Funds to cleaning drives, India Inc marks its presence in Swachh Bharat

At a time when Swachh Bharat is coinciding with the ban on single-use plastic, many corporate groups are looking at the two issues together

For the past few weeks, Rohit Mehrotra's schedule has seen a dramatic change. Instead of the predictable techie life, he has been heading to a high street first thing in the morning. Not on a shopping spree, but to clean up the dirty corners in the run-up to the Swachch Bharat Mission (SBM) completing five years. Many of his peers and colleagues are doing the same.

Many big corporate houses have marked their presence in the SBM with funds and fieldwork. Their spending may not have made news, but their participation cannot be ignored, said analysts.

“We have started a one-year drive to clean the non-designated dumping sites and garbage-vulnerable points in Noida,” said Navpreet Kaur, director at HCL’s Project Clean Noida.

With Prime Minister Narendra Modi announcing, during his Independence Day speech, that single-use plastic will be phased out, many companies are looking at SBM along with it. 

Amazon India has removed plastic bottles from kitchenettes, meeting rooms, and other common areas. It has announced it will eliminate single-use plastic from packaging by June 2020. At fulfillment centres, it is using paper cushions instead of air pillows and bubble wraps.

Dabur is working with nearly 5,000 ragpickers, across six states, to collect plastic waste, recyclable and non-recyclable, while reducing plastic from its packaging. Nestlé and Coca-Cola have started waste segregation and recycling.

The Silicon Valley, too, had a go at SBM. Google mapped thousands of public toilets around the National Capital Region.

Toilet count drives the scheme

Toilets and restrooms have been at the center of the SBM.

Ten-year-old Deekshitha, Nagavara village near Bengaluru, went on a fast till a toilet was built in her home. Toyota Kirloskar Motor came to her rescue.

Inspired by her, the company constructed 12,517 toilets across villages in Ramanagara district in Karnataka, holding sanitation drives at schools with 44,000 children.

“We have a target to provide full sanitation in 1,000 schools in Ramanagara through our ‘A Behavioral Change through Demonstration’ project,” said Shekar Viswanathan, vice-chairman, Toyota Kirloskar Motor.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), too, played a role, launching its Sanitation in School (SoS) project. Thirty-one private sector firms undertook the construction of 4,394 toilet blocks in government schools.

The industry body also partnered with the Uttar Pradesh government to construct 1,005 household toilets in 11 villages.

“We will continue to support government efforts through collaborations and innovations,” said Chandrajit Banerjee, director-general, CII.

Brand messaging

Companies have used their branding power, too, to send the message across.

Dabur, for example, put its Sanifresh brand forward to launch the 700 Se 7 Kadam campaign, for women who do not have access to toilets. The company helped make 42 villages open defecation-free by constructing more than 4,000 toilets across Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.

“Swachh Bharat mission is one of most successful social development initiatives undertaken by India,” Dabur India’s Head of CSR, A Sudhakar, said.

Others have been engaging in training and community programmes.

Microsoft partnered with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to launch a citizen-training app.

Biocon’s Namma biocommunity — a neighbourhood community connect initiative — has established multiple sanitary complexes and built school toilets with separate blocks for boys and girls. Infosys Foundation Bharat gave funds to build amenities for five schools at Kolar district in Karnataka.

Srinivasan Services Trust (SST), a social arm of Sundaram-Clayton and TVS Motor, has focused on construction and maintenance of toilets in anganwadis and schools.

How states have fared

Even in Centre-state spats, Swachch Bharat has emerged a winner.

Consider West Bengal. The state opted not to participate in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet initiative and instead launched its own Mission Nirmal Bangla on October 2, 2014.

Corporate entities contributed to that as well.

Kolkata-headquartered ITC has been promoting toilet construction on a cost-sharing basis, coupled with awareness campaigns. State-owned mining major Coal India has not only built 5,600 individual toilets, but also constructed soak pits and drains in West Bengal’s Purulia.

Having achieved 100 per cent ODF status, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has now trained her eyes on solid waste management.

Gujarat, the home state of Modi, has been an enthusiastic participant in the SBM. Gujarat was considered the ‘Fastest Mover State’ in India, improving the overall ranking.

With inputs from T E Narasimhan in Chennai, Karan Choudhury in Bengaluru, Neha Alawadhi in New Delhi, Avishek Rakshit in Kolkata and Vinay Umarji in Ahmedabad