Page 4 - Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) Towards Cleaning India: A Policy Perspective
P. 4
Policy Brief
Figure 3: Trend of Urban Water and Sanitation in India infrastructure development to behavioural change. The
Source: JMP 2015 policy put forward a framework for City Sanitation Plans
(CSP) to address the core principles, viz. institutional roles
In 2005, an Inter-Ministerial Task Force on universal and responsibilities; awareness generation for changing
sanitation in urban areas was constituted to frame the mindsets; city-wide approach; technology choices; reaching
national policy to mobilize governments and civil society to out to the unserved and poor; client focus and generation
create community-driven Nirmal Shahar (Clean Cities), or of demand; and sustained improvements.
totally sanitized cities and towns. The landmark shift in urban
sector reforms however, came with the Jawaharlal Nehru In 2010, the Nirmal Shahar Puraskar (Clean City Award),
National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM)8,9 (2005) and designed along the lines of the Nirmal Gram Puraskar (Clean
the Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small Village Award), was launched to honour cities that achieve
and Medium Towns (UIDSSMT) (2005) which provided total sanitation, including Open Defecation-Free (ODF)
the much needed focus on urban areas particularly for status and 100 per cent safe waste disposal. Around 423
infrastructure provision as well as targeting the neglected cities were rated in terms of their achievements10 and
urban poor through the sub-mission ‘Basic Services for processes, concerning sanitation, in an effort by the Ministry
Urban Poor’ (BSUP). JnNURM and UIDSSMT started of Urban Development with the assistance of several
the urban reform process at a National level. Sewerage multilateral and bilateral donors. About 40 per cent of the
and sanitation was also covered under the JnNURM. The cities were in the ‘red category’ (in need of immediate
projects eligible for JnNURM assistance included water remedial action), more than 50 per cent were in the
supply (including desalination plants), sewerage and solid ‘black category’ (needing considerable improvement), and
waste management covering 63 identified cities. onlyahandfulofcitieswereinthe‘bluecategory’(recovering).
The rating served as a baseline to prioritize actions.
Another significant step in urban sanitation was the
launch of National Urban Sanitation Policy (NUSP). The By 2012, 29 out of 35 states and the Union Territories
NUSP called for a paradigm shift in its approach from were preparing state sanitation plans, and 158 cities
were developing city sanitation plans.11 Service level
benchmarking of urban services has been piloted and
scaled up to more than 1,756 cities. A shift in focus from
infrastructure centred to service delivery centred approach
has also been seen.12 Despite these positive plans, many
stakeholders noted that the NUSP has fallen short of
driving investment into municipal-level plans to enable
their execution. More guidance and funding are needed
to ensure consistency and quality of state- and city-level
sanitation reform.13
The Swachh Bharat Mission is one of the biggest ever
drives to accelerate efforts towards eliminating open
defecation, achieving universal sanitation coverage and
improving cleanliness by October 2, 2019. It has two Sub-
Missions, the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) and the
Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban), with an investment of
`62,010 Crore (appx. USD 10 billion) for the SBM (Urban).
Figure 4 represents these initiatives chronologically.
The SBM (Urban) Guidelines14 are a good initiative and
an improvement on the earlier initiatives. The priority
8 Annual Report 2011, Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India, http://jnnurm.nic.in/, last accessed on March 29, 2015.
9 Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD), Government of India and World Bank. 2012.
10 Strategic Plan of MoUD for 2011-2016 (Details available at www.performance.gov.in/sites/default/files/document/strategy/UD.pdf,
last accessed on Dec 20, 2016)
11 Squatting Rights: Access to Toilets in India, September 2012
12 Enhanced Quality of Life, India Country Paper, SACOSAN –IV, 2011
13 India Urban Sanitation and Toilet Challenge, Elledge & McClatchey , September 2013, Research Brief, RTI Press
14 SBM Guidelines. Details available at https://swachhbharaturban.gov.in/writereaddata/SBM_Guideline.pdf, last accessed on Dec 20,
2015.
4 FEBRUARY 2016
Figure 3: Trend of Urban Water and Sanitation in India infrastructure development to behavioural change. The
Source: JMP 2015 policy put forward a framework for City Sanitation Plans
(CSP) to address the core principles, viz. institutional roles
In 2005, an Inter-Ministerial Task Force on universal and responsibilities; awareness generation for changing
sanitation in urban areas was constituted to frame the mindsets; city-wide approach; technology choices; reaching
national policy to mobilize governments and civil society to out to the unserved and poor; client focus and generation
create community-driven Nirmal Shahar (Clean Cities), or of demand; and sustained improvements.
totally sanitized cities and towns. The landmark shift in urban
sector reforms however, came with the Jawaharlal Nehru In 2010, the Nirmal Shahar Puraskar (Clean City Award),
National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM)8,9 (2005) and designed along the lines of the Nirmal Gram Puraskar (Clean
the Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small Village Award), was launched to honour cities that achieve
and Medium Towns (UIDSSMT) (2005) which provided total sanitation, including Open Defecation-Free (ODF)
the much needed focus on urban areas particularly for status and 100 per cent safe waste disposal. Around 423
infrastructure provision as well as targeting the neglected cities were rated in terms of their achievements10 and
urban poor through the sub-mission ‘Basic Services for processes, concerning sanitation, in an effort by the Ministry
Urban Poor’ (BSUP). JnNURM and UIDSSMT started of Urban Development with the assistance of several
the urban reform process at a National level. Sewerage multilateral and bilateral donors. About 40 per cent of the
and sanitation was also covered under the JnNURM. The cities were in the ‘red category’ (in need of immediate
projects eligible for JnNURM assistance included water remedial action), more than 50 per cent were in the
supply (including desalination plants), sewerage and solid ‘black category’ (needing considerable improvement), and
waste management covering 63 identified cities. onlyahandfulofcitieswereinthe‘bluecategory’(recovering).
The rating served as a baseline to prioritize actions.
Another significant step in urban sanitation was the
launch of National Urban Sanitation Policy (NUSP). The By 2012, 29 out of 35 states and the Union Territories
NUSP called for a paradigm shift in its approach from were preparing state sanitation plans, and 158 cities
were developing city sanitation plans.11 Service level
benchmarking of urban services has been piloted and
scaled up to more than 1,756 cities. A shift in focus from
infrastructure centred to service delivery centred approach
has also been seen.12 Despite these positive plans, many
stakeholders noted that the NUSP has fallen short of
driving investment into municipal-level plans to enable
their execution. More guidance and funding are needed
to ensure consistency and quality of state- and city-level
sanitation reform.13
The Swachh Bharat Mission is one of the biggest ever
drives to accelerate efforts towards eliminating open
defecation, achieving universal sanitation coverage and
improving cleanliness by October 2, 2019. It has two Sub-
Missions, the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) and the
Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban), with an investment of
`62,010 Crore (appx. USD 10 billion) for the SBM (Urban).
Figure 4 represents these initiatives chronologically.
The SBM (Urban) Guidelines14 are a good initiative and
an improvement on the earlier initiatives. The priority
8 Annual Report 2011, Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India, http://jnnurm.nic.in/, last accessed on March 29, 2015.
9 Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD), Government of India and World Bank. 2012.
10 Strategic Plan of MoUD for 2011-2016 (Details available at www.performance.gov.in/sites/default/files/document/strategy/UD.pdf,
last accessed on Dec 20, 2016)
11 Squatting Rights: Access to Toilets in India, September 2012
12 Enhanced Quality of Life, India Country Paper, SACOSAN –IV, 2011
13 India Urban Sanitation and Toilet Challenge, Elledge & McClatchey , September 2013, Research Brief, RTI Press
14 SBM Guidelines. Details available at https://swachhbharaturban.gov.in/writereaddata/SBM_Guideline.pdf, last accessed on Dec 20,
2015.
4 FEBRUARY 2016
