Abstract:
In 2014, the Government of India has launched the Swachh Bharat Mission, the
sanitation scheme, to end practise of the open defecation across India by increasing the
accessibility of toilets. However, increasing the sanitation coverage would not ensure
the usage of the toilets. The problem of non-usage of the toilet is not financial; it is
social, religious, and cultural. To overcome these behaviour barriers the sanitation
scheme has a behaviour change component. This dissertation, using the quasiexperimental research design, aims to study the effectiveness of the scheme and the
efficacy of Behaviour Change Communication interventions to change the behaviour
of the household towards the usage of the toilet. The critical analysis of the primary
data collected from four panchayats of District Agra, Uttar Pradesh shows that the
behaviour change component of the scheme has significantly influenced the owner to
use the toilet. Also, there are some other behaviour factors and messages which can
motivate a person to stop defecating in the open.
