Lok Sabha Question No. 3962 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-08-10
Subject: Sanitation and Water Supply in Rural Areas
Ministry: DRINKING WATER AND SANITATION
Asked by: DEVJI MANSINGRAM PATEL, DILIP KUMAR MANSUKHLAL GANDHI

## Government of India

## Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3962 TO BE ANSWERED ON 10-08-2017

## Sanitation and Water Supply in Rural Areas

## †3962. SHRI DEVJI M. PATEL: SHRI DILIPKUMAR MANSUKHLAL GANDHI:

Will the Minister of DRINKING WATER AND SANITATION be pleased to state :

- (a) the sanitation criteria prescribed under Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin in rural areas of the country;
- (b) the steps taken by the Government to provide adequate amount of safe drinking water to every person in rural area including Rajasthan for making food and other household chores and for cattles;
- (c) whether the Government is facing challenges in implementation of the drinking water and sanitation schemes; and
- (d) if so, the steps taken by the Government to meet the challenges in this regard?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF DRINKING WATER & SANITATION

## (SHRI RAMESH CHANDAPPA JIGAJINAGI)

- (a)          The  Swachh  Bharat  Mission  (Gramin)  (SBM-G)  entails  improving  the  levels  of cleanliness in rural areas through Solid and Liquid Waste Management activities and making Gram Panchayats Open Defecation Free (ODF), clean and sanitised. ODF would mean the termination  of  faecal-oral  transmission,  defined  by,  a)  no  visible  faeces  found  in  the environment/village and, b) every household as well as public/community institution(s) using safe technology option for disposal of faeces.

The  SBM-G  guidelines  also  provide  setting  up  systems  for  scientific  disposal  of  waste. Technological options for Solid and Liquid Waste Management (SLWM) have been provided to the States.

- (b) The mandate of the Ministry is to provide financial and technical assistance to the States for coverage of rural water supply in the country for drinking, cooking and other domestic needs. This Ministry has prepared a Strategic Plan for the rural drinking water sector for the period 2011-2022, which stresses on extending the piped water supply to more households in the rural areas. By 2022, the goal is to cover 90% rural households with piped water supply;

at least 80% of rural households have piped water supply with a household connection; less than  10%  use  public  taps  and  less  than  10%  use  hand  pumps  or  other  safe  and  adequate private water sources. The focus of the Ministry is on the completion of ongoing schemes and States have been asked to expedite the completion of ongoing schemes on priority with focus on water quality affected areas especially with arsenic and fluoride contamination.

(c)  and  (d)  In  respect  of  National  Rural  Drinking  Water  Programme  (NRDWP), providing drinking water supply to rural areas of the country is a dynamic process. The coverage made under this sector slips back to some extent due to various reasons viz. life span of drinking water scheme, depletion in ground water level etc.

In  respect  of  SBM(G),  Sanitation  is  mainly  a  behavioral  issue.  The  focus  is  heavily  on triggering entire communities for collective behavioral change.  Emphasis is to be placed on awareness  generation,  triggering  mindsets  leading  to  community  behaviour  change  and demand  generation for sanitary facilities in houses, schools, Anganwadis,  places of community  congregation,  for  Solid  and  Liquid  Waste  Management  activities.,  promoting technological innovations, streamlining financial and programme management and converging other development schemes with sanitation to promote sustainability. In order to address  the  above  challenges,  a  number  of  measures  have  been  taken/being  taken  under SBM(G). These include:

-  Focus on community based collective behavior change involves change of mindset. Focus is also on creation of complete open defecation free (ODF) villages, rather than only on construction of individual toilets.
-  The  programme  provides  flexibility  to  the  States  in  the  implementation.  This  is essential, given the vast socio-economic-cultural diversity of India, and also from the point of view of promoting innovations.
-  There is a greater emphasis on capacity building, especially in community approaches and programme management.
-  The programme is being run as a janandolan with cooperation of all sections of the society including the NGOs, Corporates, youth etc. The Panchayats are being actively involved.
-  There is an emphasis on streamlining administrative and financial procedures as well as to increase accountability.
-  Innovations  in  technology  is  being  promoted  at  the  National  and  State  levels.  A Standing National Committee under Prof. R.A.Mashelkar examines all new technologies from the point of view of safety and feasibility.
-  Monitoring  and  Evaluation  has  also  been  strengthened.  The  IMIS  has  data  up  to household  level,  with  provision  to  capture  geo-tagged  photographs  of  toilets.  A Swachhta App provides online information on sanitation status up to household level. The citizens can also do ranking of swachhta on the Swachh App.
-  Zila Swachhata Preraks are being engaged for support of districts.
-  Web portal of Swachh Sangrah has been developed for knowledge sharing.