The report of National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) on the condition of sanitation in rural areas of 26 states is an eye opener.
The poor track record of majority of states as per the survey conducted in May-June 2015 highlights how much more needs to be done. The blame for the poor condition in majority of states has to be shared by Congress, BJP and regional parties running the affairs of their respective states.
There is no scope for one party or the other trying to lay the blame on the Centre or what the Congress-led UPA government could not achieve in the past. States like Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, which have fared poorly, are being governed for over two decades by BJP. As a matter of fact NDA major, BJP, is ruling or sharing power in five of the states that have been placed at the bottom of the list.
Biju Janata Dal in Odisha, Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, Janata Dal (United) in Bihar, AIADMK in Tamil Nadu, Congress in Karnataka, BJP in Rajasthan and BJP-PDP combine in Jammu and Kashmir have to pull up their socks and bring about a drastic improvement as far as sanitation in rural areas are concerned. All these states are lagging behind and need to do much more than just resort to sloganeering or making plain speeches. Action is what is required by all political parties as they are all sailing in the same boat.
On October 2, 2014 Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given the clarion call to make India clean with the launching of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. Having duly noted this, the BJP ruled states and the states where the party shares power should have gotten into first gear and brought about significant change.
This was particularly necessary in states where BJP has been at the helm of affairs for over a decade because they cannot resort to the excuse that they had less than a year to bring about change since the PM announced the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. Majority of the states, whose performance was poor as per the NSSO report of 2015, did not show much improvement as per the latest report of Union rural development ministry. As per the ministry Gujarat secured its place in top 10 as of September 9, 2016, whereas it was not in this list in 2015.
While Bihar took the bottom position as per ministry report, Jharkhand, the previous bottom rank holder, showed slight improvement only and other states, including Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh remained laggards. The point here is that at least the BJP ruled states should have set an example by bringing about drastic change on the sanitation front. Not that the non-BJP ruled states can be excused. The deadline given by the PM is 2019 by which time open defecation would have to be eradicated.
The next three years should see all the laggard states meeting this target. It is true that state governments, which cannot even manage simple things like chaotic vehicular traffic, parking problems, encroachments, cleanliness, garbage disposal, among other things, would find it a tall order to meet the sanitation target. Still they should at least make a sincere effort.
