The Swacch Bharat Abhiyan translated as Clean Bharat (India) Mission launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in its third year now and there have also been noticeable implementation of the schemes under the programme in Nagaland. Although it is still quite early to give a verdict on the success of the programme in the state, the various activities of the programme in collaboration with the community is no doubt quite noticeable. The Swaach Bharat Abhiyan is primarily aimed to eradicate open defecation in the country by 2019. The Joint Monitoring Group of the UNICEF and the WHO report in 2015 indicate that nearly 45 per cent of the population of India indulge in open defecation. India tops the list of countries where open defecation is practised and in 2012 India had almost 50 per cent of its population practising open defecation. A report by LIXIL Group Corporation, Water Aid and Oxford Economics states that India lost 5.2% of its GDP due to poor sanitation. Poor sanitation is the main cause of many deadly diseases due to the contamination of drinking water and food from toxins and germs found in human wastes. Since better sanitation and ending or reducing open defecation is a global campaign spearheaded by the United Nations, India has also availed ample support from the World Bank. In the last two and half years the country has witnessed immense participation especially by the icons from various fields acting as Brand Ambassadors for the campaign. From film stars to sports persons and other well respected personalities from the community have all been roped in to make this campaign a success. Along with the primary mission of reducing open defecation the participation of the famous personalities is being harnessed to help the population to imbibe the culture of cleanliness and proper sanitation. This is being targeted along with the various projects that is currently being implemented around the country. In the case of UP the new chief minister has given the year end as the dateline for 30 districts to be open defecation free. Coming back to the region, especially the hill areas including Nagaland open defecation has been widely reduced in the state. However in the far flung districts and the remote areas the absence of toilets is still quite high. Although lower in comparison to the national average of nearly 45 per cent, the census of 2011 indicates that in Nagaland around 23.5 per cent of the households have no toilets. It shows that the ‘Poo to the loo’ concept has still not reached its desired levels in the state in the remote areas. However, looking at the implementation of Swachh Bharat Mission in the state, it indicates it is focussed more on the urban areas. In the urban areas it is not only the installation of public toilets but even funds are being spent extensively on garbage disposal schemes, a part of solid waste management which usually comes under the urban civic bodies with bigger projects. The low density of population in most of the settlements and villages and the bad connectivity can be one of the reasons for the non implementation in the rural areas. There have been absence of any noticeable convergence of the SBM schemes in the village water and sanitation committees a.k.a WATSAN. This might pose a challenge to the success of the mission in the state. Like any central programme that is designed elsewhere, the SBM also calls for our lawmakers and technocrats in the state to devise better ways of implementation to ensure that this mission is a success in the state too.
