World Bank offers USD 1.5b loan - Fusion - WeRIndia

Indian government has been constantly striving for Clean India. In this context, it has been focusing on stopping open defecation and improving sanitation throughout the county. Now, World Bank came forward to support the Clean India drive.

In order to improve sanitation facilities and to end open defecation practice by 2019, the World Bank has sanctioned USD 1.5 billion loan. This loan amount is intended to fund this campaign in India. It would be used for Swachh Bharat Mission Support Operation Project.

According to the World Bank, 80 per cent of people in rural India need to improve their sanitation facilities. In other words, they do not have access to clean sanitation facilities. On an average, over 750 million people in India lack these facilities out of 2.4 billion people worldwide.

Majority of rural people in India still lack private toilets due to which they rely on open defecation practices. Furthermore they are suffering from many ailments, avoidable deaths, harassment and financial losses.

As per Onno Ruhl, World Bank Country Director for India, the death of one in every ten people is associated with poor sanitation. Income plays key role in maintaining sanitation facilities and low-income levels lead to poor sanitation. He stated that this project is aimed to help government improve the health of poor people who are living in villages.

The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (MDWS) will supervise and coordinate the programme and assist participating states. The funds will also be utilized to improve the capacity of MDWS in managing the programme, support, checking and assessment.

In order to improve the capacity of chosen state governments in executing community-led behavioural change programmes that help the rural people in India, the World Bank is also offered USD 25 million technical assistance. This assistance is aimed to improve the usage of toilets in rural India.

Image Credit: Photo by Jasinthan Yoganathan on Unsplash (Free for commercial use)

Image Reference: https://unsplash.com/photos/kee0lnArc08