Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin (SBM-G) Phase II

Phase I of SBM-G ran from 2014 to 2019 and focused on building toilets, declaring villages open defecation free, and shifting social norms. Phase II, launched in 2020 and running through 2025, focuses on sustaining ODF status and adding waste management infrastructure at the village level.

The household toilet incentive continues but is now conditional on construction quality, including a proper twin leach pit or soak pit that handles the waste safely. A toilet without a pit, or with a single pit and no soak, does not qualify.

Phase II also introduced ODF Plus categories that recognise villages with effective solid and liquid waste management, plastic waste collection and visual cleanliness.

All households without a functional individual household toilet are eligible if they fall within the priority categories or are listed on SECC deprivation indicators. Priority categories include SC, ST, marginal farmers, landless labourers and households with a person with disability.

Non-SECC households can be made eligible through a gram sabha resolution that records the absence of a functional toilet and the household's commitment to construct one within the timeline.

One incentive is admissible per household. If a household had received an incentive under earlier schemes such as Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan, a second one is not normally admissible unless the earlier toilet has been declared non-functional and approved for reconstruction.

The first tranche of typically Rs 6,000 is released on approval of the application and submission of the sanction letter. This funds the foundation, pit and basic structure. The second tranche of Rs 6,000 is released on completion and verification of the toilet.

Verification includes a physical inspection by the field staff and a geo-tagged photograph uploaded on the SBM portal. Without the photograph, the second tranche is held back even if the toilet is complete.

Households should keep all bills for sand, cement, bricks and labour. While the incentive is a fixed amount, evidence of expenditure protects the household if a future audit questions the construction.

A standard toilet under SBM-G includes a superstructure, a pan, a water seal, and a twin leach pit or soak pit. The twin leach pit is the preferred design because it allows one pit to be used while the other decomposes its content into a usable compost over a year.

Single pits without soak arrangements fail inspection because the waste seeps into surrounding soil or surfaces. Many states publish standard design booklets that households can follow.

Roof, door, ventilation and water connection are also part of a functional toilet. A toilet that lacks privacy or water access is unlikely to be used and risks reversal to open defecation.

Phase II funds Solid and Liquid Waste Management infrastructure at the gram panchayat level. SLWM includes composting yards, plastic shredders, biogas units and grey water management through soak pits and stabilisation ponds.

A typical gram panchayat under SBM-G Phase II receives Rs 60 lakh to Rs 1.4 crore depending on population, to be used over the five-year window with detailed plans approved by the block.

User charges are encouraged to fund operation and maintenance. Without a small monthly fee from each household, even well-built SLWM infrastructure deteriorates within two years.

The most common reasons are water scarcity, poor pit design, social pressure within multi-generational households, and absence of follow-up after the ODF declaration. Phase II monitors these risks through periodic surveys and corrective action plans.

Households should report broken toilets, blocked pits or non-functional units to the gram panchayat for repair under the maintenance fund. Sitting on the problem until reversal happens is the worst outcome.

The cultural component is as important as the engineering. Local champions, school children's campaigns and women's self-help groups have been the most effective in keeping villages ODF in the long term.

If the incentive is delayed beyond ninety days of completion and verification, file a written complaint with the block development officer and the district panchayat office. Online complaints on the SBM portal and CPGRAMS are tracked.

For substandard infrastructure or non-functional waste-management facilities, the gram sabha is the first redress forum. Persistent failures should be escalated to the district mission and the state mission.

Sanitation is a sustained habit, not a one-time achievement. Citizen vigilance, polite documentation and engagement with the panchayat are what keep the gains of SBM-G.

Keep a single-page checklist taped inside the household file. List the scheme name, the unique identifier, the date of application, the sanction reference, the bank account it credits to, the next renewal or life-certificate date, and the helpline number. This one sheet saves more time over a year than any digital tracker because every adult in the family can read it.

Verify the bank account at least once per quarter. A dormant or KYC-incomplete account is the most common silent reason a benefit stops, and the fix is small if caught early. Most banks now allow a balance-check SMS or a passbook update at any branch, and either is enough to confirm the account is alive.

Photograph every receipt the day it is issued and store the images in a dated folder on a family phone. Paper fades, ink smudges and physical files get misplaced. A digital backup, even an unsorted one, has rescued more grievance cases in our reporting than any other single habit.

Maintain a polite, written tone in every escalation. Field officers respond better to a short letter that quotes the rule and asks for action by a date than to repeated verbal complaints. A copy to the next level of supervision, marked clearly, gets results without burning the working relationship at the local office.

Finally, treat each scheme as a long-term relationship with the delivery system. Benefits compound when paperwork is clean, dates are tracked and the household knows its rights. That discipline, more than any single guide, is what separates households that consistently receive what is due to them from those that do not.

In a Marathwada gram panchayat we visited, the local committee posts every monthly statement of receipts and expenditure on the panchayat notice board on the first Monday. The simple act of public posting has cut grievance volume by more than half, because residents see the numbers and ask their questions before small issues become disputes.

In a coastal Odisha block, a women's federation runs a weekly help desk at the block office for two hours every Saturday. They help with form-filling, application tracking and follow-up. The cost of running the desk is borne by the federation itself from a small service fee, and it has become the single most effective grievance channel in the block.

In an eastern Uttar Pradesh district, the lead bank manager has set up a monthly review of pending subsidy credits, with branch managers required to bring an updated list. Pendency that used to drag on for months now closes in days, because the issue is visible at the right level.

Each of these examples works because someone closer to the household has taken ownership of the last mile. The scheme rules and the central funding are necessary but not sufficient. Local ownership is the missing ingredient that converts a scheme on paper into a benefit in the bank account.

Citizens can copy these patterns in their own villages and wards. A public notice board, a weekly help desk, a monthly review meeting, these are not expensive ideas and they do not need permission. They need persistence and a small set of people willing to show up week after week.

• 01Households without a functional individual household toilet
• 02Priority categories include SC and ST households, marginal farmers, landless labourers and households with persons with disability
• 03Households on the SECC deprivation list automatically eligible
• 04Non-SECC eligible households can be approved on resolution of the gram sabha

• §Aadhaar of head of household
• §Bank account passbook in the name of head of household
• §Photograph of the existing toilet situation (or its absence)
• §Resolution of the gram sabha for non-SECC eligibility

• Incentive claimed for a toilet that lacks a soak pit or twin leach pit, which fails inspection
• Geo-tagged photograph not uploaded within the prescribed window
• Toilet built but not used by the household, observed during the verification visit

• SBM-G Phase II Operational Guidelines, Department of Drinking Water and Sanitationlink ↗
• ODF Plus framework, DDWS