Jan Bhagidari can turn a disease-control programme into a people's movement. Critically analyse with reference to the TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan.

Jan Bhagidari turns TB control from a service run only by government clinics into a responsibility that society shares. The Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan (2022) built this into the programme through Ni-kshay Mitras, who adopt TB patients [1]. It has widened the programme's reach. But a real movement must also stop TB from spreading and keep going without help.

How Jan Bhagidari builds a people's movement

• Community adoption: individuals, co-operatives, corporates and NGOs give patients nutritional, diagnostic and vocational support, drawing on CSR funds [1]. By March 2026, 6.77 lakh Ni-kshay Mitras had given out more than 45 lakh food baskets [2].
• Youth mobilisation: JOSH Teams work at block and ward level. Each has a Class-I officer, 5 NCC cadets and 5 MY Bharat volunteers [3], and they take awareness campaigns down to the grassroots.
• Local institutions: PRIs, urban local bodies and private providers supported the 100-day campaigns, which screened more than 25 crore people. 14.97 lakh of the people found to have TB had no symptoms [4].
• Better outcomes: treatment coverage rose from 53% (2015) to 92% (2024) [5]. TB deaths fell 38% against 35% globally, and 94% of drug-susceptible patients were treated successfully [4].

Limits of the people's-movement claim

• Campaign mode: volunteers are mobilised in 100-day bursts. TB keeps spreading between drives.
• Incidence lags behind: new cases fell only about 21% (237→187 per lakh, 2015–24) [5]. The End TB Strategy aims for an 80% cut by 2030 [6]. Participation is saving lives faster than it is stopping spread.
• Unmeasured protection: the End TB Strategy requires that no TB-affected family faces catastrophic costs [6]. The headline figures do not show whether charity-based support achieves this.
• Uneven, voluntary support: help depends on local donors' goodwill. Volunteers cannot replace health workers or treat drug-resistant TB, which the 94% figure does not cover [4].
• The state is still the backbone: 96% of programme funding is domestic public money [4].

Way forward

• Turn the campaigns into year-round AI chest X-ray screening at Ayushman Arogya Mandirs.
• Track Ni-kshay Mitra support at PRI level on the Ni-kshay portal.
• Publish incidence and catastrophic-cost data every year as headline measures.

Jan Bhagidari has given TB control a social base, and both detection and survival have clearly improved. With steady public funding and honest reporting of new cases, it can grow from a mobilisation drive into a lasting people's movement. That would move India towards SDG 3.3 and the Article 47 duty to improve public health.