Study on the perception of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and attitude towards cleanliness among the residents of urban Jodhpur.

CONTEXT: Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (SBA) is an ambitious project and has been successful in bringing a difference at the facility and infrastructure level, and the objectives of this programme can be achieved if people are aware of this mission and basic sanitation and waste management practices. AIMS: To assess awareness and perception of SBA and attitude towards cleanliness among the residents of urban Jodhpur. SETTINGS AND
DESIGN: A cross-sectional survey was done in the largest mixed-income housing society of Jodhpur. METHODS AND MATERIALS: A semi-structured questionnaire was designed for data collection. Sample size was 400. Participants aged above 18 years were included in the study. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Descriptive and inferential statistical analysis was done using Epi Info Version 7.1. The data were evaluated using Chi-square test and P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
RESULTS: Mean age of female participants were 30.02 ± 11.34 years and male participants were 34.92 ± 13.10 years. Mean perception about SBA for being able to communicate the importance of cleanliness was 4.8, i.e. lying between strongly agree and agree. No significant association was observed between educational status and attitude towards cleanliness (P < 0.005). A significant association was seen between gender and knowledge about SBA in terms of correctly mentioning the duration of the SBA programme (P > 0.005).
CONCLUSIONS: Existing knowledge about SBA and perception towards cleanliness among participants were positive but still there is need of programmes and strategies that help in bringing positive behaviour among group of people who are reluctant towards adopting proper cleanliness, sanitation and hygiene practices. Copyright:

Introduction

Honourable Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi ideated and initiated the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (SBA) on 2 October 2014, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat, New Delhi.[1] This programme aims at contributing towards universal cleanliness, sanitation and hygienic India. This movement has well-defined guidelines and has two sub-missions—the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin/Rural) and the Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban).[2]

The objectives of urban SBA are the elimination of open defecation; eradication of manual scavenging; modern and scientific municipal solid waste management; bringing positive behavioural changes regarding healthy sanitation practices; generating awareness about sanitation and its linkage with public health and capacity augmentation for urban local bodies (ULBs) to create an enabling environment for private sector participation in capital expenditure (CapEx) and operation and maintenance expenditure (opex).[3]

As citizens of India are the key stakeholders in determining the success of this programme, various government and non-government agencies are promoting the SBA and motivating people for their active participation.[4] SBA is an ambitious project and has been successful in bringing difference at facility and infrastructure level, but all the objectives of this programme can be achieved only if people are aware of this mission and have correct attitude towards basic sanitation and waste management.[56] There is paucity of studies in the western part of Rajasthan that assess the attitude of citizens towards cleanliness and sanitation practices. So, in this context, this study was conducted with the objective to assess awareness and perception of SBA and attitude towards cleanliness among the residents of urban Jodhpur.

Subjects and Methods

This study was conducted in the largest mixed-income housing society in Jodhpur city. A cross-sectional survey was done using a mobile application (mHealth tools) Epicollect5.[7] A semi-structured questionnaire based on the objective of the study was designed after relevant literature review. This study was carried out in 2018. Prior to the survey, informed consent was obtained from the study participants. Considering prevalence 50% (based on literature review), margin of error 5%, and confidence level 95%, the sample size was calculated to be 400 using the following formula:

Piloting was conducted involving 20 subjects to check the feasibility of the study. The data collection period for the study was 3 months. Physically and mentally sound participants (male and female) aged above 18 years were included in the study. The exclusion criteria were, age below 18 years; ill and moribund patients and unwillingness to participate in the study. Data were entered in Microsoft Excel 2016. Descriptive and inferential statistical analysis was done using Epi Info Version 7.1. The data were evaluated using Chi-square test and P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results

After considering the selection criteria as laid down in methodology, a total of 400 participants were interviewed from selected largest housing society (Kudi Housing Board) of Jodhpur City. The study participants consisted of 250 (62.50%) males and 150 (37.50%) females. Mean age of female participants were 30.02 ± 11.34 years and male participants were 34.92 ± 13.10 years.

For the study purpose, participants were categorised by age into young adults (18–35 years), middle-aged adults (36–55 years) and older adults (older than 55 years). Modified BG Prasad socioeconomic classification was considered for stratifying participants based on income groups. Most of the participants [156 (39%)] were from middle-income group and had a good educational status [213 (53.25%)]. Table 1 provides detailed socio-demographic characteristics of the study participants.

Table 1

Socio-demographic characteristics of study participants

Socio-demographic Characteristics	n (400)	n (%)
1. Gender
Male	250	62.50
Female	150	37.50
2. Age
Young Adult (18–35)	256	64.00
Middle Aged Adult (36–55)	126	31.50
Older than 55 year	18	4.50
3. Education
Illiterate	22	5.50
Primary	33	8.25
Secondary	66	16.50
Graduate	213	53.25
Post-Graduate	66	16.50
4. Socio-economic Class
I. (Upper Class)	12	3.00
II. (Upper Middle Class)	62	15.50
III. (Middle Class)	156	39.00
IV. (Lower Middle Class)	88	22.00
V. (Lower Class)	82	20.50

Awareness and perception of SBA were assessed in this study. Out of all the male participants (n = 250), majority of the males—243 (97.20%)—had heard about SBA and out of all female participants (n = 150) majority of female—142 (94.66%)—had heard about SBA. Out of all study participants (n = 400), 55.13% and 44.87% correctly mentioned the name of the ministry responsible for SBA rural and urban, respectively. Figure 1 shows awareness among males and females about SBA.

Figure 1

Awareness among males and females about SBA

Out of all study participants, a majority (n = 44.00%) strongly agreed that contribution at individual level is important in SBA. Mean perception about SBA for being able to communicate the importance of cleanliness was 4.8, i.e. lying between strongly agree and agree. Table 2 shows the distribution of study participants according to their perception of SBA.

Table 2

Distribution of study participants according to the perception about SBA (n=400)

Questions	Strongly Agree	Agree	Undecided	Disagree	Strongly Disagree	Mean
Contribution at individual level is important in SBA.	44.00%	38.00%	9.75%	4.25%	4.00%	4.9
SBA is able to communicate the importance of cleanliness	37.00%	43.50%	11.00%	5.75%	2.75%	4.8
SBA has contribute towards clean India	40.00%	40.00%	12.50%	7.00%	0.50%	4.7
Your participation in SBA activities is important	69.80%	22.00%	4.10%	3.00%	1.10%	4.9

SBA=Swachh Bharat Abhiyan

Table 3 illustrates that good proportion of people, (n= 136 [40.75%]), were disposing the waste in garbage most of the times. Mean for sorting waste before disposing was 3.1., i.e. lying between all the times and most of the times.

Table 3

Attitude of study participants towards cleanliness

Questions	All the time	Most of the times	Sometimes	Never	Mean
I always throw waste into the garbage bin	36.25%	40.75%	18.25%	4.75%	3.9
I sort my waste before disposing it off.	33.00%	35.00%	19.75%	12.25%	3.1
I collect and burn my waste	23.00%	21.25%	31.25%	24.50%	3.5
I dispose waste at authorised place.	31.50%	26.50%	22.00%	20.00%	3.4
I provide my own trash bin for use.	36.50%	33.75%	21.00%	8.75%	3.2
I report to authorities when I notice litter surrounding my community.	29.50%	29.25%	21.00%	12.75%	3.3
I give a piece of advice to people who litter.	36.25%	27.00%	28.00%	8.75%	3.0

Table 4 shows the association of knowledge about SBA and attitude towards cleanliness across gender (males and females) and educational status (primary and below and secondary and above). There was no significant association between educational status and attitude towards cleanliness (P > 0.005). A significant association was seen between gender and knowledge about SBA in terms of correctly mentioning duration of SBA programme (P < 0.005).

Table 4

Association of knowledge about SBA and attitude towards cleanliness across gender and educational status

Variables	Knowledge about SBA						Attitude towards Cleanliness
	Heard about SBA		Correctly mention ministry responsible for SBA (Urban)		Correctly mention the duration of the SBA program		Always throw waste into the garbage bin		Sort waste before disposing it off		Motivate people to throw waste into the garbage bin
	X2	P	X2	P	X2	P	X2	P	X2	P	X2	P
Gender	0.03	0.85	4.67	0.03	7.45	0.00	0.23	0.62	1.15	0.28	0.64	0.42
Male (250)
Female (150)
Educational Status	0.95	0.32	0.18	0.66	3.01	0.08	1.61	0.20	1.35	0.24	1.10	0.29
Primary and Below (55)
Secondary and Above (345)

SBA=Swachh Bharat Abhiyan

Discussion

In this study, most (n = 400 [64.00%]) of the participants were young adults (18–35 years age group) and the mean age of participants was around 26 years. The youth population has an important role to play as it contributes to the development of the nation. According to a United Nations (UN) report, India has the world's largest youth population, despite having lesser population than China, and the future of India, health and wealth largely depend on this population.[8] Youths are builders and leaders of the future but that is true only if they have skill, knowledge, decision-making skills and a positive attitude in life. This study shows that awareness about SBA was considerably good as many respondents, 34.50% and 24.25%, correctly mentioned the ministry responsible for SBA Rural and Urban, respectively. It was evident in the study that awareness among youth and general population about SBA was high, this shows that awareness about SBA is increasing as compared to studies done in past.[9] This might be attributed to the success of various campaigns and motivational programmes conducted by various government and non-government agencies for sensitising people about SBA.

Regarding perception about SBA, a majority (82.00%) of the respondents agreed that SBA has contributed towards a cleaner India, and they realised that contribution at individual level is important for the success of the SBA programme. This shows that participants have positive perception of SBA, which is also in consonance with other similar studies done in other states of India.[10]

A significant association was seen between gender (males and females) and knowledge about SBA in terms of correctly mentioning the duration of SBA programme (P < 0.005). So gender-targeted programmes specially designed for males and females can be promoted for better outcomes in terms of increasing sensitisation among mass community.

The mean attitudes of study population towards cleanliness was between 3 to 4, which shows that participants behaviour involving cleanliness practices was positive and that people were even proactive in terms of providing advice to others when spreading of garbage was 36.50% (all the time) and 33.75% (most of the time). The findings of the study reflect that though there is a positive attitude towards cleanliness among study participants, still efforts are needed for emphasising the importance of cleanliness among a chunk of community inhabitants, as 23% still do not prefer to throw the waste into garbage bin and 58.75% do not dispose waste at authorised place. The previous study reported that 61% participants were utilising garbage bin for throwing waste[11] and current study shows that 77% throw garbage in the bin, which indicates that attitude towards cleanliness has increased, and we need to reinforce the community to adopt cleanliness.

Our study was limited to one geographic urban location; hence, the study cannot be generalised to the entire city. Further, these types of studies are required to be conducted at multiple geographic location so that the results can be generalised to the entire city and to the other parts of western Rajasthan.

It can be concluded that existing knowledge about SBA and perception towards cleanliness among participants is positive but still there is a need of programmes and strategies that help in bringing positive behaviour among a group of people who are reluctant towards adopting proper cleanliness, sanitation and hygiene practices. Cleanliness can be seen as a key to preventing diseases. An unclean environment can lead to spread of many diseases. SBA aims at preventive healthcare as it helps us maintain a clean environment and has the potential to support essential components of primary health by sustaining basic sanitation and preventing epidemics.[1213] So, the SBA programme should be continued as “Jan Abhiyan” because people of India seem to be motivated, which will aid in achieving dedicated universal cleanliness, sanitation and hygiene in the country.

Financial support and sponsorship

Nil.

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.