Abstract:
A massive campaign, ‘Clean India Program’ ‘Swachh Bharat Mission’
(SBM), a national flagship program of India’s federal government is underway
since October 02, 2004 and it is to be accomplished by 2019. India is faced
with an ever-increasing problem of waste generation in the country. The SBM
mission launched by Government of India (GOI) is to solve the problem of
waste management, make India a clean state by focusing upon sanitation,
ensure hygiene all across the nation and achieve number 06 of the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs). This paper carries out a social assessment of
Clean India program (SBM) and identifies challenges of SBM implementation
in Amritsar. It undertakes a stakeholder analysis to identify issues related to
access and equity of cleaning services. The study found that SBM goals and
objectives cannot be achieved without community participation. All residents
had the knowledge about proper segregation of solid and liquid waste and their
proper disposal. However, there is still the need for new methods to be found
for their sustenance. It was found that villages, towns and cities have
experienced significant improvement in facilities in sanitation, waste
management, community living, and safe drinking water and also that the
perception of the community on hygiene and health factors has a strong
influence on the practice of hygienic living. It is recommended that stakeholders must be involved by government agencies at all levels of the
program implementation.
