THE ROLE OF SANITATION SCHEMES FOR REDUCING OPEN DEFECATION IN SIMLAPAL BLOCK, BANKURA DISTRICT

In view of reducing the high rate of open defecation, Government of India has adopted various schemes to reduce health hazards regarding open defecation as well as to increase awareness; Those are- Central Rural Sanitation Programme (1986), Total Sanitation Campaign (1999), Nirmal Gram Puraskar (2003), Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (2012), and Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (2014). Unfortunately, the campaigns have achieved limited success in changing the open defecation behavior of the Indian population. At Simlapal C.D. Block, an average of 10 percent of households have been covered under Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) (Gramin) scheme. The level of utility of toilets is very low throughout the study area.