Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and The Media
Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and The Media
Page 2 of 4
www.ijegr.com
International Journal of Exclusive Global Research - Vol 2 Issue 10 October
above obligations can provide useful inputs for future campaign strategies, which justifies the
timing and relevance of this study.
The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan
Swachh Bharat Abhiyan was launched by the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi as a
nationwide cleanliness campaign on 2 Oct.2014, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. It
was visualized as a mass movement to make India clean by 2019. To convert it into a mass
movement, the prime minister nominated nine celebrities to help galvanize public support for
his SBA and asked them to nominate nine more people each to make the initiative go viral and
transform the move into a national mission. The citizens were called upon to spend 100 hours
each per year towards cleanliness in their surrounding areas or other places to really make it
a successful campaign. An estimated fund requirement of Rs. 38,000 crores, for setting up of
waste treatment facilities across the country. The Centre was supposed to contribute 20%
(Rs.7600 Crores), states one-third and rest from private sector.
To trace the historical roots of the campaign, the government of India launched Nirmal
Bharat Abhiyan in 1999, which aimed at universal household sanitation coverage by 2012.
This was an integral part of the Total Sanitation Launched in 1991. It was rechristened as
“Swachh Bharat Abhiyan” with the objective of making India “clean”, by eliminating the
practice of open defecation, building up of toilets for all households, providing running water
supply, treating of solid and liquid wastes in a proper manner. This drive also includes
cleaning of roads, pavements and clearing of encroachments in unauthorized areas. Above all,
the project aims at creating awareness among people about the need for proper sanitation and
hygiene facilities.
Urban sub-mission of the campaign, known as the Swachh Bharat Mission of urban
areas aims to cover almost 1.04 crore households in order to provide them 2.6 lakhs of public
toilets, 2.5 lakhs of community toilets together with the solid wastes management in every
town. Gramin Swachh Bharat Mission, earlier the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan, is aimed at making
rural areas free of open defecation till 2019 for which the cost has been estimated is one lakh
thirty four thousand crore rupees for constructing approximately 11 crore 11 lakh toilets in
the country. A major dimension of the campaign is a plan of converting waste into bio-fertilizer
and useful energy forms, for use in farming. There are various implementation policies and
mechanisms for the programme including three important phases such as planning phase,
implementation phase and sustainability phase. This mission has targeted to solve the
sanitation problems as well as better waste management all over the India by creating
sanitation facilities to all. The endeavour of the Government is to turn it into a mass
movement requiring not just toilets, but also a change in behaviour and mind-sets of people
(The Hindu, October 4, 2014).
Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and Indian Media
Media plays a crucial role in our society by determining what issues the public should
think and worry about and push the government to mould the policies accordingly. It is
assumed that the more the media attention an issue attracts, the greater will be the
importance assigned to it. Media not only keeps the people abreast of the latest development
in different sphere of life but also build opinion on important issues by informing and
educating the people. In other words, media has iron grip on the imagination as well as
thinking faculties of society. Media is so much embedded in our lives that some scholars
suggest that the “Public may not know how deep the interlocking media reach into every
phase of our lives, our reading, our viewing, our entertainment, our politics and our
education” (klotzer, 2007).In all scenarios, the most important is the content of news media,
which include off all day- to -day issues such as environment, health, socio-economics,
politics, culture, business etc. The public rely heavily on the media for the information.
Media has been playing a very important role in spreading the SBA to the nook and
corner of the country and changing the behaviour of the public towards cleanliness. Mass
media happens to be the most readily available and potentially most economical means of
Page 3 of 4
www.ijegr.com
International Journal of Exclusive Global Research - Vol 2 Issue 10 October
imparting information about SBA. Along with other forms of communication, the mass media
can effectively raise public awareness and concern about sanitation and can also play an
important role to promote a positive attitude towards SBA. Moreover, every day public see a lot
of advertisements in newspaper, TV, radios where they tell public to support this Abhiyan.
This helps the Abhiyan to widen and make everyone a part of it. It also tells about the
importance of cleanliness around us, about diseases caused due to the lack of cleanliness,
about proper domestic waste disposal system. Moreover, it reminds people of their duty to
clean the surroundings to make India clean and free from diseases.
The newspapers have been reporting India’s poor sanitation through news, articles,
features and editorials. Besides, it gives report on consequences of unhealthy behaviour- from
malnutrition to diarrhoea. The SBA campaign utilizes social media- in an attempt to increase
transparency and publicize, globally, the country’s efforts to improve its image on sanitation.
Conclusion
There is no least shadow of doubt that cleanliness is very important in our life as well
as for the nation. Huge population are dying daily just because of diseases caused due to the
lack of information and knowledge about cleanliness issues, health and hygiene,
environmental issues etc. The main objective of a sanitation is to protect and promote human
health by providing a clean environment and breaking the cycle of diseases. Efforts are on to
turn SBA into a mass movement so as to bring a change of people’s behavior and mindset. The
campaign will not only help to adopt good habits of cleanliness but also boost our image as a
nation. To take this programme forward, familiarize and involve others the role media is
regarded as an effective social and technical tool. Media play an important role to develop
positive attitudes towards cleanliness. spreads awareness and change other people’s behavior
towards SBA. Besides, it disseminate the knowledge about diseases which spreads due to lack
of sanitation and keep update people regularly about the conditions of garbage issues in
market areas, street, parks, roadsides, public places which further inspire the others to
actively participate in the SBA programme.
References
1. Klotzer, C. (2007). Is it too late for media reform? St. Louis Journalism Review, 38(294), 28–
29
2. Chadwick, Edwin. (1842) “Report on the sanitary condition of the labouring population and
on the means of its improvement” London.
3. Agwan, Atul.A (2014) corporate serial responsibility: a gateway to Swachh Bharat
Abhiyan,International Research Journal of Commerce and Law (IRJCL) vol. 1(5).
4. Badra, S Sharma Management (2015) Lessons from Swachh Bharat Mission International
Journal of Advance Research in Science and Engineering Vol. No.4(1), (http://www.ijarse.com)
5. Rajgire, A.V. (2013) Open Defecation: A Prominent Source of Pollution in Drinking Water in
Villages. International journey of life sciences biotechnology and pharma research, Vol 2(1), PP
238-246
6. Devi B Prasad Content Analysis-A Method in SSRBerelson, B and Salter PJ (1946).
7. Rice, R. E and Atkins, C.K. (2013) public communication campaign 4th edition .thousand
Oaks, California: sage.
8. Rashid k. scholar of JJTU, Chudela 211214011, dream of green and clean India.
RexJournal ISSN 2321- 1067 renewable research journal
9. www.auditbureau.org
10. http://www.mruc.net
11. www.wikipedia.com
12. Klotzer, C. (2007). Is it too late for media reform? St. Louis Journalism Review, 38(294),
pp: 28-29
Page 4 of 4
www.ijegr.com