Parliament Question: Effectiveness of Cleanliness and Sanitation Initiatives

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF JAL SHAKTI DEPARTMENT OF DRINKING WATER & SANITATION LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2056 ANSWERED ON 30/07/2026 EFFECTIVENESS OF CLEANLINESS AND SANITATION INITIATIVES

2056. SMT. MALVIKA DEVI:

Will the Minister of JAL SHAKTI be pleased to state:

(a) whether any benchmark or performance indicators have been prescribed to evaluate the effectiveness of cleanliness and sanitation initiatives in rural areas and if so, the details thereof;

(b) the measures being taken by the Government to ensure that rural areas are accorded priority under the Swachh Bharat Mission - Gramin (SBM-G); and

(c) the steps being taken by the Government to achieve hundred per cent sanitation coverage in rural areas, particularly in aspirational districts along with the details of the financial assistance, monitoring mechanisms and awareness programmes being implemented to achieve this objective? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR JAL SHAKTI (SHRI V. SOMANNA)

(a) & (b) Sanitation is State subject. Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) Phase II [SBM(G)- Phase II], is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme, implemented by States and Union Territory (UTs) Governments in rural areas within their respective jurisdictions. SBM(G)-Phase II is being implemented in rural areas of the country during the period from 2020-21 to 2026-27, with focus on Open Defecation Free (ODF) sustainability and to cover all the villages with solid and liquid waste management (SLWM) arrangements with visual cleanliness i.e. converting villages from ODF to ODF Plus (Model). The benchmarks for declaration of villages as Open Defecation Free (ODF) Plus under the Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) Phase-II and the

categorization are as follows: • ODF Plus Aspiring: A village which is sustaining its ODF status and has arrangements for Solid Waste Management OR Liquid Waste Management; • ODF Plus Rising: A village which is sustaining its ODF status and has arrangements for

both Solid Waste Management and Liquid Waste Management:

Page 1 of 4• ODF Plus Model: A village which is sustaining its ODF status and has arrangements for both Solid Waste Management and Liquid Waste Management; observes visual cleanliness, i.e., minimal litter, minimal stagnant wastewater, no plastic waste dump in public places; and displays ODF Plus Information, Education & Communication (IEC) messages.

(c) Government of India had launched Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) [SBM(G)], a Centrally Sponsored Scheme, with effect from 2nd October, 2014 with the aim to attain Open Defecation Free (ODF) India by 2nd October, 2019 by providing access to toilet facilities in rural areas. More than 10 crore individual household latrines (IHHLs) were constructed under the programme between 2014 to 2019, as per the data reported by the States/UTs. As a result, sanitation coverage in the rural areas of the country has increased from 39% as on 02.10.2014 to 100% and all villages declared themselves ODF in 2019. SBM(G)-Phase-II is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme, implemented by States/UTs Governments in rural areas with focus on Open Defecation Free (ODF) sustainability and to cover all the villages with solid and liquid waste management arrangements with visual cleanliness i.e. converting the villages from ODF to ODF Plus (Model).

Government of India has been providing financial and technical support to the State/UT Governments to supplement their efforts to improve overall sanitation and SLWM in the rural areas. Besides budgetary support from DDWS (Centre Share) and State share, the States/UTs also converge funds through Finance Commission grants and various Central/State schemes, as per the guidelines, as applicable. Further, under SBM(G) Phase II funds are not released component-wise or project-wise or separately for Aspirational Districts by this Department.

However, States/UTs can plan for providing sanitation and hygiene facilities as per the local demand in rural areas, including villages in Aspirational Districts, under their overall AIP.

Apart from providing budgetary support, Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation

(DDWS) issues operational guidelines, advisories and monitors the implementation of the programme.

State/UT-wise Central share of funds released under SBM(G) Phase-II from FY 2020-21 to FY 2025-26 is placed at Annexure.

Under Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen), following digital monitoring portals and mobile applications are being used for monitoring the progress of the programme across 34 States/UTs:

(i) SBM-G Portal & Dashboard: A centralized portal (https://swachhbharatmission.ddws.gov.in) and dashboard (https://sbm.gov.in/sbmgdashboard/statesdashboard.aspx) is used for monitoring progress under SBM(G) at the National, State, district, block and village levels. The SBM(G) dashboard captures the progress of States/UTs on various components of SBM(G) including Open Defecation Free (ODF) Plus status, construction of Individual Household Latrines (IHHLs) and Community Sanitary Complexes (CSCs), solid and liquid waste management (SLWM) assets and Information, Education & Communication (IEC).

Page 2 of 4(ii) Mobile Applications: The mSBM and SBM2.0 mobile applications have been developed under SBM(G) which are used for geo-tagging of IHHLs and geo-tagging of solid and liquid waste management assets (including CSCs) respectively. SBM 2.0 mobile application also captures assets constructed under the programme.

SBM(G) Phase II is not just about constructing infrastructure for ODF Plus villages but aims at behaviour change of the masses to adopt better sanitation and hygiene practices.

Accordingly, Information, Education and Communication (IEC) is integral to the programme, which lays foundation for sustainable behavioural change and community partnership Jan Bhagidari in the programme. It also strengthens community ownership of assets created under the programme. Since sanitation is a State subject, States/UTs are to develop and implement IEC campaigns, focusing on various components of the programme including sanitation, hygiene and waste management. Under SBM(G) Phase II, for IEC and Capacity Building activities, expenditure up to 5% of the total project funds is permissible with up to 2% to be utilized at the Central level and up to 3% at the States/District level.

***** Page 3 of 4Annexure ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (c) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.2056 ANSWERED ON 30.07.2026 State/UT-wise, central share of fundsreleased under SBM(G) Phase-II from 2020-21 to 2025- 26 (Rs. In Crore) State/UT 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25 2025-26 A & N ISLANDS 7.07 0 0.29 0.75 1.6 0 ANDHRA PRADESH 212.27 58.26 147.03 0 75.52 166.45 ARUNACHAL PRADESH 15.28 4.1 14.72 15.81 7.41 4.51 ASSAM 276.81 256.78 214.45 389.77 105.21 163.46 BIHAR 88.56 128.01 711.49 700 166.51 490.75 CHHATTISGARH 68.43 0 177.54 83.98 0 68.27 D & N HAVELI & D D 1.65 0 0 0 0 0.57 GOA 0.23 15.32 25.18 19.61 9.7 4.57 GUJARAT 312.56 171.36 53.63 109.61 151.4 249.3 HARYANA 80.6 29.95 0 0 25.11 9.25 HIMACHAL PRADESH 23.62 41.95 38.28 42 28.65 46.71 JAMMU & KASHMIR 24.89 120 116.79 241.33 185 158.75 JHARKHAND 153.31 0 70.03 50 0 66.79 KARNATAKA 126.31 0 155.84 42.34 95.27 87.74 KERALA 103.73 5.66 74 0 11.66 27.12 LADAKH 2.71 3.56 1.28 5.75 2.55 8.39 LAKSHADWEEP 0 0 1.94 0 0 0 MADHYA PRADESH 291.48 334.48 184.56 113.39 121.05 46.54 MAHARASHTRA 276.75 0 0 110.45 189.14 436.73 MANIPUR 17.51 12.09 12.86 0 0 0 MEGHALAYA 65.41 36.56 16.57 20.81 0 45.28 MIZORAM 14.05 13.22 9.84 4.98 8.84 8.85 NAGALAND 22.17 9.01 19.72 31.07 20.69 30 ODISHA 58.92 0 0 46.52 111.26 112.91 PUDUCHERRY 0.11 0 0 0 0 4.27 PUNJAB 65.94 0 42.05 54.81 41.3 48.37 RAJASTHAN 229.26 275.93 288.78 69.43 98.18 173.29 SIKKIM 6.15 4.49 5.79 6.66 7.6 6.27 TAMIL NADU 162.89 0 78.47 239.74 99.56 246.91 TELANGANA 46.86 0 0 14.18 9.56 28.6 TRIPURA 24.33 17.14 28.28 35.79 21.78 56.73 UTTAR PRADESH 800.32 370.59 910.23 2506.71 785.64 577.5 UTTARAKHAND 50.69 14.25 37.29 63.75 8.89 22.91 WEST BENGAL 261.31 135.45 406.01 720 150.47 512.45 Total 3892.17 2058.15 3842.94 5739.24 2539.55 3910.24 Page 4 of 4