Swachh Bharat has led to reduced ground water contamination: Study by UNICEF
Union Minister for Jal Shakti Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has said that Swachhata
affects all aspects of the environment – be it groundwater, surface water, soil or air – as
This Update Has Been Compiled By DAS SIR, KOLKATA -8961556195.
well as health and well-being of the communities in ODF regions. Praising the Swachh
Bharat Mission for bringing a reduction in ground water contamination, he said, the
WHO 2018 study had estimated that the Swachh Bharat Mission will save over 3 lakh
lives by the time India is Open Defacation Free. Releasing two independent third-party
studies conducted on the Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen), the Minister said, the
Mission will continue to positively impact people’s lives for a long time to come.
These studies, commissioned by UNICEF and the Bill and Melinda Gates, were aimed
at assessing the environmental impact and communication footprint of the Swachh
Bharat Mission (Grameen) respectively. The full reports as well as the summary reports
of both the studies can be downloaded from mdws.gov.in and sbm.gov.in.
Union Minister for Environment and Forests Shri Prakash Javadekar highlighted the
significance of launching these studies on World Environment Day. He said that the
United Nations, aware that the protection and improvement of the human environment
is a major issue which affects the well-being of peoples and economic development
throughout the world, designated 5th June as World Environment Day. He added that it
is only fitting that UNICEF has chosen this day to release its findings on the positive
impact the Swachh Bharat Mission has had on the environment of rural India.
Secretary, Government of India, Shri Parameswaran Iyer, in his opening remarks,
shared that the rural sanitation coverage in the country had crossed the 99% mark and
that the Mission was in the final stretch of its completion with 30 States and Union
Territories already having declared themselves free from open defecation. He said that
the Mission is focusing on sustaining the gains of this progress and to extend the
momentum to the ODF-plus phase which includes solid and liquid waste management.
Summary of the study findings
Environmental Impact study by UNICEF
Under the "Environmental impact of the Swachh Bharat Mission on Water, Soil, and
Food" by UNICEF, groundwater samples were collected and studied from ODF and
non-ODF villages of Odisha, Bihar and West Bengal. The study found that, in terms of
faecal contamination, non-ODF villages were, on average:
11.25 times more likely to have their groundwater sources contaminated (12.7 times
more from contaminants traceable to humans alone)
1.13 times more likely to have their soil contaminated
1.48 times more likely to have food contaminated and 2.68 times more likely to have
household drinking water contaminated.
The study findings indicated that these substantial reductions may potentially be
attributed to the improvement in sanitation and hygiene practices, as well as supportive
systems such as regular monitoring and behaviour change messaging, which have all
been critical aspects of the Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen).
IEC footprint study by Gates Foundation
This Update Has Been Compiled By DAS SIR, KOLKATA -8961556195.
The “Assessment of the reach and value of IEC activities under Swachh Bharat Mission
(Grameen)” conducted by Dalberg, supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation, estimated the scale of IEC activities within the Mission and assessed
associated monetary and in-kind costs, and outputs such as reach. The study found
that:
SBM mobilized a spend equivalent worth INR 22,000 to 26,000 crores in monetary and
non-monetary IEC activities.
Of this spend equivalent, cash expenditure on IEC activities spent by the Government,
private sector, and the development community was estimated to be between INR
3,500 – 4,000 crores.
Of this cash spend, ~20% (~INR 800 crores) was spent by the Ministry of Drinking
Water and Sanitation (MDWS), ~35% (~INR 1,250 crores) by the State Sanitation
Departments, ~25% (~INR 1,000 crores) by other government ministries, and the other
~20% by the private sector (CSR and business expenditures) and the development
sector collectively.
An average person living in rural India was exposed to between 2,500 – 3,300 SBM
related messages over the last five years.
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