Department of Drinking Water & Sanitation organises Workshop on sharing Best Practices of ODF Plus under Swachh Bharat Mission
Over 50,000 Villages Declare Themselves as ODF Plus
India has emerged as a leader in global sanitation efforts: Chief-WASH, UNICEF
India
To facilitate knowledge sharing of best practices on all verticals of
ODF Plus among districts and states across the country, the Department of
Drinking Water and Sanitation (DDWS), Ministry of Jal Shakti organised a
one-day workshop for officials implementing Phase II of Swachh Bharat Mission
Grameen (SBM-G) in rural India.The collaborative learning event organised with
the support of UNICEF was held against the backdrop of over 50,000 villages
countrywide declaring themselves as ODF Plus as on March 25, 2022; after
ensuring sustainability of ODF status and visual cleanliness of villages by
putting in places systems to effectively manage solid and liquid waste.
Chaired by the Secretary, DDWS, Vini Mahajan in the presence of
Additional Secretary and Mission Director – DDWS, Arun Baroka, the event will
determine the capacity building initiatives that are required to accelerate
implementation of activities across various verticals of ODF Plus, namely
Biodegradable waste management, Plastic waste management, Greywater management,
Faecal sludge management,
Gobardhan, Menstrual Hygiene Management and IEC and capacity building.Nearly
200 participants from States and Union Territories were present at the event
that saw the presence of senior officials from the States such as Additional
Chief Secretaries, Principal Secretaries, Mission Directors, State
coordinators, State SBM-G Capacity Building Focal Points and Sarpanches who
shared details of their exemplary work in the context of their villages.
In her inaugural address, Secretary, DDWS Vini Mahajan reiterated the
pivotal role of global, national, regional and local knowledge-sharing
activities to achieve the objectives of ODF Plus. "We believe that
ensuring sanitation is critically important for the health and well-being of
the people in rural India and for their future generations,” she said.
While emphasising the importance of addressing the current gaps and
sustaining ODF status, she said the SBM-G campaign presents a unique
opportunity to meet the aspirations of the rural community. "Let's
all work together and share the best practices in ODF Plus so that others may
follow the path and make things happen. We have the understanding, the
financial resources and the technical strength to achieve this. Let’s
make the coming financial year the action year.”
Providing a Global perspective on Safe Sanitation and SDG 6, Nicolas
Osbert, Chief-WASH, UNICEF India talked about how India has emerged as a leader
in global sanitation efforts. "Achieving ODF Plus presents
outstanding opportunities - the budgets made available by the government,
expert partners across the board, convergence with JJM and cross-sectoral
convergence," he said.
He elaborated the impacts of ODF on rural India, current status of ODF
Plus and future opportunities. “India is exporting its expertise on
sanitation across the globe now. Let’s collectively work towards achieving ODF
Plus. I believe that this workshop on Best Practices in ODF Plus will go
a long way in operationalizing the SBM-G, Phase II.
Arun Baroka AS and MD, DDWS
highlighting the mission priorities of SBM-G talked about laying out a roadmap
for the implementation of ODF Plus activities and prioritizing the two lakh
plus villages that can achieve the ODF Plus status with minimal interventions.
He said “We need to ensure that all GPs undertake plastic waste
management. To show solidarity towards the same, village pradhans can
pledge to shun the use of single use plastic”. He appealed to the
gathering to ensure enough awareness about ODF Plus and make activities like
SLWM and PWM more attractive and achievable for villages. He also stressed the
need to get into an action mode.
Baroka also called for the
popularisation of the idea of ODF Plus. A Jan Andolan led to the success
of Phase I of the campaign and we need to replicate the same to achieve ODF
Plus. All our resources should be rolled towards achieving the same.
The day-long programme consisted of technical sessions and panel
discussions on each of the ODF Plus verticals that are essential to complete
the journey of districts from ODF to ODF Plus. The speakers
included Subject Experts: VK Madhavan, CEO/WaterAid India;
Sujoy Mojumdar UNICEF; Dr. Abhinav
Akhilesh, KPMG; and Ms. ArundatiMurlidharan; and Anand Shekhar, Team Leader, SBM-G; as well
as State Representatives: Akashdeep, MD Assam; Abraham Thomas Renjith, Program
Officer-Suchitwa Mission, Kerala; Ms. Jaspreet Talwar, Principal
Secretary-Punjab; M.W. Kharkongor, Chief
Project Manager, Meghalaya; Parmeswaran
B, Mission Director-Odisha; L K Atheeq,
ACS-Karnataka; Praveen P Nair,
Director-RD&PR Tamil Nadu; Dr. P. Sampath, Mission Director, Andhra
Pradesh; Dr. Neha Arora, Mission Director-Jharkhand and Padma Angmo, JKAS
District Panchayat Officer; Anuj Jha, Mission Director-Uttar Pradesh; Sarath
Kumar, Mission Director-Telangana; FAkshay Budania, Special Commissioner-SBMG, Gujarat
and Rupesh Rathore, State Co-ordinator-Chhattisgarh.
The Government of India, in February 2020, approved Phase-II of the SBM
(G) with a total outlay of Rs. 1,40,881 crores to focus on the sustainability
of Open Defecation Free (ODF) status and Solid and Liquid Waste Management
(SLWM). SBM (G) Phase-II is planned to be a unique model of convergence between
different verticals of financing and various schemes of Central and State
Governments.
SBM (G) Phase-II has been uniquely designed to leverage the capacity of
individuals and communities in rural India to create a people’s movement to
ensure that the ODF status of rural areas is sustained, people continue to
practice safe hygienic behaviour and that all villages have solid and liquid waste
management arrangements.
To ensure effective and expedited implementation of SBM-G – the largest
behaviour change programme in the world, continuous engagement and capacity
strengthening of all stakeholders at various levels is required. In order
to facilitate this, DDWS has developed a range of reference materials
pertaining to the programme’s approach with technical specifications, cost
estimates, technical drawings, etc. for various elements of ODF
Plus. Among them are brochures and toolkits on each of the ODF Plus
verticals that would serve to build capacities of field staff and
functionaries.
In this phase too, the campaign effectively utilizes modern technology
for comprehensive monitoring. Each SLWM unit in every village is being
mapped on Integrated Management Information System (IMIS) for a real time
progress report. Every facility is being geotagged for ensuring
transparency in the entire process. This way, the SBMG dashboard has become a
symbol of action and progress.
The impact of SBM-G Phase II will be seen in improvement in public
health, economic benefits and the promotion of entrepreneurship.