Initiative to make Ganga free of open defecation

Patna: All villages located along the banks of the Ganga in five states — Uttarakhand, UP, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal — will be made free of open defecation. There are altogether 5,169 villages under 1,651 gram panchayats in 52 districts of these five states. The Union ministry of drinking water and sanitation, in partnership with the ministry of youth affairs and sports, ministry of water resources, river development and Ganga Rejuvenation, is sponsoring the project. The campaign is a collaborative effort between the ‘Swachh Bharat Mission’, local youth leaders and the ‘Namami Gange’ project, and is being called ‘Swachh Yuga Gram panchayat’, said an official. The Union ministry of youth affairs, under the aegis of Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan, is enlisting the support of youth agencies such as the Bharat Scouts and Guides, Nehru Yuva Kendras and National Service Scheme. These organizations will be called upon to provide local youth volunteers to support a behaviour change campaign for the project. A nodal officer has been identified in each district to work on making them open defecation-free in mission mode, as well as to focus on cleanliness in villages through solid and liquid waste management and maintaining general cleanliness. In addition to the monetary incentive offered by the government under the ‘Swachh Bharat Mission’, extensive interpersonal behaviour change communication training will be given to local trainers through a network of virtual classrooms across the five states, said a senior government official. The first virtual classroom will be launched on Tuesday, with 12 districts of Bihar undertaking a five-day training for 50 youth volunteers in each location. The training will be a mixture of classroom interactive component as well as a field visit component. All the government departments concerned would be involved to make this initiative a success. The local district administrations of the five states, through a series of video conferences, have been advised to mobilize local NGOs, associations, private sector organizations, faith-based organizations and developmental agencies to support this work.