The Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir achieved the 100% Open Defecation Free (ODF) Plus Model status in August last year with the collective efforts of public and the government. It joined a club of several UTs and states that have been able to eliminate open defecation in villages both by changing social behavior and building basic and necessary sanitation systems. Apart from J&K, villages in Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu, and Sikkim have been declared 100% ODF Plus Model.

According to the Ministry of Jal Shakti, ODF Plus Model village is the one “which is sustaining its ODF status and has arrangements for both Solid Waste Management and Liquid Waste Management; and observes visual cleanliness, i.e., minimal litter, minimal stagnant wastewater, no plastic waste dump in public places; and displays ODF Plus Information, Education & Communication (IEC) messages”. As per data released by the ministry, a total of 96,192 villages across India have achieved the coveted status. When it comes to Jammu & Kashmir, all 6,650 villages across 285 blocks and 20 districts of the UT have declared themselves ODF Plus Model. This could be possible due to increased focus on sanitation and hygiene under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin (SBM-G), which has helped build sanitation systems across J&K.

The Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) was launched on October 2, 2014 with the aim to make all villages in the country open defecation free by 2019 by providing access to toilets to rural households. Under the initiative, an incentive of Rs 12,000 is given to all Below Poverty Line (BPL) households and identified Above Poverty Line (APL) households for the construction of Individual Household Latrine (IHHL).

Year-wise data published by the Ministry of Jal Shakti shows that a total of 8,492 IHHLs were built in Jammu & Kashmir from October 2014 to March 2015. This number increased significantly to 51,521 during the 2015-2016 period and further to 65,235 during the 2016-2017 period. Then, between 2017 and 2018, J&K welcomed over 4,01,050 new IHHLs, which grew to 5,22,192 IHHLs during 2018-2019.

In 2019-2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic struck, the number of IHHLs built in the UT dipped to 38,788. But the progress picked up in the 2020-2021 period, when 82,033 IHHLs were constructed. In the following period, 2021-2022, a total of 14,767 IHHLs were built in J&K. Then, 48,667 and 30,465 IHHLs were constructed in 2022-2023 and 2023-2024, respectively.

In order for a village to achieve the status of ODF Plus, it needs to pass through three stages namely ODF Plus Aspiring, ODF Plus Rising, and ODF Plus Model. A village is declared ODF Plus Model when it is visually clean, has minimal stagnant water and litter along with solid and liquid waste management (SLWM) and conducts cleanliness awareness generation activities.

J&K’s journey to achieving the ODF Plus Model status involved a comprehensive plan by the Rural Sanitation department. The department came up with Village Sanitation Saturation Plans (VSSP) for each village of the UT to make sure that all villages have assets required for the management of solid and liquid waste. As part of the plan, 4,83,404 individual soak pits were constructed along with 24,088 community soak pits for the disposal of grey water or the water generated from kitchen and bathing, among other activities.

For managing biodegradable waste, about 1,77,442 individual pits and 12,621 community pits were also built by either the department or by people in their households, indicating a change in social behaviour and increase in adoption of such methods to achieve a cleaner J&K. The efforts also include setting up of around 6,509 waste collection and segregation sheds along with 5,523 Community Sanitary Complexes and 17,46,619 IHHLs.