Year End Review-2017: Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation

Year End Review-2017 Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation

Question: Which amongst the following statements is not true?
(a) Swachh Bharat Mission was launched on October 2nd, 2014.
(b) 10 States and Union Territories of India are free from defecation in the open.
(c) Except for October 2, 2019, the goal of India free from defecation is to be achieved.
(d) ‘Swachh Shakti’ was organized in Mahatma Mandir, Gandhinagar on March 8th, 2017.
Answer: (b)
Related Facts:

  • On 20th December, 2017, Year End Review-2017 of Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation was released.
  • The main facts related to this are as follows:
  • Accelerate the efforts to achieve universal sanitation coverage and to put focus on access to safe sanitation.
  • SBM aims at achieving Open Defecation Free (ODF) nation and a Swachh Bharat by 2ndOct, 2019 thereby paying a befitting tribute on his150th anniversary.
  • Sanitation Coverage at the launch of SBM (G) on 2nd Oct, 2014 was 38.70%. This has increased to 74.15% as on 18th Dec, 2017.
  • 225 districts have been declared open-defecation free.
  • 8 States and Union Territories: Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Gujarat, Daman-Diu and Chandigarh have been declared as free from open-defecation.
  • 2, 92,896 villages have been declared free from open- defection.
  • With the objective of bringing a fortnight of intense focus on the issues and practices of Swachhhata by engaging Central Ministries and Departments in their jurisdiction, Swachhata Pakhwada was started in April 2016.
  • All 4470 villages located across 52 districts of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal has been declared ODF with active help of state governments.
  • Ministry has taken up 24 villages on the bank of River Ganga to transform them as Ganga Grams in coordination with NMCG.
  • SAP, a first of its kind inter-ministerial programme for Swachhta was started on 1st April 2017.
  • Ministry has taken up a multi-stakeholder initiative focusing on cleaning up 100 places across India that are “iconic” due to their heritage, religious and/or cultural significance.
  • So far in first two phases, 20 iconic places have been taken up.
  • All these 20 Iconic Sites have designated PSUs or corporates for financial and technical support.
  • Swachh Shakti was organized on March 8th, 2017, International Women’s Day, at Mahatma Mandir, Gandhinagar.
  • During 9-15 August, 2017, Freedom from Open Defecation week was organized.
  • ‘Swachh Sankalp se Swachh Siddhi Competition’was organized during August 17th-8th September, 2017.
  • Aiming at Behavior Change, an aggressive mass media campaign titled ‘Darwaza Band’ was launched to encourage continuous use of toilets.
  • Swachhata Hi Seva (SHS) was organized from September 16th-October 2nd, 2017.

Reference:
http://pib.nic.in/PressReleseDetail.aspx?PRID=1513284