Recasting Sanitation: Urban Rural Partnerships

The Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) has achieved near-universal toilet coverage in rural India, marking a major public health milestone. The current challenge is sustainable faecal waste management, addressed under SBM (Grameen) Phase II and Open Defecation Free (ODF) Plus.

The Journey of Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM)

• Launch and Vision: The SBM was launched in 2014 with the transformative vision of ensuring that every household in India had access to a toilet.
• Key Achievements: More than 12 crore household toilets have been constructed in rural India & every village has declared itself ODF.
• Developmental Impact: The mission has improved public health outcomes, reduced indignities faced by women and vulnerable groups, and marked a significant turning point in India’s development journey.

Transition to SBM (Grameen) Phase II

• Faecal Sludge Management: The challenge of faecal sludge management defines the shift to SBM-G Phase II. 
  • The focus of Phase II is on achieving ODF Plus status.
• Scope of ODF Plus: ODF Plus goes beyond toilet construction. 
  • It focuses on solid and liquid waste management, behavioural change, and safe sanitation service chains.
• Current Status: As of October 2025, more than 5.68 lakh villages, nearly 97% of India’s total villages, have been declared ODF Plus.
  • Faecal sludge management remains one of the most critical gaps and weak links, especially in peri-urban and rural areas.

Case Study 1- Satara Model (Urban–Rural Partnership)

• Maharashtra’s Treatment Infrastructure: Maharashtra has invested in more than 200 faecal sludge treatment plants in urban areas. 
  • The State has also encouraged co-treatment in 41 sewage treatment plants.
• Leveraging Underutilised Urban Capacity: Satara city’s faecal sludge treatment plant has a capacity of 65 kilo litres a day (KLD). 
  • The plant was operating below full capacity.
• Inclusion of Surrounding Villages: Four villages—Jakatwadi, Songaon, Kodoli, and Degaon—were brought under an arrangement to access the city’s treatment plant.
• Service Delivery Mechanism: Septic tanks in these villages will be safely desludged at regular intervals. 
  • Gram panchayats will engage a private service provider under a contract to provide scheduled desludging every five years.
• Financial and Institutional Framework:
  • Sanitation Tax: Costs will be recovered through a modest sanitation tax levied by the gram panchayats.
  • No cost: A formal agreement between the Satara Panchayat Samiti and the Satara Municipal Council allows authorised desludging vehicles to access the treatment plant at no cost.

Case Study 2- Mayani Model (Cluster Approach)

• Local Demand for Desludging Services: Mayani is a large village in Khatav taluka with a high demand for desludging services.
• Scheduled Desludging Initiative: The gram panchayat has agreed to implement scheduled desludging every 5 to 7 years. The services will be managed by either private operators or local self-help groups.
• Cluster-Level Treatment Solution: Mayani has been selected for the development of a cluster-level faecal sludge treatment plant under SBM-G. The plant is designed to serve around 80 surrounding villages.
• Resource Pooling: The cluster approach enables villages to pool resources. It ensures financial and technical viability of the standalone treatment infrastructure.

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Significance of these Urban-Rural Partnerships in managing Sanitation

• Economic Viability: The sanitation tax ensures that the sanitation model pays for itself and remains financially sustainable.
• Institutionalisation: The approach moves away from ad-hoc cleaning practices to scheduled sanitation services carried out every three to five years.
• Convergence: The model breaks silos between urban and rural governance bodies by enabling coordinated planning and service delivery.
• Scalability: The model can be replicated across different regions of India, making it suitable for nationwide adoption.

Conclusion

The true measure of Swachh Bharat lies not just in toilet construction, but in the creation of robust sanitation systems. India must move beyond being Open Defecation Free (ODF) towards environmentally safe sanitation, ensuring sustainable sanitation for future generations.

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