Sustaining sanitation

Winning a battle is easier than winning the war. In the case of the Swachh Bharat Mission, the fight to make the country open defecation free (ODF) is well on its way to victory, with rural sanitation coverage having jumped from 39 per cent at the start of the mission in October 2014 to over 87 per cent today. While the finishing line of the ODF battle is well in sight, the ODF sustainability war is still in its early stages.

Most time-bound campaigns generate a burst of excitement but, in many cases, their impact eventually fizzles away with time. The