Swachh Bharat to cover SWM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet project Swachh Bharat Mission is likely to be expanded to focus on managing solid waste in every village, with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announcing it in the Union Budget.

She said the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, which the prime minister had conceived and launched in 2014, had touched the “very conscience of the nation” apart from bringing enormous health and environmental benefits. Claiming that the scheme had achieved resounding success, she added that 9.6 crore toilets were constructed in the last five years.

She noted that more than 5.6 lakh villages had become Open Defecation Free.