The Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) in rural areas aims to achieve open defecation free villages and improved cleanliness through Solid and Liquid Waste management, thus creating clean villages in India. With many States achieving ODF status, solid and liquid waste management takes prime importance in the endeavor. Rural India generates enormous quantities of bio-waste including animal waste, kitchen leftovers, crop residue, market waste and fecal sludge. According to 19th Livestock Census of India, 2012, there are about 300 million bovines, 65.07 million sheep, 135.2 million goats and about 10.3 million pigs. At least 5,257 tonnes waste/day is estimated to be generated from livestock alone. In addition, according to Indian Agricultural Research Institute’s estimates in 2014, India generated 620 million tonnes of crop residue, of which 300 million tonnes are treated as waste and 100 million tonnes are burnt on farms.
Presently, a very large fraction of bio-waste gets disposed in unsafe ways – burning, unscientific
dumping, discharging into water bodies, etc. on the other hand, bio-resources such as animal dung
cakes, crop residue and firewood are commonly burned as cooking fuel leading to indoor air pollution. Indoor air pollution is also considered responsible for a significant number of acute respiratory illnesses in young children. WHO estimates about 5 lakh deaths in India due to unclean cooking fuel alone. Women and children suffer the most, as they spend large amounts of their time near indoor cooking hearth. Not only does unsafe management of waste leads to adverse environmental &health impacts but also destroys the resource value of this waste.
Fortunately, bio-waste has the potential to be harnessed as energy, fuel, and fertilizer. Waste such as cattle dung, poultry droppings, pig excreta, human excreta, crops & crop residues, kitchen waste etc., can produce biogas, through anaerobic digestion and produce clean fuel for cooking, lighting,
electricity, running biogas based engines, etc. Some of the biomass waste also has potential to produce ethanol. The oil seeds like jatropha, karenge, rapeseeds, mahua seeds, neem seeds etc. can be
converted to bio-diesel and other medicinal products. Woody biomass and powdery biomass waste like twigs, barks/ branches, arhar stalks, mustard stalks, coconut shells, saw dust, paddy husk, etc. can be converted to solid biomass fuels like pellets, briquettes and others.
About the Initiative
In an effort to ensure cleanliness in villages and generate wealth and energy by converting cattle dung and solid agricultural waste into compost and biogas and improve the lives of villagers, the launch of ‘Galvanizing Organic Bio-Agro Resources Dhan’ (GOBAR-DHAN) scheme was announced in the Budget Speech of the Hon’ble Finance Minister in Feb 2018. This initiative shall support biodegradable waste recovery and conversion of waste into resources. This shall support creating clean villages which is the objective of Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) and also provide economic and resource benefits to farmers and households. The GOBAR-DHAN scheme is expected to engage with people in safe and efficient managing of solid waste, especially the bio-agro waste in villages, so that the villages remain clean. GOBAR-DHAN scheme is a crucial component of the ODF Plus strategy of SBM(G) and will focus on supporting villages in management of bio-waste.
Scope of the Scheme
GOBAR-DHAN scheme proposes to cover 700 projects across the country in 2018-19. The scheme will be implemented in two phases i.e, 350 projects in first half of the year and rest in the second half. The States may choose to develop at least one project per district or as many viable projects as possible to achieve effective bio-waste management in the villages.
The programme will be funded under SLWM component of SBM-G following the suggested guidelines of SBM(G). The total assistance under SBM (G) for SLWM projects is on the basis of total number of households in each GP, subject to a maximum of INR 7 lakh for a GP having up to 150 households, INR 12 lakh up to 300 households, INR 15 lakh up to 500 households and INR 20 lakh for GPs with more than 500 households.
Only those Gram Panchayats which have not availed SLWM funds under SBM(G) are eligible to receive the financial assistance under GOBAR-DHAN scheme, subject to the limits of guidelines. However, States shall have the flexibility to provide additional funds to any GP based on viability under the scheme through convergence with other Central/State schemes.