Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is a national campaign by the Government of India, to clean the streets, roads and infrastructure of the country.
The campaign was officially launched on 2 October 2014 at Rajghat, New Delhi, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself cleaned the road in remembrance to Gandhi’s words; in what was India’s biggest ever cleanliness drive and 3 million government employees and school and college students of India participated in this event and the Prime Minister then nominated nine famous personalities for the campaign who then took up the challenge and nominated nine more people and so on.
This campaign aims to accomplish the vision of a ‘Clean India’ by 2 October 2019, the 150th birthday of Mahatma Gandhi. It is expected to cost over Rs: 62000 crore (US$9.4 billion).
Specific objectives are:
▪ Elimination of open defecation
▪ Conversion of unsanitary toilets to pour flush toilets
▪ Eradication of manual scavenging
▪ 100% collection and processing/disposal/reuse/recycling of municipal solid waste
▪ A behavioural change in people regarding healthy sanitation practices
▪ Generation of awareness among citizens about sanitation and its linkages with public health
▪ Supporting urban local bodies in designing, executing and operating waste disposal systems
▪ Facilitating private-sector participation in capital expenditure and operation and maintenance costs for sanitary facilities.
To celebrate one year of SBA, India Today launched Safaigiri and Singathon Awards 2015 in which awards will be given in 13 categories to those people who have taken an initiative towards a Cleaner India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier nominated AroonPurie, Chairman and Editor in-chief, India Today Group to be a Clean India advocate.
Commenting on the initiative, AroonPurie said, “I was delighted when the PM nominated me and The India Today group as an ambassador of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. A clean India is such a simple idea but a revolutionary one. It will only succeed if all of us work to make it a movement. So many of our ills will be solved if we fix our sanitation.”
India Today SafaigiriSingathon& Awards is a key initiative of the Group’s efforts in realising the vision of Swachh Bharat and in recognising Clean Champions across the country. The Clean Champions are selected in 13 categories through a process of online entries, field work, and selection by a jury of eminent citizens.
The event will be highlighted by the Safai Singathon with singers and musicians performing through the day. Shaan, Kailash Kher, Daler Mehndi, Sonu Nigam, Hans Raj Hans, Papon and Udit Narayan will attend the event. The event will be telecast live on all four channels of the Network.
By: Archa Dave
