NEW DELHI: The government plans to allocate dedicated funds to each ministry in the budget for 2017-18 as part of a big push to the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan or Clean India Mission. All government departments will have to make a special mention of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in their budget proposals and all ministries have been asked to finalise their ‘Swachhta Action Plan’ for the next two years in the next foursix weeks, officials said.“This is one of prime focus areas of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and he is monitoring it directly. For the next two years a separate budget allocation will be made under Swachh Bharat Mission to all ministries,” said a senior government official, who did not wish to be identified.The drinking water and sanitation ministry has been the nodal ministry for Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, driving the programme aimed at making India open defecation-free and ensuring supply of clean drinking water to all households.Next year’s budget will also see the launch of an ambitious scheme to improve drinking water availability in rural areas, officials said.The drinking water ministry is revamping the National Rural Drinking Water Programme to upgrade the scheme and increase its reach manifold.At present only 15% rural households have drinking water connection. The government has adopted the standard of providing 40 litres water per capita per day to all households. The allocation for the scheme in the budget for 2016-17 is Rs 5,000 crore compared to Rs 11,000 crore two years ago.“The 14th finance commission gave funds to states, due to which the budget has come down…but we are expecting a significant increase as this is a thrust area for the Prime Minister,” the official said.The government is also readying to launch a Swachh Village Index, a self-ranking system where all villages will assemble in an “aam sabha” or common gathering to assess their performance on four parameters – open defecation-free, garbage around households, public places and stagnant water.“We will do a sample check once in a year through a third party to verify the ranks,” the official said.In September the drinking water and sanitation department assessed all districts for accessibility to safe toilets and water for a nationwide ranking programme. While Sikkim topped the list under the Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin, Himachal, Kerala, Haryana and Uttarakhand also figured among top five states.