Swachh Bharat Abhiyan: 7 facts you should know

The national campaign led by the Government of India is covering 4041 statutory towns across India and aims to make the streets, roads and infrastructure clean by October 2, 2019 (Mahatma Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary)

The mission is estimated to cost around 62,009 crore rupees, of which 14,623 crore rupees will be borne by the Union Government

The urban component of the mission is being implemented by the Union Ministry of Urban Development and is India's biggest ever cleanliness drive. Around three million government employees and school and college students of India participated in the event in its initial phase. However, the rural component of the mission will be implemented by Union Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation

The mission was started by Prime Minister Modi, who, on December 25, 2014, nominated nine famous personalities for the campaign. They took up the challenge and nominated nine more people. Thereafter, it has been carried forward with people from all walks of life joining it. The nine public figures selected by Modi to propagate the mission include:

Comedian Kapil Sharma, Former captain of Indian cricket team Sourav Ganguly, Former IPS officer Kiran Bedi, Padmanabha Acharya, Nagaland Governor Sonal Mansingh, classical dancer Ramoji Rao of Eenadu group and Aroon Purie of the India Today group

The goal also includes the elimination of open defecation, conversion of insanitary toilets to pour flush toilets, eradicating of manual scavenging and Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM).

Major components of the goal:

a) Construction of individual sanitary latrines for households below the poverty line with subsidy (80 percent) where demand exists

b) Conversion of dry latrines into low-cost sanitary latrines

c) Construction of exclusive village sanitary complexes for women providing facilities for hand pumping, bathing, sanitation and washing on a selective basis where there is not adequate land or space within houses and where village panchayats are willing to maintain the facilities

d) Setting up of sanitary marts

e) Total sanitation of villages through the construction of drains, soakage pits, solid and liquid waste disposal

f) Intensive campaign for awareness generation and health education to create a felt need for personal, household and environmental sanitation facilities.

This would cover 1.04 crore households, provide 2.5 lakh seats of community toilets, 2.6 lakh seats of public toilets and solid waste management facility for all towns.

With effect from April 1, 1999, the Government of India restructured the Comprehensive Rural Sanitation Programme and launched the Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC).

To give a fillip to the TSC, effective June 2003, the government launched an incentive scheme in the form of an award for total sanitation coverage, maintenance of a clean environment and open defecation-free panchayat villages, blocks and districts, called Nirmal Gram Puraskar.

Effective April 1, 2012, the TSC was renamed to Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (SBA). On October 2, 2014 the campaign was relaunched as Swachh Bharat Abhiyan

A Swachh Bharat Run was organised at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on October 2, 2014. According to a statement from the Rashtrapati Bhavan, around 1500 people participated and the event was flagged off by President Pranab Mukherjee. Participants in the run included officers and their families.