World Bank to fund rural sanitation plan

In a significant step aimed at encouraging greater public participation at the village-level, right from daily wage earners to gram panchayats, in its ambitious Swachchh Bharat Mission, the NDA government is planning to introduce a performance-based incentive provision in the rural component of the scheme known as SBM-Gramin. Highly-placed sources said the government is planning to seek World Bank funding for the project.

The proposal, which has been fast-tracked by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), with Narendra Modi having taken a keen interest in it, is likely to be put up before the Cabinet next week.

Sources also informed that seeking funding from World Bank would be a shot in the arm for the NDA government’s pet project, as till now it has been a completely funded by the Central government. The Centre has been releasing funds to the states for the construction of toilets in rural households, community centres and zila as well as gram panchayat offices.

The SBM-Gramin is aimed at encouraging suitable safe sanitation technologies for toilets and solid liquid waste management systems in rural India. Therefore, by introducing a performance-based incentive provision in the scheme, the government is trying to motivate the rural populace to show greater interest in it and realise the importance of having toilets in their households as well as in all public dealing offices situated in villages and adjoining districts.

Sources said by seeking World Bank funding for the performance-based incentive provision, the SBM will also receive global recognition. SBM-Urban is another component of the project.

Ever since SBM started in October 2014, the government has been bullish about implementing SBM, evident in the Union Budget for 2016-17, when Rs 9,000 crore were allocated for SBM-Gramin.

According to a study by Centre for Policy Research (CPR), though the allocation of funds for implementing SBM-Gramin has been huge, the flow of funds to states from Centre has been slow.

The think tank revealed in the study that till February 2016, only 49 per cent of the total allocation had been sanctioned by Government of India.

Also less than 50 per cent of eligible households who had applied to SBM for a toilet construction grant actually received it, the CPR reported further.