Content
- Launch of Sampoornata Abhiyan 2.0
- Solid Waste Management Rules, 2026
Launch of Sampoornata Abhiyan 2.0
Why in News?
- NITI Aayog launched Sampoornata Abhiyan 2.0 on 28 January 2026 as a time-bound national campaign to saturate critical development indicators in Aspirational Districts and Blocks.
Relevance
- GS Paper I (Society):
Nutrition, sanitation, education access in backward regions; women and children welfare via Anganwadi services, girls’ toilets, maternal and child health indicators. - GS Paper II (Governance):
Outcome-based governance, KPI-driven monitoring, cooperative federalism through district-led implementation under NITI Aayog, strengthening last-mile public service delivery.
What is Sampoornata Abhiyan 2.0?
- Sampoornata Abhiyan 2.0 is a three-month focused governance drive from 28 January to 14 April 2026, aiming to achieve last-mile saturation of selected KPIs through intensive monitoring and convergence.
Administrative & Governance Framework
- The campaign operates under the Aspirational Districts and Blocks Programme, leveraging district collectors, block officials, and state planning departments for cooperative federalism-based, outcome-oriented governance.
Coverage and Scale
- The initiative targets 112 Aspirational Districts and 513 Aspirational Blocks nationwide, focusing on underserved and remote regions with persistent human development, service delivery, and infrastructure gaps.
Key Performance Indicators for Aspirational Blocks (6 Indicators)
Supplementary Nutrition under ICDS
- Focuses on increasing regular supplementary nutrition intake among children aged 6 months to 6 years, addressing chronic malnutrition through strengthened Anganwadi outreach and beneficiary tracking mechanisms.
Measurement Efficiency at Anganwadi Centres
- Aims to improve monthly anthropometric measurement efficiency of enrolled children, ensuring timely identification of stunting, wasting, and underweight conditions for targeted nutrition interventions.
Functional Toilets in Anganwadi Centres
- Seeks 100% functional toilet coverage in operational Anganwadis to improve hygiene standards, dignity for women and children, and utilisation of early childhood care services.
Drinking Water Availability in Anganwadis
- Targets universal safe drinking water facilities in operational Anganwadis, supporting nutrition absorption, hygiene practices, and prevention of water-borne diseases.
Girls’ Toilets in Schools
- Emphasises adequate functional girls’ toilets in schools to reduce dropout rates, improve attendance, and support menstrual hygiene management among adolescent girls.
Bovine Vaccination against FMD
- Focuses on increasing Foot-and-Mouth Disease vaccination coverage among bovine animals to protect livestock health, dairy productivity, and rural household incomes.
KPIs for Aspirational Districts (5 Indicators)
Live Birth Weight Recording
- Aims to improve the proportion of live babies weighed at birth, strengthening neonatal care, maternal health monitoring, and early detection of low birth weight risks.
Tuberculosis Case Notification Rate
- Targets enhanced TB case notification from public and private healthcare facilities, bridging detection gaps against estimated cases and supporting India’s TB elimination goals.
VHSND / UHSND Coverage
- Focuses on ensuring at least one Village or Urban Health, Sanitation and Nutrition Day per month, strengthening preventive healthcare and community nutrition outreach.
Functional Girls’ Toilets in Schools
- Reinforces universal functionality of girls’ toilets at district level schools, aligning education outcomes with gender equity and dignity-based infrastructure standards.
Animal Vaccination Coverage
- Seeks district-wide saturation of animal vaccination, reducing disease outbreaks, stabilising rural livelihoods, and strengthening agricultural and allied sector resilience.
Implementation Strategy
Planning and Monitoring
- Districts and Blocks will prepare three-month indicator-wise action plans, track monthly saturation progress, and use real-time data dashboards for performance-based administrative review.
Behaviour Change and Outreach
- Emphasises IEC and behaviour change campaigns to improve community participation, service uptake, and awareness regarding nutrition, health, sanitation, education, and animal welfare.
Field-Level Accountability
- District-level officers will conduct concurrent field visits and inspections, ensuring on-ground verification, mid-course correction, and administrative accountability during campaign implementation.
Aspirational Districts and Blocks Programme – Background
Aspirational Districts Programme (ADP)
- Launched in January 2018, ADP targets 112 underdeveloped districts, monitoring progress across 49 indicators spanning health, nutrition, education, agriculture, financial inclusion, and infrastructure.
Aspirational Blocks Programme (ABP)
- Launched in January 2023, ABP extends the aspirational framework to 513 blocks across 329 districts, tracking 40 indicators for deeper last-mile service delivery.
Conclusion
- Sampoornata Abhiyan 2.0 marks a shift from incremental improvement to saturation-based governance, strengthening last-mile delivery of nutrition, health, sanitation, and education in India’s most backward regions.
- By institutionalising district-led execution, real-time monitoring, and cooperative federalism under NITI Aayog, it advances inclusive growth and outcome-oriented public administration.
Solid Waste Management Rules, 2026
Why in News?
- Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change notified the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2026 on 28 January 2026, replacing SWM Rules 2016, effective from 1 April 2026.
Relevance
- GS Paper I (Urbanisation):
Urban sanitation challenges, sustainable cities, waste management pressures in hilly and island regions due to tourism. - GS Paper III (Environment & Infrastructure):
Solid waste management reforms, circular economy, EPR and EBWGR, landfill restrictions, RDF-based waste-to-energy, urban infrastructure and land-use reforms.
Legal and Policy Basis
- The rules are notified under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, integrating Circular Economy, Extended Producer Responsibility, and Polluter Pays Principle into India’s municipal solid waste governance framework.
Key Objectives of SWM Rules, 2026
- Aim to strengthen source segregation, reduce landfill dependency, improve recycling and energy recovery, ensure accountability of bulk generators, and enable digitally monitored, compliance-driven waste management systems.
Mandatory Four-Stream Segregation at Source
Wet Waste
- Includes kitchen waste, vegetable and fruit peels, meat, and flowers, mandatorily processed through composting or bio-methanation at the nearest authorised facility to reduce landfill load.
Dry Waste
- Comprises plastic, paper, metal, glass, wood, and rubber, required to be transported to Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs) for sorting, recycling, and integration into the circular economy.
Sanitary Waste
- Includes used diapers, sanitary napkins, tampons, and condoms, which must be securely wrapped, stored separately, and handled through authorised collection and disposal mechanisms.
Special Care Waste
- Covers paint containers, bulbs, mercury thermometers, expired medicines, and hazardous household items, to be collected by authorised agencies or deposited at designated collection centres.
Bulk Waste Generators (BWGs)
- Bulk Waste Generators are entities with ≥20,000 square metres floor area, ≥40,000 litres/day water consumption, or ≥100 kg/day solid waste generation, including institutions, PSUs, and housing societies.
Responsibilities of Bulk Waste Generators
- BWGs must ensure environmentally sound collection, transportation, and processing of their waste, reducing pressure on Urban Local Bodies and promoting decentralised waste management models.
Extended Bulk Waste Generator Responsibility (EBWGR)
Core Provisions
- BWGs are accountable for waste generated by them, required to process wet waste on-site or obtain an EBWGR certificate where on-site processing is technically infeasible.
Governance Significance
- EBWGR targets bulk generators contributing nearly 30% of total solid waste, improving compliance, decentralisation, and accountability in urban waste management systems.
Compliance, Penalties and Monitoring
Environmental Compensation – Polluter Pays Principle
- The rules enable levy of environmental compensation for non-compliance, including operating without registration, false reporting, forged documents, or improper waste management practices.
Institutional Enforcement Framework
- Central Pollution Control Board will issue compensation guidelines, while State Pollution Control Boards and PCCs will assess and levy penalties.
Centralised Online Monitoring Portal
- A national portal will digitally track waste generation, collection, transportation, processing, disposal, and biomining of legacy dumpsites, replacing fragmented physical reporting systems.
Mandatory Audits and Reporting
- All waste processing facilities must undergo regular audits, with audit reports mandatorily uploaded on the central portal, strengthening transparency, compliance, and data-driven regulation.
Infrastructure and Land Use Reforms
Faster Land Allocation for Waste Facilities
- The rules introduce graded buffer zone norms for facilities exceeding 5 tonnes per day capacity, enabling faster land allocation while balancing environmental safeguards.
CPCB Guidelines on Buffer Zones
- CPCB will prescribe buffer zone size and permissible activities based on installed capacity and pollution load, reducing land-use disputes and project delays.
Role of Local Bodies and MRFs
Duties of Urban and Rural Local Bodies
- Local bodies are responsible for collection, segregation, and transportation of waste, coordinated with MRFs, including special waste streams such as e-waste and sanitary waste.
Formal Recognition of MRFs
- Material Recovery Facilities are formally recognised as sorting and deposition centres, strengthening recycling efficiency and integrating informal waste workers into formal systems.
Carbon Credit Generation
- Local bodies are encouraged to generate carbon credits through improved waste processing, aligning municipal waste management with India’s climate mitigation commitments.
Industrial Use of Waste and Energy Recovery
Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) Mandate
- RDF is defined as fuel from high-calorific non-recyclable waste, and industries using solid fuels must progressively replace them with RDF.
Fuel Substitution Targets
- RDF usage mandates increase from 5% to 15% over six years, promoting waste-to-energy integration, reducing fossil fuel dependence, and improving waste utilisation.
Landfilling Restrictions and Legacy Waste
Restrictions on Landfilling
- Landfills are strictly limited to non-recyclable, non-energy recoverable, and inert waste, discouraging disposal of mixed or unsegregated waste.
Differential Landfill Fees
- Higher landfill fees are imposed for unsegregated waste, making segregation, processing, and recycling economically preferable for local bodies.
Legacy Waste Remediation
- Mandatory mapping, assessment, biomining, and bioremediation of legacy dumpsites with quarterly online reporting, overseen by District Collectors and SPCBs.
Special Provisions for Hilly Areas and Islands
Tourist-Linked Waste Management
- Local bodies may levy user fees on tourists and regulate tourist inflows based on waste management capacity to protect ecologically fragile regions.
Decentralised Processing
- Hotels and restaurants in hilly and island areas must undertake on-site wet waste processing, reducing transportation burdens and environmental risks.
Institutional Oversight Mechanism
Central and State-Level Committees
- The rules mandate Central and State/UT Committees, with State committees chaired by Chief Secretaries, to recommend measures for effective and uniform implementation.
Conclusion
- The SWM Rules, 2026 embed circular economy, polluter pays principle, and digital compliance, transforming solid waste management from a municipal service issue into a structured environmental governance framework.
- With strict segregation, bulk generator accountability, RDF mandates, and legacy waste remediation, the rules align urbanisation, industrial growth, and environmental sustainability with India’s climate and SDG commitments.
