Investing in people or human development plays a crucial role in a country’s development.  The human resource of a country is one of the important assets of growth.  In combination with policies that promote sustainable growth, investing in people and the provision of social-safety nets alleviate some of the most severe consequences of poverty and ill health.   It increases the chances of improving the well-being of the human population.  Evidences continue to show that investments in health, nutrition and education contribute to individual productivity, higher standard of living and, in aggregate to attain sustained economic growth.  It is the combination of good economics and the reduction of human sufferings that makes investments in human development a powerful tool of increasing human capabilities and thereby aspiring for economic growth.  In a populous country like India, there is a need for the government to extend all its support and encouragement for the development of human capabilities.  One such initiative taken up by the government to improve the health conditions of human population is Swachh Bharat Mission, which aims to target sanitation problem that persists in India, which is also one of the sustainable Development Goals. This programme is, perhaps, the largest cleanliness drive as well as an attempt to effect behavioural change in the world ever. Even 67 years after India’s independence, in 2014, around 100 million rural and about 10 million urban households in India were without a sanitary toilet; over 564 million, i.e. close to half the population, still practiced open defecation.    It is in this backdrop the study tries to explore and analyse the Swachh Bharat Mission as a tool for development of human resource which would have a great impact on health and sanitation in the long term development of the country.  The study is based on secondary data and descriptive in nature. 

KEY WORDS: Health, investment, development, Swachh Bharat Mission