Swachh Bharat Abhiyan

About Swachh Bharat Mission

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched his dream project "Swachh Bharat Abhiyan" on 2nd October 2014, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. Swachh Bharat Abhiyan or the "Clean India Campaign" is the biggest ever cleanliness drive in the country and Prime Minister had appealed to each Indian to get involved in the mission and make it a success.

Why this project started?

It is very sad to say that the country has a massive problem of open defecation. More than 72 percent of rural people in India respond to their nature's call behind bushes, in fields or on roadsides. This has led to various other problems like untimely deaths of children, spread of infections and diseases and most importantly rapes of young girls who go to deserted places to relieve themselves. India has a population of more 1.2 billion people, out of which nearly 600 million people or 55 percent has no access to toilets. Even in areas, where there are toilets in rural India (32 percent of rural households, as per the 2012 data), there are no running water facilities available. Slum dwellers in cities have no access to running water supply and also toilets.

Considering this grave problem of rural sanitation in India and open defecation, the then UPA Government had launched Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan in 1999. In this Abhiyan, a target was set for universal household sanitation coverage by 2012. This was an integral part of the Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) launched in 1991. However, the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan could not achieve its objectives.

Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan has now been restructured by the present Government as "Swachh Bharat Abhiyan" with the objective of making India a "clean" India by stopping the problem of open defecation, building up of toilets for all households, providing running water supply, treating of solid and liquid wastes in a proper manner. This drive also includes cleaning of roads, pavements, and clearing of encroachments in unauthorised areas. Above all, the project aims at creating awareness among people about the need for proper sanitation and hygienic facilities.

When it will be completed?

Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, with the help of the Government of India, political parties, NGOs, corporations and with active people's participation, is slated to be completed in 2019. It was Mahatma Gandhi who laid great emphasis on cleanliness. He himself said "Sanitation is more important than Independence". He wanted India to be a clean India. He very well had a clear understanding of the pathetic condition of the rural people. It's been 67 years of Independence, and even today, more than half of India's population does not have proper toilets. Considering this fact in mind, the present Government of India wants to fulfil the dream of Mahatma Gandhi and usher a clean India by 2019, which will mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

Efforts by Government

For proper execution of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, a 19-member expert team has been formed under the chairmanship of scientist Raghunath Anant Mashelkar. Mashelkar is the former director general of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). The entire team will be involved to suggest the best and the most advanced technology to provide sanitation and water facilities in various states using methods that are affordable, sustainable, and scalable.

On 2nd October 2014, when our PM launched the mission, he was accompanied by party officials, Bollywood actor Aamir Khan, thousands of government employees, school and college students. Prime Minister has been actively supported by his cabinet ministers. To make it a mass movement, he also nominated nine celebrities including Priyanka Chopra, Shashi Tharoor, Sachin Tendulkar and Anil Ambani to take up the cleanliness challenge, who in turn should invite nine more people and in this way the chain should continue. They have already accepted the challenge and have appealed more people to get involved. Some states have also participated in this cleaning campaign and more plans and programs are in the process to make this a success.

Implementation of Project

The "Swachh Bharat Abhiyan" has two sub missions:

• Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (rural)
• Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (urban).

For execution of these two sub-missions, the ministries of drinking water and sanitation and rural development will look after the affairs in rural areas and the ministry of urban development in urban areas.

The dimensions of the problem of sanitation are so huge that it makes us wonder whether the PM will really be able to meet his target to clean up India by 2019 or not?

Controversy

While Prime Minister's Swachh Bharat Abhiyan has been highly acclaimed by many in India and abroad, there are still controversies involved in the mission. Similar programmes were launched earlier with little or no success, the most evident example being Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan. Controversies have come up because this programme too has more or less same ideas that were under UPA's Nirmal Bharat schemes. Huge amount of money was invested for that program that time. What was the outcome? Where did all the money go? But, as a matter of fact, this mission should not be involved in any kind of controversies. That is why, Narendra Modi said, "Swachh Bharat" mission is "beyond politics" and is inspired by patriotism.

Conclusion

Mere launching a program is not enough, results matter. It is not only the Government who can make it a success, people's participation is of utmost importance. Also, a detailed blue print should be prepared for implementing the programme. India will definitely be a clean country in coming years provided the Government and the people participate in this Swachh Bharat Mission in a holistic manner.

Swachh Bharat Mission: Facts and Figures

Project Cost: Rs. 1,96,009 crore

Project Start Date: 2nd October 2014

Project Estimated End Date: 2nd October 2019

Ministries Involved in Project: Ministry of rural development, ministry of urban development, ministry of drinking water and sanitation, Public Sector Undertakings ( PSUs), corporations, NGOs, state governments etc.

Purpose of Project: To make India a filth-free country in five years, to construct community and public toilets in rural and urban areas, to provide running water supply, to treat waste water, to keep roads, pavements and localities clean etc.

List of 73 Cleanest Cities in India

Sl. No.	City	Rank	State	Sl. No.	City	Rank	State
1	Mysuru	1749	Karnataka	38	Bengaluru	1182	Karnataka
2	Chandigarh	1716	Chandigarh	39	Delhi - SDMC	1180	Delhi
3	Tiruchirappalli	1715	Tamil Nadu	40	Thiruvananthapuram	1167	Kerala
4	Delhi - NDMC	1704	Delhi	41	Aizawl	1138	Mizoram
5	Visakhapatnam	1643	Andhra Pradesh	42	Gandhinagar	1133	Gujarat
6	Surat	1605	Gujarat	43	Delhi - North DMC	1132	Delhi
7	Rajkot	1574	Gujarat	44	Kozhikode	1107	Kerala
8	Gangtok	1565	Sikkim	45	Kanpur	1090	Uttar Pradesh
9	Pimpri Chinchwad	1559	Maharashtra	46	Durg	1089	Chhattisgarh
10	Greater Mumbai	1534	Maharashtra	47	Agra	1081	Uttar Pradesh
11	Pune	1533	Maharashtra	48	Srinagar	1072	J&K
12	Navi Mumbai	1530	Maharashtra	49	Amritsar	1062	Punjab
13	Vadodara	1511	Gujarat	50	Guwahati	1041	Assam
14	Ahmedabad	1452	Gujarat	51	Faridabad	1037	Haryana
15	Imphal	1441	Manipur	52	Delhi - EDMC	1015	Delhi
16	Panaji	1385	Goa	53	Shillong	1012	Meghalaya
17	Thane	1367	Maharashtra	54	Hubli and Dharwad city	992	Karnataka
18	Coimbatore	1361	Tamil Nadu	55	Kochi	990	Kerala
19	Hyderabad	1355	Telangana	56	Aurangabad	981	Maharashtra
20	Nagpur	1348	Maharashtra	57	Jodhpur	971	Rajasthan
21	Bhopal	1336	Madhya Pradesh	58	Kota	954	Rajasthan
22	Allahabad	1323	Uttar Pradesh	59	Cuttack	925	Odisha
23	Vijayawada	1284	Andhra Pradesh	60	Kohima	893	Nagaland
24	Bhubaneshwar	1279	Odisha	61	Dehradun	876	Uttrakhand
25	Indore	1276	Madhya Pradesh	62	Ranchi	874	Jharkhand
26	Madurai	1245	Tamil Nadu	63	Jabalpur	872	Madhya Pradesh
27	Shimla	1244	Himachal	64	Kalyan Dombivli	858	Maharashtra
28	Lucknow	1237	Uttar Pradesh	65	Varanasi	839	Uttar Pradesh
29	Jaipur	1236	Rajasthan	66	Jamshedpur	827	Jharkhand
30	Gwalior	1235	Madhya Pradesh	67	Ghaziabad	820	Uttar Pradesh
31	Nashik	1232	Maharashtra	68	Raipur	818	Chhattisgarh
32	Warangal	1226	Telangana	69	Meerut	760	Uttar Pradesh
33	Agartala	1222	Tripura	70	Patna	746	Bihar
34	Ludhiana	1222	Punjab	71	Itanagar	639	Arunachal Pradesh
35	Vasai - Virar	1215	Maharashtra	72	Asansol	497	West Bengal
36	Gurgaon	1194	Haryana	73	Dhanbad	464	Jharkhand
37	Chennai	1194	Tamil Nadu

Last Updated on: October 15, 2025

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