[CURTAIN RAISER]   

As the country commemorates the birth anniversary of Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi on 2^nd October, the President of India, Smt. Droupadi Murmu will be conferring the awards for Swachh Survekshan Grameen (SSG) 2022, Swachhta Hi Sewa 2022, Sujlam 1.0 & 2.0, Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) Functionality Assessment, Har Ghar Jal certification and Start-up Grand Challenge.

Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DDWS) is organising Swachh Bharat Diwas-2022 on 2^nd October at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. The Department is implementing two flagship programmes of the central government i.e. Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen (SBM-G) and Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM). SBM-G was started on 2^nd October 2014 with the aim to stop Open Defecation. On 2^nd October 2019, all villages in the country declared themselves ODF.  Thereafter, SBM-G 2.0 was launched in 2020 to sustain the ODF status in villages and improve the level of cleanliness in rural areas through Solid and Liquid Waste Management, thereby making villages ODF Plus.

On 15^th August 2019, Jal Jeevan Mission was launched by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. At the time of the launch, only 3.23 Crore rural households had access to tap water connection. With relentless efforts made on ground by the Mission in partnership with the State and UTs, today over 10.27 Crore rural households are getting water through taps, in a short period of 3 years.

As a means to recognize exemplary efforts of the States/ UTs in implementation of the two flagship programmes, the Department has organized various competitions, campaigns and Survekshans. The good performing States/ UTs/ Districts will be felicitated for accelerating ODF Plus and Har Ghar Jal momentum. The awards will be conferred under SBM-G and JJM by the President of India and Union Minister of Jal Shakti under the following categories –

• Swachh Survekshan Gramin-2022 – The Survekshan aimed to undertake ranking of States and Districts on the basis of their performance attained on key quantitative and qualitative SBM-G parameters and engage rural community in improvement of their sanitation status through an intensive and holistic IEC campaign and engage with select Gram Panchayats and citizens in every district.
• Wall Paining - A national-level wall painting campaign on ODF Plus was also launched on 15^th August 2021. Three best performing States will be awarded on each theme from each zone. The five themes are BWM, GOBARdhan, PWM, GWM & FSM.
• NFC Awards - A national-level film competition for Gram Panchayats was launched on 15^th December 2021 on various components of ODF plus. Awards are to be given for 3 categories viz; hilly terrain, islands and UTs. 33 films were recommended by States for these awards which will be conferred during the event.
• Awards for Sujalam I and Sujalam II - The Sujalam 1.0 award will be given on the occasion based on a 100-day campaign launched by the Department on “ODF Plus Sustainability and Sujlam 1.0”. The target of Sujalam 1.0 was completely achieved on 15^th February 2022, as more than 1 million soak pits for household and community level were reported. To continue the momentum of Sujalam 1.0, DDWS launched Sujalam 2.0 focussing on creation of community and institutional level greywater management assets viz; Panchayat Ghars, Primary Health Care Centres, schools , anganwadi centres and other government institutions. Over 1 million soak pits have been constructed for household and community level under it by 30^th June 2022.
• Start-up Grand Challenge Awards - DDWS has set up a Start-up Grand Challenge to scout technologies that could support sustainable, affordable, scalable and responsive solutions to solid and liquid waste management challenges in rural areas. The key focus is to achieve ‘Sampoorna Swachhta’ at the village level solid liquid waste management. The Grand Challenge was organized and Start-ups, technology providers, technical institutes and entrepreneurs participated in the Challenge under seven categories.
• Awards for Functionality Assessment 2022 - To assess the performance of local water utilities in the States/ UTs, a functionality assessment exercise is undertaken every year by JJM to understand the status of water service delivery in households. The tap water connection is referred functional only if it provides 55 lpcd water of BIS:10500 standard on regular basis. This year the functionality assessment was carried out in all 33 States/ UTs covering 712 districts with 3.01 lakh households, 22,596 village level institutions. The details of the findings can be accessed through the report.

Swachh Bharat Diwas is not a single event but a culmination of several activities/campaigns for the components of SBM-G phase II. The following activities were conducted as a run up to the event –

1. Swachhta Hi Sewa (SHS) – is a fortnightly campaign undertaken by the public offering “shramdaan” for sustaining cleanliness in the country. It is a massive community mobilization drive for cleaning up of legacy waste and activities under solid waste management, across rural India. The Campaign was launched on 15^th September and concludes on 2^nd October. As on 30^th Sept more than 18 crore people have participated in the SHS activities across the country. The activity includes:

1. Cleaning of legacy waste and garbage vulnerable sites in the villages
2. Keeping the area clean around the water body and doing tree plantation in the catchment area
3. Sarpanch Samvads on element of ODF Plus
4. Slogan writing and taking a pledge towards "No Littering"
5. Community awareness for segregation of waste (dry and wet) at source
6. Construction of waste collection & segregation sheds/centres
7. Purchase of waste collection vehicle like tricycle/ e-cart (battery operated vehicle) through GeM
8. Door-to-door collection of non-biodegradable waste like plastic
1. Generate awareness about ill effects of Single Use Plastics (SUP) by organizing Gram Sabha meetings and passing resolutions for ban on SUPs'
10. Promote the principle of 4Rs for Plastic Waste Management – Refuse, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle

2. United India for Swachhata – is a dedicated week-long intensified campaign for complete cleanliness – ‘sampoorna swachhta’ in 9 states across the country. The activities comprise of events across railways stations, beaches, schools, AWCs etc. to highlight the achievements of SBM during last 8 years.

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AS