A/HRC/45/10/Add.2 25. Two years after the visit, the Prime Minister of India declared that the country was open defecation free in October 2019.7 While monitoring the numbers and distribution of cities and villages that declare themselves open defecation free is a key part of tracking the success of the Clean India Mission, independent verification is crucial. An impact assessment of the Clean India Mission conducted by UNICEF in 2020 found that 98 per cent of cities declared themselves to be open defecation free (ODF), but of the 4,311 self-declared ODF cities, only 3,876 were certified to be ODF by an independent verification agency. 8 Furthermore, media reports continue to raise questions whether several people across India still defecate in the open due to lack of access to toilets. 26. Subsequent to the Clean India Mission, under the purview of the Department of the Drinking Water and Sanitation of the Ministry of Jal Shakti, the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) was launched in 2019 to provide 100 per cent of households in the rural areas in India. Monitoring for the JJM follows the structure of monitoring the Clean India Mission, under which Gram Panchayat officials (village officials) are required to record the number of latrines built per household, open defecation practices, and planning and informational activities, on a monthly basis. This data is to be uploaded to the IMIS, a country-wide online database, for progress reports to be collated at a district and state level.9 Similarly, the JJM Operational Guidelines request Gram Panchayat to monitor the progress of the water scheme by using indicators such as households with taps, the number of available water quality testing kits, . This data is to be uploaded to the JJM IMIS, a separate database to the Clean India Mission IMIS. 27. While the ambitious aim of the JJM is welcome, the Special Rapporteur raises three concerns. First, exercise of monitoring the implementation of JJM should not be focused on a counting exercise. The monitoring procedures for both the Clean India Mission and JJM differ in terms of focus – taps as opposed to toilets – but follow the same aim: the compilation of community-level statistics about access to water and sanitation by counting the number of facilities. This provides an incomplete picture as it does not provide contextual information regarding the use of these facilities in practice, nor does it monitor access to facilities by persons with specific needs. More specific criteria are needed to ensure that the normative content of the human rights to water and sanitation – especially those of acceptability and accessibility - are fully taken into account in the JJM. 28. Second, the Special Rapporteur is concerned that the focus of monitoring under the JJM, namely on taps in households, fails to address access to water and sanitation in spheres beyond the household (see section V). The Special Rapporteur encourages the Government to include monitoring of provision in public spaces as part of the JJM so that the invisible population not counted under the criteria of formal housing can be included. 29. Thirdly, while community participation should indeed be encouraged, he notes that community-led monitoring occurs as a condition for receiving funding and financial incentives for successful implementation.10 Such practice presents risks for possible abusive practices (see recommendations 8 and 9 below). PROGRESS ON-GOING: The Special Rapporteur welcomes the Government’s commitment and efforts to achieve universal access to water and sanitation through its national policy on water and sanitation (Clean Mission India and the newly launched Jal Jeevan Mission). However, he reiterates that the human rights to water and sanitation should not be reduced to a mere counting exercise and that national monitoring be complemented with an assessment from a human rights perspective. 7 8 9 10 Government of India, Press Release (3 October 2019). UNICEF, National Economic Impact Evaluation of Swachh Bharat Mission (2020), 8. Guidelines for Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin), 41. Jal Jeevan Mission Operational Guidelines, (2019), 64. 7