India to become an open defecation free country by 2022, says Jairam.
Union Minister for Rural Development and Drinking Water and Sanitation Shri Jairam Ramesh has called for making India an open defecation free country in 10 years and announced major restructuring of the Total Sanitation Campaign, TSC. Addressing a National Consultation on scaling up sanitation here, the Minister said there is a need to build a mass movement on the issue as the country accounts for almost 60 percent of open defecations in the world, which he described as shameful and pushed for a major paradigm shift in policy and approach to deal with this problem. He said, the sanitation challenge must be met in a Mission Mode fashion and favoured greater integration of finance, technology and civil society movement to achieve the goal. Shri Ramesh also asked the officials to scale down the numerical targets and have a relook at the funds allocated per toilet in rural areas, which is Rs-3,000 at present and which the Minister felt is not realistic. He also strongly advocated moving away from individual toilet construction to Nirmal Gram Panchayat approach, where the panchayats will be the sheet anchor for the sanitation programme. The Minister said that his model of sanitation is public funding but private management. Lamenting over the under investment in the sector, the Minister assured substantial budgetary increase in the 12th Five Year Plan, which could range between 40 to 60 percent enhancement as the Centre`s current total spending for the Drinking Water and Sanitation is only Rs 10,000 crore. The Minister however added that greater participation is key to the success of the programme as the Ministry can only provide funds and broader guidelines.
Union Minister for Rural Development and Drinking Water and Sanitation Shri Jairam Ramesh has called for making India an open defecation free country in 10 years and announced major restructuring of the Total Sanitation Campaign, TSC. Addressing a National Consultation on scaling up sanitation here, the Minister said there is a need to build a mass movement on the issue as the country accounts for almost 60 percent of open defecations in the world, which he described as shameful and pushed for a major paradigm shift in policy and approach to deal with this problem. He said, the sanitation challenge must be met in a Mission Mode fashion and favoured greater integration of finance, technology and civil society movement to achieve the goal. Shri Ramesh also asked the officials to scale down the numerical targets and have a relook at the funds allocated per toilet in rural areas, which is Rs-3,000 at present and which the Minister felt is not realistic. He also strongly advocated moving away from individual toilet construction to Nirmal Gram Panchayat approach, where the panchayats will be the sheet anchor for the sanitation programme. The Minister said that his model of sanitation is public funding but private management. Lamenting over the under investment in the sector, the Minister assured substantial budgetary increase in the 12th Five Year Plan, which could range between 40 to 60 percent enhancement as the Centre`s current total spending for the Drinking Water and Sanitation is only Rs 10,000 crore. The Minister however added that greater participation is key to the success of the programme as the Ministry can only provide funds and broader guidelines.
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