The Government of India has accorded a high priority to the Sanitation Sector. In the 12th Plan an outlay of Rs. 34,377 crores has been provided for rural sanitation as compared to Rs. 6540 crores in the 11th Plan, which is a significantly higher allocation (425% higher than the 11th Plan). The goal is to achieve 100% access to sanitation for all rural households in the Country by 2022 under the NBA. Also as per 12th plan objectives of NBA, 50% of all the Gram Panchayats are to become Nirmal Grams by 2017.

Government of India started the Central Rural Sanitation Programme (CRSP) in 1986 to provide sanitation facilities in rural areas. It was simply a supply driven, highly subsidy and infrastructure oriented programme. As a result of deficiencies and low financial allocations, the CRSP had very little impact on the gargantuan problem. The experience of community -driven, awareness-generating campaign based programme in some states and the results of evaluation of CRSP, led to the formulation of Total Sanitation Campaign ( TSC) approach in 1999.The TSC was started as a demand driven, community-led programme with major IEC inputs to make sanitation a felt need of the people.

As per the Twelfth Plan Working Group recommendation, the APL-BPL distinction and the very low incentive under the TSC have played havoc with the programme. Many slip-backs in the NGP villages have been attributed to non-availability of water, clearly indicating need to synergize the drinking water and sanitation programme.

Owing to above and to accelerate the progress of sanitation in rural areas, The Government of India has revamped the Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) as the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (NBA) in the XIIth Five Year Plan. NBA is currently being implemented in 607 rural districts across the country. NBA envisages covering the entire community for saturated outcomes with a view to create Nirmal Gram Panchayats.