The World Bank has approved a $1.5 billion (nearly Rs 10,036.5 crore) loan for the ambitious Clean India campaign to support the Indian government in its efforts to ensure all citizens in rural areas have access to improved sanitation and to end the practice of open defecation by 2019. As per World Bank statistics, of the 2.4 billion people who lack access to improved sanitation globally, more than 750 million live in India, with 80% living in rural areas. More than 500 million of the rural population in India continue to defecate in the open, suffering from preventable deaths, illness, stunting, harassment and economic losses.

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