Swachh Bharat: Role Of Science And Technology, Promises And Challenges

What is Swachh Bharat?

Swachh Bharat or Clean India is a mission introduced by our Prime Minister Narendra Modi with an objective to make India clean.

It was launched on 2^ndOctober 2014, at Rajghat New Delhi, with a slogan, “One Step Towards Cleanliness”.

The main aim of the mission is to eradicate open defecation by 2^nd October 2019, which is also the150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. This includes provision of Sanitation facilities to every family including toilets, solid and liquid disposal system, village cleanliness and safe drinking water supplies and to cover 4041 statutory cities and towns. The Mission aims at constructing 12 million toilets all over India by 2019.

After the Swachh Bharat Mission was launched, many steps or actions towards achieving its aims are being undertaken. In the course of these actions, Science and Technology plays a very vital role in order to achieve the goal.

ROLE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN SWACHH BHARAT

1.    PROMISES

a.    Mobile Application:By introducing certain mobile applications like WhatsApp, Swachh Bharat Mobile App etc., where citizen can ask to clean any area by just taking pictures and send it to the respective civic bodies, the mission of Clean India can speed up. This can be done by linking the citizen mobile application with many states and local governments.

In the societies, citizen can also arrange a cleaning drive programme among the members in the localities by sharing the pictures of the area to be clean through these specific mobile application.

b.   Use of Vacuum Cleaner for cleaning the roads:Dust particles is one of the major pollutants in many cities and towns which leads to various health problems.Vacuum cleaner is a technology which helps in removing these dirt and dust particles. Therefore, Vacuum cleaner machines can also use in cleaning roads and other public places to speed up the work.

c.    Use of CCTV Cameras:With the help of CCTV Cameras placing at different locations, many people who still finds fun in making the roads dirty can be check out. The main objective of installing CCTV cameras is to keep a regular watch on those citizens who throws garbage and litters the streets and other places and surroundings.

Installing CCTVs have also helped in eradicating open defecation in some villages. For example: TheKapasi village in Balod District, Chhattisgarh was declared the first open-defecation free (ODF) village in this District. This village have taken the help of CCTV cameras controlling by the local people to stop the villagers from defecating in the open.

d.   Use of Bio Toilets: This is a complete waste management solution which reduces solid human waste to bio-gas and water with the help of bacterial action.The anaerobic bacteria convert the organic human waste into water, methane and carbon dioxide. This anaerobic process inactivates the pathogens responsible for water borne diseases and treat the faecal matter without the use of an external energy source. Hence, this water is pathogen-free which is good for gardening and the bio-gas can be used for cooking. Bio-toilets have already been used in some of the Indian railways.

e.    Treatment of Sewage: In order to tackle the increasing garbage pile-up in the city, proper treatment should be carried out. This can be done by constructing the waste-to-energy plants, were the garbage are being converted to energy in the form of electrical or heat energy. For example: the landfill site at Narela-Bawana, Delhi has started this plant.

2.    CHALLENGES

a.    Implementation of Mobile Application face a problem in rural areas due to the lack of network facilities.

b.    Use of Vacuum Cleaner may not be easy to implement in rural areas as the roads are Kaccha roads.

c.    The use of CCTVs Cameras may be difficult in some rural areas where the electric power supply is not set up or not properly maintain.

d.   Introducing Bio-Toilets in cities and rural areas may find difficulties due to a huge amount of funding required for infrastructure.

e.    Construction of the waste-to-energy plant, may lead to the harmful effects like noise and air pollution.

Huge amount of funding is required in order to implement all these techniques, which the government alone cannot come up with. Unfortunately, the private sector has not taken much interest in the project. Therefore, this is another challenge for the project to be successful.

CONCLUSION:

For any government schemes, public participation is the key towards success. Most of the times the government tries to implement many schemes for the welfare of the people and the country as a whole but the public are very reluctant in participating, for example: the government have constructed many public toilets but some people are still urinating or defecating openly. Therefore, it is the prime duty of each and every citizen to participate in order to make the project effective.

           

             Compiled & Prepared by:

Filbert Lyngdoh

Phranki Khonglah

Michael S. Marbaniang

Lovingstar Sylliang