India News | Rs 1,894.85 Crore Incurred as IEC Expenditure Under Swachh Bharat Mission: Govt

New Delhi, Dec 16 (PTI) A sum of Rs 1,894.85 crore was incurred as Information, Education and Communications expenditure under Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) from 2014-15 to 2021-22, the Centre said on Thursday.

Information, Education and Communication (IEC) is a strategy to spread awareness through communication channels to target audience to achieve desired positive result.

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The Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) (SBM-G) was launched by the government on October 2, 2014 with the main aim to make the country open defecation free (ODF) by October 2, 2019, by providing access to toilets to all rural households.

Responding to a question in Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Jal Shakti, Prahlad Singh Patel said no specific funds have been earmarked under the mission for advertising the scheme.

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"However, under SBM (G) Phase-II, up to 5 per cent of total programme funds can be spent on IEC," he said in a written reply.

According to the data shared by him, an expense of Rs 1,894.85 crore has been incurred as IEC expenditure under SBM (G) from 2014-15 to 2021-22.

Responding to another question in Lok Sabha, Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said a scheme titled Repair, Renovation and Restoration (RRR) of Water Bodies is being implemented under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana - Har Khet Ko Pani (PMKSY - HKKP)

From XIIth Plan onwards, 2,218 water bodies with an estimated cost of about Rs 1,910 crore have been included under RRR of water bodies scheme from various states. Total expenditure reported on these projects till March, 2021 is Rs 963.82 crore, for which central assistance of Rs 469.68 crore has been released during this period, he said.

"Out of these 2,218 water bodies, work in 1,591 water bodies have been completed till March, 2021," Shekhawat said in a written response.

However, no proposal for projects pertaining to NCR or Jharkhand have been received for inclusion under the scheme, he added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)