Rural Sanitation Strategy launched by Ministry of Jal Shakti in September 2019 relates to which of the following periods ?
- (a)2019-2035
- (b)2019-2029
- (c)2019-2022
- (d)2019-2024
Correct — B, 2019-2029. The document released by the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Jal Shakti, in September 2019 is titled the 10-Year Rural Sanitation Strategy (2019-2029). Its job is to protect and build on what Swachh Bharat Mission-Grameen had achieved — more than ten crore rural household toilets since 2 October 2014 — by sustaining the behaviour change behind open-defecation-free (ODF) status and taking villages to 'ODF Plus', where every household keeps using a toilet and the village also manages its solid and liquid waste. The clue is in the title: it is a ten-year strategy, so the period must end in 2029.
- (a)2019-2035 — A sixteen-year horizon that matches no rural sanitation document. The strategy is explicitly a ten-year one, and the global sanitation benchmark most often quoted alongside it — Sustainable Development Goal 6 — runs to 2030, not 2035.
- (c)2019-2022 — A three-year window. Several government targets were pegged to 2022 (the 75th year of independence), which makes this tempting, but the Rural Sanitation Strategy is not one of them.
- (d)2019-2024 — A five-year window matching a Finance Commission or plan cycle, not this strategy. The follow-on Swachh Bharat Mission-Grameen Phase II runs on a five-year design, but the Strategy itself covers ten years.
Indian rural sanitation policy has moved in distinct phases: the Central Rural Sanitation Programme (1986), the Total Sanitation Campaign (1999), Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (2012) and finally Swachh Bharat Mission-Grameen from 2 October 2014. Rural India was declared open-defecation-free on 2 October 2019, which changed the policy problem from construction to sustenance. The 10-Year Rural Sanitation Strategy (2019-2029) is the answer to that new problem: keep people using the toilets that were built, and add solid and liquid waste management so a village becomes 'ODF Plus'. The follow-on SBM-Grameen Phase II carries the same ODF Plus agenda into implementation.
When a scheme's own name contains its duration — '10-Year Rural Sanitation Strategy' — the period question answers itself. If you do not recall the title, reason from the policy logic: behaviour change and waste-management infrastructure are long-horizon goals, so a three- or five-year window is implausible, while 2035 belongs to no sanitation framework. Do not confuse the strategy's decade with SDG 6's 2030 deadline.
- The 10-Year Rural Sanitation Strategy covers 2019-2029; launched September 2019 by the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Jal Shakti
- Aim: sustain ODF status and move villages to ODF Plus — continued toilet use plus solid and liquid waste management
- Backdrop: over 10 crore rural household toilets built since Swachh Bharat Mission-Grameen was launched on 2 October 2014
- By 2019 about 5.9 lakh villages, 699 districts and all 35 States and UTs had been declared ODF
- Sanitation lineage: CRSP 1986 - Total Sanitation Campaign 1999 - Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan 2012 - SBM-Grameen 2014 - Strategy 2019-2029
- 1986 - Central Rural Sanitation Programme (CRSP): first national rural sanitation push
- 1999 - Total Sanitation Campaign: demand-driven, community-led approach
- 2012 - Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan: restructured TSC with higher incentives
- 2 Oct 2014 - Swachh Bharat Mission-Grameen: mass toilet construction; rural India declared ODF on 2 Oct 2019
- Sep 2019 - 10-Year Rural Sanitation Strategy, 2019-2029: sustain ODF, move to ODF Plus
Answer (b): the strategy launched in September 2019 is a ten-year one, covering 2019-2029.
- Answering 2030 by reflex because SDG 6 ends in 2030 — the strategy runs to 2029
- Mixing up the ministry: rural sanitation sits with Jal Shakti, urban sanitation with Housing and Urban Affairs
- Assuming ODF status is the end goal — the strategy's target is ODF Plus, which adds waste management
UPPSC asks the period, the ministry or the launch year of a named scheme; UPSC prefers 'consider the following statements' on what a sanitation programme actually covers, or on the constitutional placement of sanitation.
Assertion (A): The Central Rural Sanitation Programme was launched in 1986 to improve the quality of life of rural people in India. Reason (R): Rural sanitation is a subject in the Concurrent List in the Constitution of India.
- (a) Both A and R are individually true and R is the correct explanation of A
- (b) Both A and R are individually true but R is not the correct explanation of A
- (c) A is true but R is false
- (d) A is false but R is true
Answer(c) A is true but R is false
Same concept — India's national rural sanitation programme lineage. It fixes the starting point (CRSP, 1986) that the 2019-2029 strategy is the latest stage of, and adds that sanitation is a State List subject.
With reference to the Government of India's various programmes, what is Nirmal Gram Puraskar?
- (a) It is an incentive scheme of scholarships for the single girl child in families in villages.
- (b) It is an incentive scheme of scholarships for female sportspersons from villages who represent their states in any game.
- (c) It is an incentive scheme for schools in the villages for computer education.
- (d) It is an incentive scheme for Panchayati Raj institutions.
Answer(d) It is an incentive scheme for Panchayati Raj institutions.
Same concept — the open-defecation-free village as the unit of rural sanitation policy. Nirmal Gram Puraskar rewarded panchayats that became fully sanitised, the idea the 2019-2029 strategy now tries to make permanent.
Match List - I with List - II and select the correct answer from the codes given below the lists : List - I (Scheme) A. P. M. Jan Arogya Abhiyan B. P. M. Vaya Vandan Yojana C. P. M. Rojgar Protsahan Yojana D. Swachh Bharat Abhiyan List - II (Launching Year) 1. 2015 2. 2018 3. 2017 4. 2014 Codes : A B C D
- (a) 2 3 1 4
- (b) 1 2 3 4
- (c) 2 3 4 1
- (d) 2 4 3 1
Answer(a) 2 3 1 4
Same concept in the very next cycle — dating the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (2014), the mission whose sustenance phase the 2019-2029 Rural Sanitation Strategy defines.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The 10-Year Rural Sanitation Strategy (2019-2029) was launched by which ministry?
- (a)Ministry of Rural Development
- (b)Ministry of Jal Shakti
- (c)Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs
- (d)Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
Answer(b) the Ministry of Jal Shakti — through its Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Under the rural sanitation strategy, a village qualifies as 'ODF Plus' when, in addition to sustained toilet use, it has:
- (a)piped water supply to every household
- (b)solid and liquid waste management
- (c)a community biogas plant
- (d)full school enrolment
Answer(b) solid and liquid waste management, alongside sustained open-defecation-free status.