For decades, rural sanitation remained a persistent development concern nationwide. Sanitation coverage stood at 39 per cent when the Swachh Bharat Mission began in 2014. By 2019, rural India had achieved 100 per cent sanitation coverage.

More than 10.28 crore toilets were constructed across 36 states and union territories between 2014 and 2019. Rural India was subsequently declared Open Defecation Free in 2019. This achievement transformed the nature of India’s sanitation landscape. The focus shifted from an emphasis on household toilet access to a broader concern with the sustainability of sanitation practices and the management of waste at the village level. This became the focus of Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin Phase II. It focuses on sustaining ODF status and strengthening Solid and Liquid Waste Management systems.

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The impact of this focus is now visible in India’s villages. An ODF Plus village not only sustains ODF status but also effectively manages solid and liquid waste, while maintaining visual cleanliness. Along with sustaining ODF Plus village status, these villages are classified into three progressive stages: Aspiring, Rising, and Model. Aspiring villages manage either solid or liquid waste. Rising villages manage both solid and liquid waste. Model villages, in addition to managing both waste streams, also demonstrate visual cleanliness and display ODF Plus messaging.

As of 17 September, India has attained 5.69 lakh ODF Plus villages, of which 5.25 lakh have achieved ODF Plus Model status. Furthermore, 5.38 lakh villages have established solid waste management arrangements, and 5.65 lakh villages have established liquid waste management systems. 1,314 GOBARdhan biogas plants are currently operational in 582 districts. At the household level, 12.22 crore individual toilets and 98,273 biogas plants have been constructed.

Women have been central to this transformation. Sanitation directly affects women’s privacy, safety, dignity, and health. They are not merely beneficiaries of interventions but active participants in development and agents of social change. The SBM-G guidelines give special preference to women as Swachhagrahis. They also recognise DAY-NRLM Self-Help Groups as important platforms for Behaviour Change Communication. Working closely with households and communities, Swachhagrahis support families in adopting and sustaining toilet use, while undertaking door-to-door outreach, awareness activities, and cleanliness verification. Through this community-based engagement, they help translate sanitation interventions into sustained everyday practices.

Women’s collectives have helped translate sanitation awareness into sustained community action. In Howrah, West Bengal, SHGs supported a plastic removal programme across 18 Ganga-adjacent gram panchayats, collecting 9.32 tonnes of plastic waste within 18 days. The initiative further established a regular plastic collection network through the SHG federation. It brought together elected representatives, panchayat functionaries, community members, and market vendors to strengthen collective action on waste management.

Women have also emerged as sanitation workers, entrepreneurs, and local service providers. In Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, around a dozen SHG women manage a Resource Recovery Centre, collecting household waste and segregating it into wet and dry waste. Wet waste is converted into vermicompost, while dry waste is channelled for sale, generating wages and additional income for the women.

In Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, a Cluster Level Federation operates a Material Recovery Facility, supported by an MoU with the Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin for the sale and purchase of plastic waste collected at the facility. Women’s participation in sanitation has expanded from awareness and mobilisation to implementation, waste management, livelihood generation, and local decision-making.

Beyond women’s collectives, schools serve as another important institution for translating sanitation awareness into everyday practices. They provide a structured environment where children can develop habits related to hygiene, sanitation, and waste management, while also influencing practices within their families and communities. SBM-G Phase II explicitly recognises schools as important institutions for sustaining sanitation outcomes. It has provisions for functional sanitation facilities and arrangements for managing biodegradable and liquid waste.

In Chandil, Jharkhand, a school banned single-use plastic and constructed a soak pit for greywater management. Teachers also regularly engage students on personal hygiene and puberty-related concerns. Such efforts create a two-way flow of behavioural change. Children learn and practice sanitation at school and carry these behaviours into their homes, while families, in turn, become part of a broader culture of cleanliness and responsible waste management. The role of children is also expanding into a wider youth-led movement for cleanliness.

Swachhata Hi Seva 2026 places students and youth at the centre of sustainable behavioural change. Schools and educational institutions are being positioned as spaces for building cleanliness as a sanskaar. Activities include Swachhata Gyan Yatras, School Samvads, and demonstrations on source segregation. Students will also engage with the Swachhata Evam Jal Samvads and learn about the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2026. This approach extends the school-to-home cycle into a broader school-to-community movement.

Interestingly, children are taking SBM-G beyond conventional sanitation. In Jharkhand, members of child cabinets have taken responsibility for menstrual hygiene management activities. In one school, girls maintain the stock register for sanitary pads, while child cabinet members help ensure regular availability. At Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya, Jhikpani, child cabinet ministers proposed the establishment of an MHM laboratory to the school authorities. The laboratory was subsequently established with support from school funds and external resources.

As sanitation practices take root within households and schools, they increasingly require collective systems and institutions to sustain them at the community level. Household waste needs to be collected, segregated, and treated; greywater requires appropriate drainage and disposal; and public spaces require regular upkeep. This is where the Gram Panchayat assumes a central role.

Under SBM-G, Gram Panchayats are responsible for planning and implementing village-level sanitation activities. Their role extends beyond infrastructure to community mobilisation, demand generation, hygiene promotion, Information, Education and Communication, and capacity building. In this way, the Gram Panchayat provides the institutional framework that connects individual practices with collective sanitation outcomes.

As sanitation systems expand, community-led efforts increasingly require appropriate infrastructure and technical support. Vedancha, Gujarat, demonstrates how community demand can evolve into a locally designed wastewater management system. Its greywater treatment system was planned around local land and water-flow patterns, with local contractors supporting its operation and maintenance. Panchayat members, operators, and participating citizens were also trained to manage the system. The system treats 200 kilo-litres of greywater daily, with treated water used for irrigation and groundwater recharge. The panchayat earns around ₹2.5 lakh annually through compost and treated-water reuse.

At the same time, the initiative has also contributed to improved public health, including reductions in reported waterborne diseases and mosquito-borne outbreaks. This model shows how sanitation can evolve from waste disposal and resource recovery to environmental sustainability and local value creation.

Therefore, the ultimate objective of rural sanitation is sustained behaviour and collective ownership. An ODF Plus village must not only sustain ODF status but also manage solid and liquid waste and maintain a clean environment. India’s sanitation journey has therefore moved from access to usage, and from usage to sustainability.

The enduring measure of Swachh Bharat lies not only in the infrastructure created, but in whether cleanliness becomes an everyday practice sustained by people and communities. Clean villages are not built for communities; they are built by communities.