Gujarat received high praise, as Naidu read out data claiming Surat had built 6634 toilets, Morbi 3028 toilets, Ahmedabad 21,407.
Calling for a jan andolan, a people's movement, to come out of the Swacch Bharat Abhiyan, the central government gave itself a pat on the back as it released its year one report card on the mission. Speaking to the media, Union minister for urban development Venkaiah Naidu said that they had done better their own internal targets when it came to sanitation, hygiene and, most importantly, building toilets to curb open defecation. He also said that the cry for a jan andolan came from Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself.
The target set by the NDA government, when the Prime Minister kicked off the abhiyan on October 2, 2014, is to build 1.04 crore individual household toilets, 5.28 lakh community and public toilet seats, besides ensuring 100 per cent door-to-door collection of municipal solid waste in the 78,003 wards nationwide by 2019. For March 2015, the target is 25 lakh household toilets, of which, Naidu said, 4,64,651 were complete, and 11,80,454 were underway, giving them a good chance of achieving the March goal.
Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana were top performers while states such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have to improve performance, with only 862 and 927 toilets built so far respectively, said the minister. Downplaying any questions of implications of political rivalry dampening the mission's efforts, he said that health and sanitation were state subjects, therefore all shareholders needed to be involved to improve conditions.
Gujarat received high praise, as Naidu read out data claiming Surat had built 6634 toilets, Morbi 3028 toilets, Ahmedabad 21,407.
Another major component, solid waste management saw Chandigarh taking the lead, processing 100 per cent of its waste, followed distantly by Meghalaya, Delhi, Kerala and Manipur. Gujarat figured prominently again, with Ahmedabad, Surat, Morbi and Mahisagar reporting 100 per cent collection of waste door to door.
States from the north east performed fairly poorly, Assam, Nagaland and Tripura not having processed any solid waste at the moment, and no construction of household toilets in Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya and Tripura.
The issue of Delhi, with its sanitation in poor light due to the recent spate of dengue cases, saw some fraught questions being raised. Naidu however responded that the Delhi government should learn to work well with the local corporations to improve sanitation, as every state should work well with its local bodies. Varanasi's sanitation problems were also raised, to be met with the same reply. "There were problems between the local bodies and the state government,"said Naidu, stressing again that health and sanitation were state subjects.
Praising public sector and government involvement, Naidu did say that corporates needed to do more. "I appeal to FICCI and ASSOCHAM to take more interest,"said Naidu, "simply seminars and conferences are not enough.
How many toilets have you built?"
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 "One year of Swacch Bharat: Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh lead while Uttar Pradesh, Bihar lag")
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