GOBARdhan Scheme

The GOBARdhan scheme, meaning Galvanizing Organic Bio-Agro Resources Dhan, promotes the productive management of cattle dung and other biodegradable rural waste. Its central idea is to convert this waste into clean energy and organic manure, while improving village sanitation and generating economic value.

Place within rural sanitation policy

GOBARdhan was announced in 2018 and is implemented by the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation under Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin. It supports biodegradable waste management, an important element of maintaining clean villages and advancing ODF Plus outcomes.

Core objectives

• It seeks to help villages safely collect and manage cattle dung, agricultural residues and other biodegradable waste, instead of allowing their uncontrolled accumulation or disposal.
• It promotes conversion of organic waste into biogas or compressed biogas and nutrient-rich organic manure, thereby turning waste into useful energy and agricultural inputs.
• It aims to improve village cleanliness, environmental sanitation and public health by reducing waste-related pollution and conditions favourable to disease vectors.
• It seeks to create additional rural income and livelihood opportunities through waste collection, plant operation and the productive use or sale of gas and manure.
• It supports a circular rural economy by recovering energy and nutrients from locally available biomass while reducing dependence on conventional fuels and chemical inputs.

Underlying approach

The scheme treats dung and organic residues as resources rather than refuse. By linking sanitation with waste-to-wealth and renewable energy, it combines rural cleanliness, resource recovery and local economic activity within one intervention.