Swachh Bharat Abhiyan: Cleanliness Drive Launched on Gandhi Jayanti
Swachh Bharat Abhiyan: Cleanliness Drive Launched on Gandhi Jayanti
The Swacch Bharat Abhiyan or Clean India drive was launched on the occasion of 2nd October, the birth date of Mahatma Gandhi, Father of the Nation. At 9:45 am, political leaders as well as officers and staff of various organisations, schools, colleges and universities took part in the Swacch Bharat Abhiyan. After having taken an oath to keep their premises clean and ensure good civic sense. Many officers, teachers, students and people were then cleaning their workplace, premises and surrounding environs.
PM Narendra Modi himself wielded the broom and launched the largest country wide cleanliness drive India has ever seen. This drive is expected to cost above Rs. 62,00 crore and the PM asserted that the mission is “beyond politics” and inspired by patriotism, according to India Today. Modi also said the task of keeping the home clean was the responsibility of 125 crore Indians and not just the government or the safai karamcharis.
"Do citizens have no role in this? We have to change this mindset," the PM was quoted by the media as saying "India can do it, the people of India can do it. It takes time to change established mindset. It is a difficult task. But we have five years," he said, referring to the deadline of 2019.
India Today quoted Amritsar's police commissioner J. S. Aulakh as saying
"We will ensure that on every Monday or the first working day of the week, the cops will undertake the cleanliness drive for two hours. It is very important and I will ensure that cops in Amritsar give their best". Many other states and state governments also joined in to take part in the Abhiyan.
The PM also named 9 well known Indian public figures who will spread the message of clean Indian including established actors, cricketers and industrialists. The cleanliness oath was also administered.
The PM also said a “clean India” would be the best tribute to Gandhiji on his 150th birth anniversary in 2019. According to the Economic Times, the Ministry for Rural Development will provide 20 lakh rupees to every village in India each year for the next 5 years under the Swacch Bharat Abhiyan. This will take the allocation in toto to 6.5 lakh villages at Rs. 13,000 crore per annum, part of the 1,34,000 crore allocated for the purpose of construction of toilets in rural India, ET reports.
ET has also provided the numbers for the overall project cost in both rural and urban India at 1,96,009 crore for construction of 12 crore toilets across the nation. From this, 62,000 crore will be spend in the urban parts of this country for this purpose. Sanitation is a major concern for our country as open defecation and lack of toilets are a major problem in Indian villages as well as certain pockets of urban areas as well.
