Modi Calls For Clean India Campaign

PM launches ‘Swachh Bharat’ campaign, flags off a walkathon

Within a day after coming back to India from his highly successful US visit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi welded the broom and launched the biggest ever cleanliness and sanitation drive called 'Swachh Bharat Abhiyan' in the country on Thursday.

To launch 'Swachh Bharat Abhiyan' mission which aims at creating a 'Clean India' in the next five years, the government has chosen October 02, 2014 which marks the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

Click On This Link To Read Views Of Dr. Kalam On Clean India

• We should pledge 'I will not dirty the place, nor will I let it be dirtied': PM
• We should pledge today, 'I will not dirty the place, nor will I let it be dirtied' : PM Modi
• PM Modi reads out the pledge of 'Swachh Bharat' campaign to countrymen
• Constructing more toilets is extremely important, feel pained when our women go in the open to relieve themselves: PM
• Don't trust me or my government, trust the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi: PM Modi
• Have also invited the entire cast of Tarak Mehta ka Ooltah Chashmah and also Goa Governor Mridula Sinha, say PM Modi
• I have invited Mridula Sinha, Sachin Tendulkar, Baba Ramdev, Shashi Tharoor, Kamal Haasan, Priyanka Chopra, Anil Ambani to take this campaign forward: PM
• Actor Amir Khan shares the stage with PM Modi as he starts the Clean India pledge.
• PM talks about starting a campaign on Social Media using MyGov, a Mobile Application,
• "We reached Mars. No PM or Minister went. It's the people who did it,our scientists who did it. So can't we create a #CleanIndia ?," says PM
• I also thank the media for supporting this campaign, we all need to come together for it, says PM
• India can do it, the people of India can do it, says PM Modi
• I know there will be criticism in a few days – look what happened? But I have come prepared to face that: PM
• This work is not only about a 'prachar abhiyan.' It is a big effort but we have a lot of time: PM.
• This government not trying to take credit for #CleanIndia campaign: PM Modi. LIVE updates:
• I will be happy if people doesn't litter paper in the road, says PM.
• Why do we not pick up a paper if we see it littered on the road? Asks PM
• Be it Mandir, Masjid, Gurudwara or any place, we must take efforts to clean our surroundings,we must change: PM.
• Is cleaning only the responsibility of the safai karamcharis? Do citizens have no role in this? We have to change this mindset, PM asks
• Gandhiji gave us the message clean India. We must respect his wishes, says PM
• 'Swachh Bharat' campaign logo isn't just a logo, through it Gandhiji is watching us: PM Modi
• Salute to former PM Lal Bahadur Shastri on his birthday today. Remembered for his decisive role as PM in India victory over Pak in 1965, says PM.
• PM says Mahatma Gandhi's dream to see a clean India is still unfulfilled.
• PM Modi addresses the nation after the launch of his pet project, the 'Swach Bharat' campaign.
• PM Narendra Modi officially launches 'Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’
• Union Minister Nitin Gadkari accompanies PM at Rajpath for the launch of 'Swachh Bharat Campaign'.
• PM Modi arrives at Rajghat to launch “Swachh Bharat Abhiyan”.
• Home Minister Rajnath Singh ‏tweeted, “Remembering Gandhiji and Shashtriji on their birth anniversary. Let us take a pledge today to make our country clean.”

Swachchh Bharat Abhiyan kicks off today: 10 key facts-FE

With Prime Minister Narendra Modi set to launch the Swachchh Bharat Abhiyan on Thursday, India is going ahead with plans to build toilets and provide sanitation facilities across schools in the country.

1. Less than a third of India's 1.2 billion people have access to sanitation and more than 186,000 children under five die every year from diarrhoeal diseases caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation, according to the charity WaterAid.
A United Nations report in May said half of India's population still practise open defecation - putting them at risk of cholera, diarrhoea, dysentery, hepatitis A and typhoid. The resulting diseases and deaths cause major economic losses, and a World Bank report in 2006 estimated that India was losing 6.4 percent of GDP annually because of poor access to sanitation.

2. According to WaterAid research, about 16 million Indians a year gain access to a basic toilet. This will need to increase to more than 100 million a year if the whole population is to have a toilet by 2019.

3. Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, or Clean India Mission, is being launched on the birthday of independence leader Mahatma Gandhi - a public holiday - and aims to inform people about the link between sanitation and public health.

4. Indian towns and cities are littered with garbage, the result of massive urban migration, poor civic planning and inadequate waste disposal systems, and rivers and lakes are polluted with sewage and industrial effluents.

5. While Prime Minister is expected to take to the narrow lanes of a north Delhi slum on Thursday for a photo opportunity, ministers and other government officials have been ordered to clean their offices - including their toilets.

6. Narendra Modi government has made building toilets a priority and he has pledged that every household will have a toilet by 2019.

7. Many civil society organisations and companies have also joined the campaign, spreading awareness in urban slums and villages by putting on street plays about rubbish disposal, handing out leaflets about washing hands and even giving out broomsticks to members of the public.

8. Industry chamber CII has announced it would mobilise its members to build 10,000 toilets across the country by 2015-16.
Earlier a number of companies including Tata Consultancy Services and Bharti Foundation, an arm of Bharti Enterprises had pledged a total of Rs 300 crore each to build toilets in schools. Vedanta, which has oil and gas wells, mines and power stations, said it was already constructing 30,000 toilets in rural Rajasthan and had plans to build 10,000 more.
 
9. The government has also set up a Swachchh Bharat Kosh, encouraging companies to donate funds from their CSR budget to improve sanitation facilities in the country.

10. Aid workers said that while increased investment in infrastructure was important, there must also be a change in attitudes.