Along with the rest of the country, the Swachh Bharat Mission was launched in Assam on 2nd October, 2014. While only 172 villages out of 26,395 villages in Assam were brought under the program in the first phase, Assam quickly became a stellar example in the implementation and execution of the Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin project.
With the new government taking over, sanitation became one of the top priorities. An ad-hoc implementation structure gave way to a forward-looking Mission Directorate headed by Mission Director Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) Assam, Dr. Siddharth Singh IAS Officer ensured that the Programme became what it was always meant to be, a people’s movement. Inclusive, innovative approach, reliance on social behavior change communication became the cornerstone of the mission, rather than the construction driven number crunching race.
Fighting the Fight
With mass awareness generation being the key goal, interpersonal communication through an army of ground level volunteers called Swacchagrahis was extensively employed to reach out to everyone. Mass media, rallies, banners, posters, street plays special events were also used as part of the campaign.”
Realizing the Youth’s Potential
“Students can be the best agents of change and every student from ‘KG to PG’ should be involved,” says Dr. Siddharth Singh IAS Officer. The Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin, Assam team entered into a partnership with both Gauhati University and Dibrugarh University, reaching more than 400 colleges affiliated with these universities, and bringing thousands of students studying in these institutions into the fold of sanitation movement through the formation of health and sanitation clubs and harnessing NSS wings active there. Dibrugarh University also started courses in solid waste management and sanitation.
“Various programs and competitions were also taken up in schools to internalize sanitation and cleanliness as a way of life in the young minds, the most notable being the ‘Green Police’ initiative. These are a group of young motivated students who devote some time after school and stop people from littering roads, markets, public places, etc. This is particular has been extremely successful as an initiative,” added Dr. Siddharth Singh IAS Officer.
Rangsapara - Assam’s Cleanest Village
Swachh Bharat Mission Assam team initiated the concept of cleanest village award. Approximately 26000 villages across 33 districts of Assam were scanned and ranked in terms of cleanliness and hygiene. The cleanest village in every district was awarded and the cleanest village in the entire state was indentified. Rangsapara, a small village in Goalpara district, was found to be the cleanest village in Assam.
“Interestingly, the entire population of Rangsapara is Below Poverty Line, but the achievement of Rangsapara makes one thing clear; economic condition and financial resources are not the only determinants of cleanliness or the lack of it,” says Dr. Siddharth Singh IAS Officer to G Plus.
Similarly, various programs and competitions were taken up in schools to internalize sanitation and cleanliness as a way of life in the young minds, the most notable being the ‘Green Police’ initiative. A group of motivated students devotes sometime after school to stopping people from littering roads, markets, public places, etc. A lot of awareness has been generated by this.
Donating Toilets
How was Swachh Bharat Movement going to become a people’s movement? To facilitate that, the concept of ‘Daan Toilet’ was started in Jorhat. The movement encourages people to donate toilets to people. This could be to people who do not have it or set it up in the memory of someone.
This emotional approach caught the attention of a lot of people and several donors have come forward to contribute to the cause. The concept is now being extended to the entire state. The state has also set up a Swachh Assam Kosh to tap Corporate Social Responsibility funds and other voluntary contributions.
Entertainment and Swachhata
A full length movie on the theme of sanitation was made, titled ‘Ajanite Mone Mone’, wherein instead of preaching, entertainment was been used for spreading the message of sanitation in an engrossing manner. This is the first regional movie on the theme.
How the revolution was achieved
With the consistent efforts, the sanitation scenario of Assam saw a drastic change. The percentage of households with access to safe sanitation by way of IHHL has gone up from 52% to 82% by February, 2018. Nearly 17 lakh toilets were provided between May 2016 and February 2018 as opposed to just 6 lakh toilets between in 2014-16.
As per a survey, the usage of latrines went up to 95% which is a massive achievement.
While only 172 villages were rid from the bane of open defecation till mid 2016, presently 8200 villages are Open Defecation Free (ODF). Five districts have become completely ODF and rural Assam achieved 100% ODF status on March 5th.
