The ambitious Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) can be more effective if other government departments are also integrated into the programme, according to Gourishankar Ghosh, water and sanitation expert.
Mr. Ghosh was the UN Children’s Emergency Fund’s global head of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) programme in 2000 and had launched the global WASH initiative.
Speaking in Aurangabad on Tuesday at a workshop organised by UNICEF and Forum of Environmental Journalists in India, Mr. Ghosh said SBM was “more publicity than a clear message”. He said the SBM did not have linkage with health issues, lacked an impact evaluation, and was restricted to being a “toilet counting programme”. He added that “Hygiene is totally emitted from the programme.”
He said SBM was not a two year old initiative, but one that has been implemented even in the past. “Rajiv Gandhi had started the National Sanitation Programme in 1986. While SBM gives the impression that it is a total sanitation and cleanliness movement, it is not,” Mr. Ghosh said, adding that it was totally separated from health, nutrition and development programme.
Mr. Ghosh, was the first director of the Rajiv Gandhi Drinking Water Mission launched in 1986. He said an integrated SBM “can help restore water bodies and soil.”
“The programme that Rajiv Gandhi had launched was reviewed and shut down, restructured, and relaunched. A continuous evaluation of Swachh Bharat is necessary,” Mr. Ghosh said. He also pointed out it needed to be customised for each place.
He said SBM should be a “people’s movement”, and not just a government programme to encourage better participation.
It should be an overarching programme and cover a gamut of issues that would come under the broad concerns of sanitation and hygiene.
He said a proper approach would be based on evidence and not political perception.
Published - July 27, 2016 09:05 am IST
