Citizen assessment of 3 years of Swachh Bharat

Background

Swachh Bharat Online Citizen Communities were initiated in October 2014 by LocalCircles (www.localcircles.com) and Swachh Bharat Mission, Ministry of Urban Development in October, 2014. Since then, over 355,000 citizens have become part of the various Swachh Bharat citizen communities across more than 60 cities of India.

The National Community called “Swachh Bharat” enables Swachh Bharat Mission to easily seek collective citizen inputs on various aspects of Swachh Bharat policy and state of things in real time. Based on collective citizen inputs, hundreds of whitepapers/checklists have been generated in the last three years. These cover subjects like Municipal Reforms to Civic Sense Basics for every Indian, engaging citizens in every aspect of Swachh Bharat policy making.

In addition to the Swachh Bharat National Circle, over 150 city level Swachh Bharat online communities are now active, bringing citizens together at a local level for discussion, collective on ground cleanliness action and to provide a platform for collective citizen engagement with the urban local bodies in these cities.

Survey Platform and Demographics

The national survey on three years of Swachh Bharat was conducted in the Swachh Bharat National Circle to gauge the impact and performance of Swachh Bharat in a transparent manner. The objective was to understand what’s working and where efforts need to be put in going forward. More than 115,000 votes were polled in the survey, making it the largest civic survey of its kind. Approximately 62% of respondents were males while 38% were females. The participants were 42% from Tier 1 cities, 30% from Tier 2 cities and 28% from Tier 3 Cities and Rural areas.

Citizen Survey Key Highlights

• • 56% citizens believe there is some improvement in cleanliness in their neighbourhood and city as a result of Swachh Bharat
• • 21% citizens say their municipal staff/councillor are accessible
• • Municipal engagement, reforms, delivery and enforcement is critical to the long-term success of the mission and is not happening effectively

National Survey Results

The national survey covered various aspects of Swachh Bharat including Public Toilet availability, Civic Sense improvement, Waste Management, Municipal Enforcement, Municipal Delivery and Responsiveness, Overall Cleanliness Levels of Cities, Fogging and association of Swachh Bharat to Swasth Bharat, Impact on Children and Participation by Citizens. Below are the key highlights of the 2 years of Swachh Bharat Survey - 2017

1. 1) 18% citizens believe availability of public toilets in their city has improved since Swachh Bharat
2. 2) 32% citizens believe Swachh Bharat has been effective in making School Children aware and impart values like cleanliness and civic sense
3. 3) 32% citizens believe Civic Sense has improved in the last 3 years as a result of Swachh Bharat efforts
4. 4) Only 12% citizens say their municipal corporation is effectively conducting fogging, taking care of water bodies to control vector borne diseases
5. 5) Only 22% believe their municipality has become more responsive to complaints on garbage collection, waste disposal and street cleaning
6. 6) Only 16% citizens believe their municipality is engaged in driving cleanliness and civic sense awareness initiatives on the ground
7. 7) 71% citizens say they do not have phone numbers of municipal staff/councillors
8. 8) 90% citizens say they frequently observe plastic, hazardous or C&D waste being dumped in their city along with garbage and at non-designated spots
9. 9) 85% believe online and offline engagement by municipality with citizens must be made mandatory for them to receive Swachh Bharat funds

Overall, Swachh Bharat is now showing its positive impact in urban India. The big positives from this year’s national survey is that 32% citizens believe that Swachh Bharat is having a positive impact on children. The second big positive is that 32% citizens feel that civic sense has improved due to Swachh Bharat in the last 3 years. Neighbourhood and city is cleaner than what it was pre-Swachh Bharat. However, the biggest area requiring immediate focus according to the citizens is the municipalities. The municipalities, according to citizens are not working in parallel to Swachh Bharat and are largely disengaged from the mission. As per citizens, poor municipal enforcement, lack of processes/systems, corruption, delays, responsiveness of municipalities and lack of accountability are issues that until effectively addressed will continue to be a bottleneck in the long-term success of Swachh Bharat.

Swachh Bharat National Poll – Summary

Swachh Bharat 2nd and 3rd year comparison

The comparison of the 3-year Swachh Bharat survey with the 2-year Swachh Bharat survey showed the following results:

1. 1) 56% this year believe their neighbourhood & city is cleaner, compared to 53% last year
2. 2) 18% this year said availability of public toilets has in their city has increased compared to 20% last year
3. 3) 22% this year say their municipality has become more responsive to cleanliness, compared to 23% who said the same last year
4. 4) 12% said their municipality has taken effective measures to control vector borne diseases this year compared to the same number last year
5. 5) 14% this year said their local municipality is driving civic sense awareness & initiatives on the ground compared to 18% who said the same last year
6. 6) 73% this year said the overall reform & upgrade of municipalities the most critical need in cities deliver on Swachh Bharat Mission, compared to 67% last year
7. 7) 85% citizens both this year and last year said online engagement with citizens should be made mandatory for every municipality
8. 8) 32% this year, compared to 40% last year said that civic sense had improved due to Swachh Bharat
9. 9) 90% this year compared 87% last year said that they frequently observe plastic, hazardous or construction & demolition waste dumped in their city at non-designated spots
10. 10) 44% citizens both this year and last year said Swachh Bharat Mission has been effective in positively influencing children about cleanliness

Swachh Bharat National Poll # 10 – Overall Cleanliness

2 and 3 Year Comparison – Overall Cleanliness

Energizing Municipalities for Swachh Bharat

In various structured discussions, citizens also suggested ways in which the local municipalities can be energized to work in sync with the Swachh Bharat Mission and ensure the level of cleanliness in the cities improves drastically. Some of the inputs are as below:

1. 1. KRAs to be defined for each municipal employee with strict supervision
2. 2. The employee appraisals should be made performance based
3. 3. Municipal employees should be given latest equipment for the day to day work
4. 4. Garbage pickup should be coordinated through GPS
5. 5. Garbage could be collected and dumped during nights so that the traffic and crowd are less, and efficiency is better
6. 6. A phone helpline should be started and the TAT of the municipal corporation should be improved
7. 7. Every municipality should be mandated to have compulsory online citizen engagement for transparent and accountable workings
8. 8. All municipal contractors should be of credible reputation
9. 9. The municipality should keep a strict eye on the contractors and make sure that they are doing their job to the optimum level
10. 10. A separate inspection team of senior officer in Municipalities should be made responsible area wise and should be required to make surprise periodically visits

About Swachh Bharat City Circles

Swachh Bharat Online Citizen Communities are now available in over 150 cities of India. These communities allow citizens in these cities to get and stay connected for the cause of Swachh Bharat. The urban local bodies of these cities can access their respective city community to seek citizen inputs, run surveys, organize events like cleanliness drives, citizen feedback sessions etc on fingertips. These communities started by LocalCircles (www.localcircles.com) and Swachh Bharat Mission, Ministry of Urban Development in October 2014 promote participative governance in its truest sense.

For more details visit http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=110405