Country background
- The Government of India aims to achieve 100% sanitation coverage by 2012.
- In 2003, the Government of India has launched the award scheme Nirmal Gram Puraskar (NGP) to recognize the efforts made by institutions and individuals who have contributed significantly towards ensuring full sanitation coverage in their areas of operation. The President of India awards the NGP every year close to the Republic Day.
- The third South Asia Conference on Sanitation (SacoSan III) was held in New Delhi, from 18 to 21 November 2008. The debates at SacoSan impacted on national policies and practices in the region, with governments making commitments through a signed ministerial declaration. The 2008 Delhi Declaration is, among others, calling for recognition of the right to sanitation and safe drinking water as a basic human right.
Policies and strategies
- Drinking water and sanitation are under the jurisdiction of the sub national states and not the federal government. The flagship central government programmes and schemes support the state level programmes with funds.
- The National Water Resources Council under the Chairmanship of the Prime Minister adopted the National Water Policy 2002, a revised version of the policy from 1987. Each state needs to formulate implementation guidelines within two years enactment of the policy.
- Reforms in the rural drinking water sector were adopted in 1999 through Sector Reform Project (SRP) on pilot basis and have been scaled up throughout the country in the form of Swajaldhara launched in 2002. The new National Rural Drinking Water Programme will run from 2009 to 2012.
- The Government of India launched an ambitious urban development programme called the Jwaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission in 2003. Along with urban infrastructure promotion, it has a component of Basic Services for Urban Poor (BSUP) that includes water and sanitation provision amongst others. The state governments are required to come out with City Development Plans to secure funding support from the central government.
- The Ministry of Urban Development prepared Guidelines for Sector Reform and Successful Public-Private Partnerships in 2004 as guidelines for urban water and sanitation services in local institutions such as the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI) and Urban Local Bodies (ULB).
- India's first nationwide structured programme for sanitation, the Central Rural Sanitation Programme (CRSP), was launched in 1986 with the objective of improving the quality of life of rural people and providing privacy and dignity to women. The programme was supply driven and highly subsidized. Incorporating the lessons learnt from implementing the CRSP, a demand-driven and community-led sanitation programme evolved under the name Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) in 1999 (guidelines from 2004; revised guidelines from 2007). TSC is the flagship central government sanitation scheme for promoting individual latrines.
- The Government of India approved the National Urban Sanitation Policy in 2008 and included a centrally sponsored scheme for integrated low-cost sanitation.
Institutions
- Water supply and sanitation is a State responsibility under the Indian Constitution. At present, states generally plan, design and execute water supply schemes through their State Departments (of Public Health Engineering or Rural Development Engineering) or State Water Boards. While local governments are in charge of operation and maintenance, States may give the responsibility to utilities such as the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI) in rural areas or Urban Local Bodies (ULB) for municipalities.
- Given the highly decentralised provision of water and sanitation services, there is no autonomous regulatory agency for the water supply and sanitation sector in India at the state or national level.
- The Ministry of Rural Development is responsible for rural water supply through the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation and the Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission. The Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation provides up to date information on the coverage of villages with drinking water.
- The Ministry of Urban Development formulates policies and establishes supporting programmes including monitoring as far as urban areas are concerned. It also administers the implementation of the National Urban Sanitation Policy.
- Several agencies involved are various ministries’ departments, financial institutions, external support agencies, NGOs, and the private sector which makes sector coordination unclear.
