 "Centre finalising rules for grants on toilet access")
States showing the largest rise in population having access to sanitary toilets could get the major chunk of the Rs 9,000-crore annual incentive in this regard being planned by the Centre. According to the guidelines being framed, access to safe/sanitary toilets gets 55 per cent weightage among the three parameters to be used to rate states' performance.
The other two are the increase in population living in open defecation-free villages and the rise in number of villages having acceptable levels of solid and liquid waste management. These are to get 35 per cent and 10 per cent weightage, respectively, a senior official explained.
A central team is to tour each state and Union Territory to judge the performance, based on the parameters. The amounts would be allocated after their final assessments.
"The basic idea is that states feel involved and perform to the best of their abilities in providing good sanitation facilities," a senior official said.
The first tranche of the annual incentive is expected to be released by September.
To incentivise states to do better in creation of toilets and sanitation facilities, the Union Cabinet in March had approved the free-grant of Rs 9,000 crore under the Swachh Bharat Mission, the money coming from the World Bank.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had also talked about the sum in his 2016-17 annual Budget Speech. The Centre for Media Studies has been asked to do impact assessment studies in states on the Mission.
The Mission was launched on October 2, 2014, the 145th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. It has two components, urban and rural.
The other two are the increase in population living in open defecation-free villages and the rise in number of villages having acceptable levels of solid and liquid waste management. These are to get 35 per cent and 10 per cent weightage, respectively, a senior official explained.
A central team is to tour each state and Union Territory to judge the performance, based on the parameters. The amounts would be allocated after their final assessments.
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The amount to be given as incentive to a state would be over and above its normal annual allocation under the ambitious Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. The fund would be given as a free grant but would have to be used only in the sanitation sector.
"The basic idea is that states feel involved and perform to the best of their abilities in providing good sanitation facilities," a senior official said.
The first tranche of the annual incentive is expected to be released by September.
To incentivise states to do better in creation of toilets and sanitation facilities, the Union Cabinet in March had approved the free-grant of Rs 9,000 crore under the Swachh Bharat Mission, the money coming from the World Bank.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had also talked about the sum in his 2016-17 annual Budget Speech. The Centre for Media Studies has been asked to do impact assessment studies in states on the Mission.
The Mission was launched on October 2, 2014, the 145th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. It has two components, urban and rural.