Kaise Banega Swachh India – Swachh Hygiene Index | BSI
The Hygiene Index has been developed by Reckitt Benckiser, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and EY. It focuses on assessing the current hygiene status of different cities across India.
Hygiene Index's main purpose is the identification of areas where cities can perform better, where civic bodies need to invest more resources and other gaps that need to be addressed. Hence, the HI programme includes not only assessing the hygiene of cities but also conducting capacity-building workshops with city administrators, emphasising on existing gaps and subsequent steps to be taken in the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sectors. After multiple discussions between RB, USAID and the technical committee comprising of subject matter experts, six sectors were identified that have an impact on the hygienic condition of a city: water, sewerage, solid waste management, toilets, health and behaviour change communication. These sectors are collectively referred to as hygiene sectors. Subsequently, different key performance indicators (KPIs) were identified to quantify hygiene and exhaustively measure the status across cities.
The programme is planned to be rolled out in phases. While phase one of the programme targets 10 cities spread across India, a total of 100cities will be covered by the end of the program. This report presents the study of the following 10 cities: Ahmedabad, Allahabad, Bhopal, Gandhinagar, Nagpur, New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), Pune, Raipur, Udaipur and Varanasi. On 19 November 2016, the World Toilet Day, the concept of HI was announced at the Global Citizen Festival in Mumbai, attended by more than 80,000 people.
Pune and NDMC can be categorised as high performing cities with well-established infrastructure in place and high potential for sustained city performance. For Ahmedabad and Nagpur, the current performance is high even though investment is low. Hence, these cities need to increase their investment to maintain the existing standard of hygiene, while catering to the increasing population. Though Raipur and Bhopal have achieved a low HI score, they have been making high investments in the hygiene sectors, which are likely to improve their ratings in subsequent years. Udaipur, Allahabad and Varanasi are seen to be lagging behind in the race in terms of both performance and investment. These cities need to assess the situation and plan higher utilisation of funds targeted towards improvement in the hygiene sectors.
*Copy for Hygiene Index of different cities (format will be similar to NDTV website)*
The format for the score of each city should be similar to the NDTV website.
NDMC
With a perfect score in water, sewage propel and solid waste, NDMC, an area of 43.7 square Km. in the heart of Delhi, controlled by the New Delhi Municipal Corporation is right at the top of the Index, tied with Pune.
Pune
Accessible toilets, 100 percent sewage coverage and clean, fresh water for most of its residents make Pune one of the cleanest cities in India when it comes to mapping its progress through the Swachh campaign. The detailed investment made by the Pune Municipal Corporation in the sewerage and water sectors has rightfully given Pune the accolade it deserved.
Udaipur
While Udaipur may be gifted with beautiful natural resources, it still has a long way to go when it comes to competing with Pune or NDMC. The city comes in second from last because of some serious lags in the solid waste, sewerage and behaviour change communication sectors.
Varanasi
Varanasi, being a pilgrimage destination, is extremely crowded throughout the year and needs special attention when it comes to hygiene. But sadly, the city ranks among the bottom few due to solid waste, sewage and behaviour change communication.
Raipur
Amongst the 10 cities that were surveyed by the Hygiene Index, Raipur occupies the 10th position. Due to various factors like an extremely poor sewerage system, 59 per cent of households not getting direct water supply and inadequate door-to-door solid waste collection coverage, the city is ranked the same. However, it does manage to perform well in the toilets and behaviour change communication segments.
Bhopal
Bhopal can be considered to be one of the star performers in this category. There are several reasons why - most households have their own toilets, there are enough public toilets to cater to the entire floating population, every bit of the solid waste that is generated is collected and it can treat more water than it actually needs.
Allahabad
While Allahabad might be a star performer in some categories, it lags in quite a few others thus marking its position somewhere in the middle. While the city is doing fine in the areas of water, toilets and sewerage, it needs to catch up in areas related to health, solid waste management and behaviour change communication.
Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad fares well in crucial areas like toilets, water and sewage. The city has 1.4 million households who all have access to toilets and 90 per cent of the households are part of a network that provides them with clean water and links them to direct sewage lines. The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has made extensive investments in these sectors and water and sewage alone account for three-fourths of the civic body’s spend.
Nagpur
Nagpur features in the first half of the list with 83 percent of its households having individual toilets and enough public and community toilets to cater to about 80% of the floating population. In terms of solid and liquid waste management, door-to-door solid waste collection services reach 76 per cent of the households and Nagpur has the capacity to treat 78 per cent of its sewage. But health is still a concern.
Gandhinagar
Gujarat’s capital, Gandhinagar, is listed right in the middle of the total number of cities surveyed in the first phase. It performs well in the water and sewerage sectors. More than 42,610 of its 49,000 households get clean water while 86 per cent of its households are linked to main sewage lines. However, attention needs to be paid to build more public toilets and also to behaviour change communication.