Media coverage of swachh bharat abhiyan in mainstream dailies of India

The high voltage Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Campaign) laucnched by the Government of India in October 2014. has completed two and half years. One and half years of the dead-line remains for declared target to be achieved. High visibility ofthe campaign, ofcourse has, brought cleanliness to the centre stage ofthe public sphere discourses in the country. Meanwhile the government has claimed in May 2017 that over two lakh villages have become open defecation free. However, inadequate facilities to process the solid waste remain big challenges. Surveys indicate that conditions in cities has not improved substantially. Currently, about 80% ofthe total 1. 7 lakh tonnes of waste generated daily is dumped without processing. The use ofcity-waste generated compost remains at low level of only two lakh tonnes. Despite the government taking several initiatives including annual cleanliness surveys and social media campaigns focusing on behaviour change, there has been no significant improvement on the ground. This paper analyses the role of media, a key player in the campaign, in taking the message to the people, and impact of the campaign on the public attitude towards cleanliness.