Another broom in Modi's hands

On October 2, 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held the broom in his hands on a televised and photo-shoot event in a courtyard of a police station in a dalit residential colony in central Delhi.

A ‘clean India’, he remarked would be the best tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th birthday in 2019. He had promised to transform sanitation and waste management in the country by that day. For the good everyone believed!

Once again the same hands of Mr Modi held the broom; this time in a school in Noida on September 15, 2018, unleashing a cleanliness campaign for a fortnight that would culminate on October 2. Just a year left for Gandhi’s 150th birthday. As in the past the dramatics were galore with media attention and Modi sweeping not the floor but the ground under the green bushes instead.

People like Ratan Tata and Amitabh Bachchan appeared on video conference with Mr Modi. While Mr Tata mentioned about his contribution to the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM)-one of the flagship programmes of Mr Modi, by spending '100 crore, Mr Bachchan explained his mobilisation of a tractor to clear one of the beaches in Bombay.

All this looked incredible! What a support to the noble idea of a ‘noble man’- Mr Modi. Forgetting a hard fact that it is the common citizens of this country who have contributed the largest kitty for the SBM. The 0.5 percent cess on all taxable services has helped to raise a sizeable volume for the campaign.

The government has collected '2,35,308 crore as cess in the year 2016-17. This is the revenue collected from education, swachh bharat, krishi kalyan and other cesses. Nearly '9,851.4 crore was the SBM cess. Hence, it is the people of India who have contributed to the campaign and the construction work under the SBM. The participation of the private sector in raising money for the SBM has not been good as figures reveal. This sector has been able to raise just '246 crore through the corporate social responsibility.

THE CAMPAIGN AND REALITY
The much tom-tommed campaign has three important areas of intervention.

To build 12 crore (120 million) toilets in the country.

Solid and liquid waste management both in urban and rural areas.

Sanitation awareness campaign.

It is estimated that the total cost of the campaign and the construction of toilets is '1.96 lakh crore. The Modi government does not have this money to spend. Hence, Mr Modi is relying more on euphoric gestures where the campaign for sanitation is just virtual, but far away from reality.

The severest indictment of the SBM and the management of solid waste in large cities came from none else than the Supreme Court (SC) of India. The SC reprimanded the lieutenant governor of Delhi and sarcastically said that landfill sites in Delhi would soon surpass the height of Qutub Minar. These are the new symbols of our urban civilization where solid waste collected from the cities is dumped and the heaps turn out into mountains. The Modi euphoria however overlooks it.

Having a look at the performance of the Modi government in the management of liquid waste, all that can be said is that the situation has turned from bad to worse. According to the government report itself, just 50 per cent of the targeted toilets have been constructed with a usage of 80 per cent. These include the ones constructed by the individuals themselves in the countryside.

The challenge to construct 50 per cent of the remaining toilets in just one year (October 2, 2019) remains a distant dream. Not only the construction of the toilets is important, but its design and the management of the treatment of the faecal sludge is more important. The toilets that have been constructed must also be linked to the plan of emptying their septic tanks. Because if that is not done properly and scientifically then there is a havoc in the offing. There is hardly any plan of managing the faecal sludge.

The practice which is prevalent in the country is of emptying the septic tanks into the nearby nallah which is far more dangerous than open defecation. It contaminates the adjoining water sources and affects them badly in a highly toxic concentrated form. In India, the extent of surface water pollution is more than 80 per cent and all this happens from the untreated discharge of faecal sludge into water sources.

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) figures (2011) reveal the estimated sewage generation in class I cities and class II towns is 38,255 million litres per day out of which only 11,788 MLD (31 per cent) is being treated and the remaining 69 per cent is disposed into water bodies without any treatment.

The challenge of disposal of untreated sewage has in the present conjuncture further increased with the construction of new toilets but a non-commensurate increase in the management of faecal sludge. This has further deteriorated the situation. The level of treatment available in cities in terms of sewage being treated varies from 2.5 per cent to 89 per cent of its generation.

THE GST AND CHALLENGE OF RESOURCE MOBILISATION FOR THE SBM
The GST was levied from July 2017 and all the cesses on education and SBM etc., came to an end. The cesses had contributed to the consolidated fund which was then used for the campaigns on swachhta, education etc. Though this was a very meagre source in comparison to the needs to achieve the aims of the SBM; still there was something available with the government to deliver.

With the promulgation of GST and discontinuation of cesses the estimated loss of '65,000 crore would be there to pursue such schemes. Will it impact the SBM? Well it has already impacted the campaign. As mentioned above the swachhta cess had contributed to '9,851.41 crore. The government is ambiguous about the contributions to this drive. Though the government has made it mandatory for the CSRs to contribute 30 per cent of it to the swachhta abhiyan, but this is very paltry keeping in view the overall contribution of the CSR.

The impact of GST on sanitary equipment is also felt severely by the people thus influencing the campaign in the negative. The initial 18 per cent GST on soaps and toiletries compared to 12 per cent in the past surely dissuades the people. The tax on sanitary napkins continued for long until it was withdrawn.

One of the features of the SBM campaign was to instill behavioural change in people by promoting usage of soaps etc. A GST of 18 per cent is not a right direction to follow.

A GST of 12 per cent on toilet equipment such as urinals, commodes and flushing cisterns translates the whole exercise of constructing the toilets costly thus influencing its construction in the poor neighbourhoods and villages.

(The writer is former Deputy Mayor of Shimla and Urban Expert)