The Central government Swachh Bharat Mission is pondering over reinventing its flagship Swachh Bharat Mission by turning its focus on “dignity and self-respect.”
The recommendation came from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), which has submitted an eighty-page report to the Ministry of Urban Development after holding two week long public consultations in six cities — Lucknow, Patna, Nagpur, Mumbai, Vishakapatnam and Guwahati.
The ministry spokesperson said that the ministry is taking the cue from the TISS report and working toward bringing in “a paradigm shift” by encouraging “technocrat approach” to make the cleanliness mission a success.
The report also stressed on the need for total sanitation and focusing on making the urban poor move away from a “life of denial and indignity to one filled with opportunities and dignity.”
“The TISS report favoured a long term association between the governments and specialists including ad agencies and behavioral scientists for clearly articulating the real value of sanitation,” the ministry spokesperson said in a statement.
The ministry is considering another recommendation of TISS that a “statutory National Council for Sanitation” should be set up for “robust governance and implementation with representation for civil society, academia, technocrats, policy makers, government officials and other stakeholders.”
“The Council can suggest required legal reforms to enhance functioning of the Mission besides promoting evidence based policy making,” the spokesperson added.
