To accelerate the efforts to achieve universal sanitation coverage and to put focus on sanitation, the Prime Minister of India had launched the Swachh Bharat Mission on 2nd October 2014. The mission was implemented as nation-wide campaign/Janandolan which aimed at eliminating open defecation in rural areas during the period 2014 to 2019 through mass scale behavior change, construction of household-owned and community-owned toilets and establishing mechanisms for monitoring toilet construction and usage.

Under the mission, all villages, Gram Panchayats, Districts, States and Union Territories in India declared themselves "open-defecation free" (ODF) by 2 October 2019, the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, by constructing over 100 million toilets in rural India.

To ensure that the open defecation free behaviours are sustained, no one is left behind, and that solid and liquid waste management facilities are accessible, the Mission is moving towards the next Phase II of SBMG i.e ODF-Plus. ODF Plus activities under Phase II of Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) will reinforce ODF behaviours and focus on providing interventions for safe management of solid and liquid waste in villages.

The aim of Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) phase II is to ensure the open defecation free behaviours are sustained

Open defecation free behaviours are sustained and no one is left behind. Solid and liquid waste management facilities are accessible and reinforcing ODF behaviours and focus on providing interventions for safe management of solid and liquid waste in villages To encourage cost effective and appropriate technologies for ecologically safe and sustainable sanitation. To develop, wherever required, community managed sanitation systems focusing on scientific Solid & Liquid Waste Management systems for overall cleanliness in the rural areas. To create significant positive impact on gender and promote social inclusion by improving sanitation especially in marginalized communities