Context

• The Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), launched in 2014, has been a transformative public welfare initiative that reshaped India’s rural sanitation landscape.
• Its central aim was to ensure universal access to toilets, a goal achieved within a decade through the construction of over 12 crore household toilets.
• As a result, every village in India attained Open Defecation Free (ODF) status. These outcomes significantly improved living conditions, reduced disease burden, and enhanced public health and dignity, particularly for women and vulnerable communities.
• However, the rapid expansion of sanitation infrastructure also revealed challenges that extend beyond toilet construction.

The Emerging Challenge of Faecal Waste Management

• With toilets becoming widespread, the management of faecal waste management emerged as a critical concern.
• In rural areas, septic tanks and pits are commonly used, all of which require periodic desludging.
• Without organised systems for safe collection, transport, and treatment, untreated waste can contaminate land and water, threatening environmental and health outcomes.
• These risks underscore the need to move from infrastructure creation to service-based sanitation solutions.

ODF Plus and the Need for Sustainable Sanitation Systems

• To address these concerns, Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) Phase II introduced the concept of ODF Plus, expanding the focus to include solid and liquid waste management, behavioural change, and safe sanitation service chains.
• By October 2025, nearly 97% of villages achieved ODF Plus status, indicating substantial progress.
• Yet faecal sludge management remains uneven, particularly in rural and peri-urban regions where treatment capacity is limited.
• Building sustainable sanitation systems has therefore become essential to preserving earlier gains.

Urban–Rural Partnerships: The Case of Satara

• Maharashtra has taken a leading role in developing faecal sludge management solutions.
• The State invested in over 200 faecal sludge treatment plants and encouraged co-treatment in existing sewage treatment plants.
• In Satara district, an innovative model was implemented by linking four villages to the city’s underutilised treatment plant.
• Through urban–rural partnerships, villages gained access to safe treatment facilities while cities improved infrastructure utilisation.
• Gram panchayats engaged private operators to provide scheduled desludging services, funded through modest sanitation taxes, ensuring affordability and accountability.

Decentralised and Cluster-Based Solutions

• Urban linkages are not feasible for all villages, making decentralised approaches equally important.
• In Mayani village, regular desludging cycles were introduced and managed by private operators or self-help groups.
• Additionally, the village was selected for a cluster-level treatment plant designed to serve nearly 80 surrounding villages.
• Such cluster-level treatment plants demonstrate how rural communities can pool resources to create viable, locally managed sanitation infrastructure.

Collaboration as the Key to Sustainability

• The experiences from Satara highlight that long-term sanitation success depends on cooperation across administrative and institutional boundaries.
• Effective faecal sludge management requires coordination between urban and rural governments, public institutions, private service providers, and local communities.
• Viewing sanitation as a continuous service rather than a one-time construction effort is essential for maintaining outcomes.

Conclusion

• The Swachh Bharat Mission has fundamentally improved sanitation access across India.
• Its next phase emphasises the importance of managing waste safely and sustainably to protect health and the environment.
• Scalable models based on partnerships and decentralised infrastructure offer practical pathways forward.
• Ultimately, the mission’s success will be defined not by toilets alone, but by resilient systems that uphold sanitation standards for future generations.