How Swachh Bharat can succeed
Abstract:
Of the numerous initiatives that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan, which would give Mahatma Gandhi the gift of a clean India on his 150th birth anniversary on October 2, 2019, has the greatest potential to transform the lives of all Indians – rich and poor. Sanitation has been the theme of virtually every government in recent times. Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had launched the Central Rural Sanitation Programme in 1986 and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee the Complete Sanitation Campaign in 1999. But no previous government has shown the resolve and commitment exhibited by Modi. This time it feels real.
Till date, sweeping streets and ending open defecation have occupied media centre stage. But equally critical to Swachh Bharat are access to piped water; well-functioning drainage, sewage and solid waste management in all cities and villages; elimination of ponds in which stagnant water collects and serves as host to bacteria and mosquitoes; instilling greater appreciation of cleanliness in all its aspects among the masses. Indeed, taking the campaign to its logical conclusion would require replacing slums with more spacious housing having piped water delivery and modern sewage facilities.
The campaign faces formidable financial and implementation challenges. Financially, the government will easily need 2-3% of GDP annually till the target date. There are only four avenues to mobilising such vast resources: increases in revenues made possible by accelerated growth; cuts in middle-class subsidies such as for cooking gas; elimination of enormous leakages in the myriad social schemes by replacing them with cash transfers; and accelerated disinvestment including outright privatisation. All roads to Swachh Bharat pass through the thicket of reforms.