A recent rapid survey conducted by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) on the Swachh Bharat Mission has raised a big question mark on the latter’s ability to realise the goal of an Open Defecation Free (ODF) India by 2019. As the survey points out, over half of the population in rural areas still defecate in the open. The situation is better in urban areas of the country. Compared to rural areas where 55.4 per cent people defecate in open, only 8.9 per cent people were found to be going for open defecation. The ‘Swachhta Status Report’ by the NSSO covered 3,788 villages and 2,907 urban blocks during the month of May and June, 2015.

India is home to over 626 million people who defecate in the open. The overwhelming majority of those without access to sanitation facilities live in rural areas. In India, With 626 million people who practice open defecation, has more than twice the number of the next 18 countries combined. It accounts for 90 per cent of the 692 million people in South Asia who practice open defecation. It also accounts for 59 per cent of the 1.1 billion people in the world who practice open defecation.

The efforts of the government are not being reflected in the results due to several reasons. Firstly, too much of centralised planning needs to be replaced by a community-led Total Sanitation approach. It will encourage communities to take the lead and identify their own measures to end open defecation. The national level approach is meaningless if its not getting the desired results. The community should become the entry point and single window for implementing the Swachh Bharat Mission. There is also a concerted need for a dedicated pool of cadre to upscale the sanitation programme.

Source – https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/voices/how-to-create-open-defecation-free-india-by-2019/