New Delhi: Of more than 110 million rural households without toilets across India in 2012, the government has been able to assist 11 million households in building toilets. That means, nearly 99 million households need toilets over the next four years, if the government is to meet the target set by the Swacch Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Campaign) by October 2, 2019.
It also means the government will need to set aside lots more money. About 88 percent of the Rs.25,885 crore ($4 billion) that Delhi set aside over the last 15 years for various sanitation campaigns has been spent. The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, launched on October 2, 2014 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is the latest such, aimed at ensuring an open-defecation-free India by October 2, 2019.
More than 595 million Indians were defecating in the open in 2014, according to data released by UNICEF.
The Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government launched India’s first official, nationwide sanitation programme, the Total Sanitation Campaign, in 1999.
