The Impact of Swachh Bharat Urban
Swachh Bharat Abhiyan was a program started by India’s then newly-appointed BJP-led government in 2014. Sanitation and Hygiene has been a real issue in India ever since the country has started to develop. Before the launch of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, there were few programs which tackled the issue of cleanliness, sanitation and hygiene. As we all know, for a country’s development, sanitation and hygiene are extremely important. Thus, keeping in mind the situation of India, the BJP-government rolled out a new program named Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. The aim of this program was to make aware every citizen in India of their responsibilities towards the sanitation and hygienic conditions of India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi invoked names of celebrities in order to get a movement going in public consciousness.
Swachh Bharat Abhiyan was then divided into two parts: Swachh Bharat Urban and Swachh Bharat Rural. This distinction was made as rural India and urban India had very different demands vis-à-vis Sanitation and Hygiene. The problems plaguing in areas belonging to these different categories were poles apart. In other words, a solution which worked for a problem in urban India could not be applied to rural India as the nature of their problems was completely different from those of urban India. Thus, the policy-makers felt the need to define these two areas of the whole movement.
In Urban India, the major problem was of disposing waste. There was no proper waste management system in place in most of India’s metropolitan cities. The wastage was rampant but the waste was disposed of in a very unsystematic manner. Thus, to counter this problem, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’s urban model came up with a solution. The solution was to introduce garbage disposal trucks which would roam the streets of these cities and get the waste from each and every house. Once this concept was applied to major metropolitan cities, it was then extended to smaller cities and towns. Thus, a proper waste management system was now in place and everything began to happen quite systematically.
Another big issue in urban India was that people were so busy with their lives, that no one really paid attention to hygiene and sanitation. Yes, it was the so-called educated people of big cities who did not care about the sanitation conditions of their own city. Once their waste was out of sight, it meant that they had nothing else to worry about. However, the aim of Swachh Bharat Mission was to enlighten people about the importance of having a proper system in place.
Moreover, it could be said, that Swachh Bharat Urban was about raising people’s consciousness vis-à-vis wastage, cleanliness and waste management. Several awareness events were held under the umbrella of Swachh Bharat Urban. However, the most important gesture was made by the Prime Minister himself. When he invoked the name of celebrities, this issue came into the mainstream — a sort of limelight. After that, many organizations began to work with NGOs and government organizations in order to make India a cleaner and better space. One such organization is India Sanitation Coalition, who hope to see this version of India come to life.
