- Prelims: Current events of international importance, SDG, covid-19, SBM etc.
- Mains GS Paper II: Bilateral, regional and global grouping and agreements involving India or affecting India’s interests, Significance of G20 countries etc
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
- The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a set of 17 goals with 169 targets that all 193 UN member states have agreed to try to achieve by 2030
INSIGHTS ON THE ISSUE
Context
Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs):
- The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), also known as the Global Goals, were adopted by the United Nations in 2015.
- A universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity.
- It is a set of 17 SDGs which recognize that action in one area will affect outcomes in others and that development must balance social, economic, and environmental sustainability.
- Countries have committed to prioritizing progress for those who are furthest behind.
- The SDGs are designed to end poverty, hunger, AIDS, and discrimination against women.
- The SDGs framework sets targets for 231 unique indicators across 17 SDG goals related to economic development, social welfare and environmental sustainability, to be met by 2030.
- The United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: It consists of 17 Goals and 169 targets as a plan of action for ‘people’, ‘the planet’, and ‘prosperity’.
- The resolution specifies mechanisms for the monitoring, review, and reporting of progress as a measure of accountability towards the people.
- Member-states submit a Voluntary National Review (VNR) to the UN’s High Level Political Forum (HLPF)
- VLRs is a means for driving and reporting local implementation of SDGs at the sub-national and city levels.
- Access to water and sanitation is Goal 6 in the 17 SDGs.
Public sanitation programmes:
- Highly subsidized Central Rural Sanitation Programme (CRSP) in 1986.
- The Total Sanitation Campaign in 1999 marked a shift from a high subsidy regime to a low subsidy one and a demand-driven approach.
- The public sanitation programme as a mission under the Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin (SBM-G) to make India Open Defecation Free (ODF) by October 2019.
Data and behavioral patterns
● According to information by the Government of India: sanitation coverage in the country improved from 39% in 2014 to 100% in 2019.
● Phase II of the SBM-G: The government aims to transform India from ODF to ODF Plus by 2024-25.
○ Around 85% of villages in India have become ODF Plus.
- A National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) survey (69th round): 59% of rural households had no access to a toilet
- 4% of individuals who had access reported not using the facility.
The primary reasons for not using one were:
- Not having any superstructure (21%)
- The facility malfunctioning (22%)
- facility being unhygienic/unclean (20%)
- Personal reasons (23%).
A survey conducted in(2018):
- It showed that 59% of households in Bihar, 66% in Gujarat and 76% in Telangana had toilet access.
- Among those having access, 38% of households in Bihar, 50% in Gujarat and 14% in Telangana had at least one member who did not use it.
- A higher non-use of toilets in Gujarat was due to a lack of access to water in Dahod district.
- Study in 2020: 27% of households in survey villages in Gujarat and 61% in West Bengal did not have their own toilets.
- Around 3% of households did not use their own toilets in either State.
- One-fourth of non-user households in Gujarat did not cite any specific reason for not using it.
- Social norms of purity dissuaded them from using the toilet.
- Quality issues were also another major reason.
- In Gujarat, 17% of those not using toilets reported that the sub-structure had collapsed
- 50% reported that the pits were full.
- One-third of non-users in West Bengal reported that the superstructure had collapsed, and another one third reported the pit being full.
- Toilets not used for defecation are used as storerooms.
- If social norms prevent toilet use on the premises, the facility is used for bathing and washing clothes.
Variations across surveys:
National Annual Rural Sanitation Survey (NARSS)- Round-3 (2019-20)(conducted by the Ministry):
- It shows that 95% of the rural population had toilet access in India.
- Access to owned, shared, and public toilets was available to 79%, 14% and 1% of households, respectively.
- 96% of toilets were functional, and almost all had access to water.
- Same report suggests that only 85% of the rural population used safe, functional, and hygienic toilets.
- Same percentage of people have toilet access as the households, the gap rises to 10% between access to toilets and their use.
Issues highlighted by Surveys:
- The left-out households and toilets are unused for defecation:The left-out households appear substantial and need to be covered in Phase II.
- The government should identify the shortcomings of the previous phase and cover the gaps in the present phase.
- Economic conditions and education: toilet use depends on household size.
- The higher the household size, the greater the chances of not using the toilet.
- Overcrowding and social norms prevent all household members from using the same toilet.
Survey of 2020:
- It shows that only 3%-4% of households have more than one toilet.
- Phase II of the programme: It does not have any criteria mandating multiple toilets for households larger than a certain size.
- The Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) programme was launched to provide tap water to each household by 2024.
- No relation has been observed between per capita central expenses made on the JJM and the percentage of villages declared ODF Plus across States.
Sanitation behavior:
- It varies across socio-economic classes.
- NARSS-3 finds that access to toilets was highest for upper castes (97%) and lowest for Scheduled Castes (95%).
- Multi-State study: It finds that the percentage of non-users is higher among upper castes than backward castes.
Sanitation behavior change campaigns should consider following steps:
- construction
- The variation in networks between villages should be considered in campaign design as in some villages
- behavioral change of households can happen independently, and collectively in others.
Way Forward
- Phase II of the SBM-G does not seem to have given enough thought to social engineering through the social networks in a society haunted by regressive norms and caste hierarchy
- The spurt in coverage has triggered awareness regarding safe sanitation practices.
- Behavioral change in sanitation cannot happen independently.
- It is contingent upon social networks and an overall improvement of living standards, including better housing and access to basic services.
- There are separate programmes for each of these basic needs, but they are not well coordinated.
- The lack of overall planning in India has led to a lack of synergy of programmes despite high levels of expenditure in fulfilling basic needs.
- Uncoordinated efforts would lead to an inefficient utilization of precious public finances.
- SDGs are a matter of urgency, and actions by all countries, both developed and developing, to end poverty and other socio-economic and environmental problems
- Countries should align with strategies that improve the standard of life and education, reduce inequality, and harness economic growth.
QUESTION FOR PRACTICE
Reforming the government delivery system through the Direct Benefit Transfer Scheme is a progressive step, but it has its limitations too. Comment.(UPSC 2022) (200 WORDS, 10 MARKS)
