defecation, we now have to address more complex and technical problems such as solid and liquid waste management”Draupadi MurmuPresident of India