Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently met Nobel Laureate Richard Thaler, the man whose Nudge Theory laid the foundation for India’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and ‘Give It Up’ initiative. “Interacted with Nobel laureate Richard Thaler. Got to know interesting aspects of his work. We also discussed aspects relating to Nudge Theory and how nudging on cleanliness, ‘Give It Up’ and digital transactions has led to immense transformations in India,” PM Modi tweeted. India’s social change programs draw inspiration from the Nudge Theory proposed by Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler.
In the Economic Survey 2019, the government described its social change programs such as the Swachh Bharat Mission. Behaviour changes bring in social change, the Economic Survey had said, adding that the same will help India become a $5 trillion economy by 2024-25. Swachh Bharat Mission uses ‘Prospect Theory’ in Behavioural Economics. “By highlighting the ill effects of poor sanitation and number of deaths it causes through a well-coordinated communication strategy, Swachh Bharat Mission was able to impact behaviours of millions, especially in rural areas,” Bibey Debroy, Chairman, PMEAC and Sajeesh Kumar N, Director, Ministry of Railways, wrote in the Financial Express in October 2019.
The government also deployed ‘Fresh Start Effect’ under its SBM and organised ‘Swachhata Divas’ and ‘Swachhata Pakhwadas’. The same helped the government to persuade people to think about the future instead of favouring decisions which will help them in the present. Other than Swacch Bharat Mission, many other government initiatives have also taken help of Behavioural Change and successfully deployed them to Jan Dhan Yojana, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao initiatives, among others.
Meanwhile, the success of PM Narendra Modi’s Swachh Bharat Mission and other government schemes has boosted India’s performance in Sustainable Development Index 2019. While the overall performance of the country fell from last year’s performance, India is still inching closer to the UN’s sustainability for all dream, a government official said. Government schemes such as Poshan Abhiyaan (National Nutrition Mission), Aayushman Bharat (National Health Protection Scheme), and Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (Care for the Girl Child) are helping achieve the UN target, Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, National Institution for Transforming India, said in the SDG 2019 report. He added that Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and Ujjwala Yojana, particularly helped make some improvement in goals ‘clean water and sanitation’ and ‘affordable and clean energy’.
