Towards a Cleaner India!

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the ambitious ‘’Swachha Bharat Campaign’’ on the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi’s 145^th Birth Anniversary on 2^nd October 2014. The campaign talks about how one can contribute in making India clean by the 150^th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

There are several salient features of Swaccha Bharat Abhiyaan, they are as follows:

•   The national Campaign led by the Government of India is covering 4041 towns across India and aims to make the streets, roads and infrastructure clean by October 2, 2019 (150^th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi).
• The mission is estimated to cost around 62,009 crore rupees, of which 14,623 crore rupees is borne by the Union Government.
•  The mission was started by Prime Minister Modi, who, on December 25, 2014, nominted nine famous personalities for the campaign. They took up the challenge and nominated nine more people. Thereafter it has been carried forward with people from all walks of life joining it.
• The ‘ Swachhta Pledge,’ which can be viewed and signed online on Swaccha Bharat official website asks those committed to the cause to devote 100 hours per year (almost two hours a week) in a voluntary work for cleanliness. Also it asks individuals to encourage 100 other persons to take the pledge for a ‘Clean India’.

Now as the years are passing, the Ministry of Urban Development and Swaccha Bharat Urban (Under the Ministry of Urban Development) is taking some major steps to make this campaign a successful one. They are as follows:

• .       Every citizen to be a campaigner for Swachha Bharat.
• .       Youth of the nation to be the brand ambassador of Swachha Bharat.
• .       Ministry of Urban Development to partner with Nehru Yuva Vikas Sangathan to scale up youth engagement under Swachha Bharat Mission.
• .       The Ministry has also launched ‘’Swachhata App’’  for faster resolution of Cleanliness related complaints. This application is available on Android and iOS
• .       Along with that a helpline number has been launched as ‘’Swachha Bharat Helpline’’. One can call on 1969 (Swaccha Bharat Helpline number), and the Swachha Bharat Team will address  all queries related to SBM..

There is an active engagement of people across the country on SBM, as we can check the Twitter feed of @SwachhBharatGov , people are uploading pictures of places, like parks , their neighborhoods, underpasses and roads, and the Ministry  giving quicker response and addressing all the queries.

Because of these steps, this campaign is becoming one of the largest cleanliness drives in the nation, which will hopefully be successful till 2019.