News On Air | World Toilet Day: India at the forefront of tackling the Global Sanitation Crisis

Nov 19,2022

The Ministry of Jal Shakti is organizing the ‘Swachhta Run’ across rural India to mark World Toilet Day on 19th November 2022. This run is to mark World Toilet Day, which is celebrated every year since 2013. The day was commemorated to celebrate toilets and raise awareness for the people living without access to sanitation. The theme for this year is “Making the Invisible Visible.”

States and Union Territories are directed to conduct the “Swachhta Run” at the Gram Panchayat level involving local heroes, ASHA workers, volunteers, youth, school students, and local folk artists etc. To connect the local population, various local elected representatives, sports persons and celebrities are made part of the flag-off of the run.

With the run, a pledge-taking ceremony is also being organised. All the participants of the run, in the beginning, are supposed to take the pledge for the promotion and implementation of the mission. To monitor the run, the National Informatics Centre has developed a dedicated e-module.

The Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri, delivered the keynote address at the event on World Toilet Day 2022: India Sanitation 2.0. He stated, “this event is symbolic of the power of resolve of 130 crore Indian citizens.”

Sanitation Countdown to 2030:
The theme explores how inadequate sanitation systems spread human waste into rivers, lakes and soil, polluting underground water resources. The inherent problem has been there but is invisible, as water contamination happens underground. The day also highlights actions to tackle the global sanitation crisis and achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6.2: sanitation and water for all by 2030. India achieved this target in October 2019, when the entire county achieved Open Defecation Free (ODF) status. However, efforts are further made to now achieve ODF plus status.

Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen): World’s largest behaviour change program
The Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) has been recognized as the world’s largest behaviour change program. The participation of people has been extensive in the program. The successful implementation of the program has transformed lives of thousands of people in rural India.

The mission was launched in 2014 by the Ministry of Jal Shakti to accelerate the efforts to achieve universal sanitation coverage and to put focus on sanitation. Phase-I of the mission was launched on 2nd October 2014 and more than 10 crore individual toilets have been constructed in the phase. By 2nd October 2019, all the states declared themselves as ODF.

Phase-II of the mission emphasizes the sustainability of achievements and moves one step further for arranging adequate facilities for waste management in rural India. It will be implemented from 2020-21 to 2024-25 in a mission mode with a total outlay of Rs. 1,40,881 crores.