Rashtriya Swachhata Kendra

Rashtriya Swachhata Kendra

• The Prime Minister will inaugurate Rashtriya Swachhata Kendra (RSK) on 8th August 2020.
• RSK is an interactive experience centre on the Swachh Bharat Mission.
• It will introduce future generations to its successful journey as the world’s largest behavior change campaign.
• It will showcase the core elements of the mission and anecdotes on the journey of the country from Satyagraha to Swachchagrah.
• It will impart information, awareness, and education on Swachhata (sanitation) and related aspects.
• The installations at RSK will include audiovisual immersive shows, interactive LED panels, hologram boxes, interactive games, etc.
• Rashtriya Swachhata Kendra (RSK) was first announced on the occasion of the centenary celebrations of Mahatma Gandhi's Champaran Satyagraha.

Swachh Bharat Mission

• Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) or Clean India Mission is a country-wide sanitation campaign launched on 2nd October 2014.
• Objectives: Elimination of open defecation, eradication of Manual Scavenging, modern and scientific municipal solid waste management and bring behavioral change regarding healthy sanitation practices.
• It encompasses two missions:
• Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban): Implemented by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (M/o HUA) for urban areas.
• Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban (SBM-U) recently achieved its target of creating Urban India Open Defecation Free (ODF)
• Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen): Implemented by the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (M/o DWS) for rural areas.
• Recently, SMB(G) completed its Phase-I and its Phase-II was launched.
• Swachh Bharat Mission (G) Phase-I: The rural sanitation coverage in the country has increased from 38.7% to 100%.
• More than 10 crore individual toilets have been constructed since the launch of the mission.
• All rural areas in all the States have declared themselves ODF as on 2nd October 2019.

Way Forward

• Although the goal of making India Open Defecation Free and enhancing Solid and Liquid Waste Management mechanisms has been achieved, the work on sanitation and behavioral changes requires continued efforts to sustain the gains made during the first phase of the campaign.
• It is imperative that the phase-II of SBM focusses on the convergence between different verticals of financing and different schemes of Central and State governments.

Source: PIB