Justice and sanitation governance: an enquiry into the implementation of the Swachh Bharat Mission-Rural programme in UP, India

The Swachh Bharat Mission-Rural (SBM-R) is a flagship programme aimed at ending open defecation in rural India. In this paper, we study institutions and processes using Amartya Sen's conception of justice. We review the outcomes by assessing agencies, actions and processes involved in the imple...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Water policy 2023-04, Vol.25 (4), p.379-398
Main Authors: Khare, Kopal, Suresh, Lavanya
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
capability approach
Decision making
Defaecation
Defecation
Drinking water
Frameworks
Governance
Government agencies
Implementation
Institutionalism
institutions
Justice
Life cycle
Life cycles
Life transitions
Literature reviews
Non-state actors
open defecation
Principles
Rural areas
Sanitation
sanitation well-being framework
slippage
Social interaction
Society
swachh bharat mission-rural
Toilets
Well being
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Summary:The Swachh Bharat Mission-Rural (SBM-R) is a flagship programme aimed at ending open defecation in rural India. In this paper, we study institutions and processes using Amartya Sen's conception of justice. We review the outcomes by assessing agencies, actions and processes involved in the implementation of the SBM-R programme. The findings are analysed using the Sanitation Well-being Framework. Sanitation well-being is achieved when an individual is able to experience the sanitation life cycle stages of acceptance, construction, utilisation and maintenance of safe disposal, which are part of the framework. The capability factors grouped under personal, cultural, structural, environmental and service elements of the framework determine the sanitation environment facilitated by the state. Failure in experiencing one of the life stages leads to slippage in sanitation, where people resume open defecation, despite possessing toilets. The paper presents a review of literature on the political, technological and structural issues in programme implementation, followed by an analysis of 42 interviews and 12 focused group discussions of state and non-state actors conducted in rural Shravasti, Uttar Pradesh, India. We found that slippage is prevalent in the field site and identified 26 capability factors (expansion and constraints) that led to slippage in sanitation.
ISSN:1366-7017
1996-9759
DOI:10.2166/wp.2023.187