The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs gave the nod for more than doubling the amount for construction of individual household latrines from the existing Rs.4600 to nearly 10,000 rupees and also scrapped the distinction of BPL/APL families to achieve the total sanitation target in the country in the next 10 years. 

The increase is in line with realistic estimates of construction, with many states having complained that the grants were inadequate. 

Under the revised scheme, toilets will be built using Rs.3, 200 from the Centre and Rs.1, 400 from the State government. The homeowner will contribute Rs.900, while the remaining Rs.4, 500 will be leveraged through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. The NBA scheme will no longer be restricted to families below the official poverty line. 

The Total sanitation campaign, rechristened Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan, aims to promote use of toilets in the countryside to bring down open defecation that is linked to lack of hygiene. 

The Centre has also decided not to allow houses under rural housing scheme 'Indira Awas Yojana' (IAY) without toilets. It implies that allocation of funds for construction of an IAY house would compulsorily be accompanied by construction of a toilet. 

The scheme brings solid and liquid waste management - usually found only in cities - to the rural landscape for the first time. Gram panchayats will receive anywhere between Rs.7 lakh and Rs.20 lakh for this.

Of the 2.4 lakh gram panchayats in the country, only 24,000 - less than 10 per cent - are completely free of open defecation. 

According to a recent report by UNICEF 63.8 crore people, that is, 54 percent of the country's population, practice open defecation due to inadequate sanitation. According to another report, the economic impact of inadequate sanitation costs India about Rs. 2.4 trillion or about 6.4 per of its gross domestic product. Diarrhoea alone claims four lakh lives annually, of which 90 percent are children.

Only five states in India - Kerala, Sikkim, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Maharashtra – are doing well in sanitation. Uttar Pradesh alone accounts for 10 percent of population that suffers on account of inadequate sanitation.

Sikkim has become the first Nirmal Rajya ( that is hundred percent open defecation free) and this year Kerala and Himachal Pradesh will also follow suit, while Haryana has resolved to achieve the target in next two years, Punjab in next five years, and the rest of the states in 10 years time.

The Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) was launched in April 1999 and at present is being implemented in 572 districts, spanning 30 States and UTs of the country. 

The programme seeks to improve the quality of life in rural areas through accelerated rural sanitation. To add vigor to the TSC, in June 2003, the government initiated an incentive scheme called the ‘Nirmal Gram Puraskar' (NGP) for fully sanitized and open defecation-free Gram Panchayats, Blocks, and Districts. 

A "Nirmal Gram" is an "Open Defecation Free" village where all houses, Schools and Anganwadis having sanitary toilets and awareness amongst community on the importance of maintaining personal and community hygiene and clean environment.