NAMASTE SCHEME - GOVERNANCE

News: Budget 2023 | Finance Minister pitches for 100% switch to mechanized sewer cleaning in all cities and towns

 

What's in the news?

       Coming in with a nearly ₹100 crore allocation in this year’s Budget for the newly christened NAMASTE (National Action Plan for Mechanized Sanitation Ecosystem) scheme, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said that the Union government is looking to enable 100% mechanical desludging of septic tanks and sewers in all cities and towns.

 

NAMASTE Scheme:

       It provides to enable 100% mechanical desludging of septic tanks and sewers in all cities and towns.

 

Administrative Control: Ministry of Social Justice.

 

Aim:

       To transition from manhole to machine-hole mode.

       Enhanced focus will be provided for scientific management of dry and wet waste.

 

Features:

       It subsumes the already existing Self Employment Scheme for Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers (SRMS).

       The goal was to eliminate hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks.

       The Social Justice Ministry intends to first enumerate the number of people engaged in hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks across 500 AMRUT cities (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation) and then proceed with its plans.

       The NAMASTE scheme, among other things, provides for capital subsidies to sewer cleaners on the purchase of sanitation machinery, training of workers with a stipend amount, and loan subsidies with capped interest rates on sanitation equipment.