Context: NITI Aayog Releases Report on Faecal Sludge and Septage Management in Urban Areas

• Jointly developed with National Faecal Sludge and Septage Management (NFSSM) Alliance, the book presents 27 case studies across 10 states and various service and business models adopted by Indian cities while implementing faecal sludge and septage management (FSSM) initiatives.
• Safe sanitation is a strong contributor to both public health and environmental sustainability, and needs focused attention, especially the safe and complete treatment of all human waste. 

NFSSM Alliance

• It was established with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2016 to support safe sanitation at the national, state and city level.
• The Alliance is recognized as the collaborative body that drives the discourse of faecal sludge and septage management (FSSM) forward in India.
• The NFSSM Alliance in collaboration with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) and the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DWS) has been instrumental in the passage of India’s first national policy on FSSM in 2017.
• It has worked with state governments on various innovative models, policies and guidelines across the sanitation value chain to ensure our cities’ waste is effectively managed. 
• The models captured in this report will help other states and cities replicate and scale them up to achieve 100% effective management of India’s faecal sludge and septage in the next five years.

The National Policy on Faecal Sludge and Septage Management (FSSM)

• It was issued by Ministry of Urban Development in February 2017 with support and inputs from the NFSSM Alliance.

Key features of the policy are as follows:

• State level guidelines, framework, objectives, timelines and implementation plans to address septage management
• Formulating strategy on central level to initiate capacity building for training on FSSM
• Sanitation benchmark framework which shall be used by ULB?s to develop database, registry of certified on site sanitation system and robust reporting format
• Funding for facilitation of FSSM projects and encouragement to increase public private partnerships (PPP)
• Achieving integrated citywide sanitation along with safe disposal

Overall Vision:

• All Indian cities and towns become totally sanitized, healthy and liveable and ensure sustenance of good sanitation practices with improved Onsite Sanitation Services together with faecal sludge and septage management to achieve optimum public health status and maintain clean environment with special focus on the poor.

Objectives:

• The key objective of the urban FSSM Policy is to set the context, priorities, and direction for, and to facilitate, nationwide implementation of FSSM services in all ULBs such that safe and sustainable sanitation becomes a reality for all in each and every household, street, town and city.
• Ensure that all benefits of wide access to safe sanitation accrue to all citizens across the sanitation value chain with containment, extraction, transportation, treatment, and disposal / re-use of all faecal sludge, septage and other liquid waste and their by-products and end-products.
• Suggest and identify ways and means, including the methods and resources, towards creation of an enabling environment for realising safe and sustainable FSSM in India.
• Define the roles and responsibilities of various government entities and agencies, and of other key stakeholders such as the private sector, civil society organisations and citizens for effective implementation of FSSM services throughout the country.
• Enable and support synergies among relevant Central Government programs such as SBM, AMRUT and the Smart Cities Mission to realise safe and sustainable sanitation for all at the earliest, possibly by the year 2019.
• Mitigate gender-based sanitation insecurity directly related to FSSM, reducing the experience of health burdens, structural violence, and promote involvement of both genders in the planning for and design of sanitation infrastructure.

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1690414

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