Top 5 Impacts of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan
While many countries are struggling to provide universal access to safe sanitation, in the past 5 years India has almost reached its target of eliminating open defecation. Swachh Bharat Abhiyan; The prime minister’s ambitious goal of eliminating open defecation by the 150th birthday of Mahatma Gandhi (October 2019) was met with the achievement of a 100% target. More than 10 crore household toilets have been built under this scheme since its launch. In its first economic analysis, Swachh Bharat Mission has resulted in annual benefits to the tune of more than Rs 53,000 (727 US dollars) per household in rural India, including through reduced diarrhea incidence and sanitation access time savings.
Some of the other benefits of the Swachh Bharat Mission has been
1. Boosting Tourism
India attracts tourists from various regions around the globe to showcase its rich cultures, heritage, monuments, beautiful sightseeing, and landscapes. The tourism industry contributes to 6.6% of GDP producing employment for the population. However, poor cleanliness has been a primary concern among foreign tourists in this country and has caused a huge slack in the industry. This Clean India Mission is sending a positive message to the tourist all over the world and making India ready to welcome them open-heartedly.
2. Health Improvement
Open defecation has always been a source of life-threatening disease. With 10 crore household toilets that have been constructed, Swachh Bharat Mission will offer an improvement to the health of the masses. A World Health Organization study has found that poor sanitary conditions cause a loss of Rs 6500 to every Indian per year. The cleaning drive is expected to bring a positive change in the health of ordinary people.
3. Technology Up-gradation
The government has embraced a humongous amount of Innovations and technology in various facets of the mission, which has helped achieve the desired target. Be it sanitation to the cleaning of roads, management of waste, accessing the progress of different states/cities or local bodies under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, encouraging people about cleanliness, and more, the best use of technology has been made to achieve the impossible. It encourages cost-effective and appropriate technologies for ecologically safe and sustainable sanitation.
4. Improves Productivity
A healthy society and the development of the country are inter-related. The health of individuals influences productivity at the workplace. So when the workforce is healthy, A healthy person can work thereby contributing to the GDP of the nation
5. Attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)
FDI from a foreign firm is an essential source to grow economically and raise employment. The cleanliness drive helped Singapore to get more FDIin 1977–87 and transformed into a developed country quickly. Similarly, the Swachh Bharat Mission may assist in increasing FDI in India to speed up the development.
To ensure continuous assessment and sustainability of on-ground performance of Swacch Bharat Abhiyan, the Government introduced Swachh Survekshan League, a quarterly cleanliness assessment of cities and towns in terms of being garbage-free and open defecation free (ODF) cities. In 2020, Indore has emerged as a winner.
