The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan completes two years . Launched in 2014, the mission is a national campaign by the Government of India to clean streets, roads, and other infrastructure of the country. On October 2, 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, a mission to clean India’s cities and villages.
The campaign, inaugurated to coincide with Gandhi Jayanti, aims to realise its vision of ‘Clean India’ by October 2, 2019, the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. An impact assessment study conducted by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) revealed that toilets built in rural areas were lying unused, as the villagers were wary of using them.
Modi nominated nine celebrities, asking them to nominate nine more people to make the initiative go viral. These included Goa governor Mridula Sinha, cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar, yoga guru Baba Ramdev, Congress lawmaker and former union minister Shashi Tharoor, industrialist Anil Ambani, actors Kamal Hasan, Priyanka Chopra and Salman Khan and the team of popular TV serial Tarak Mehta Ka Oolta Chashma.
Mission Objectives
The national campaign, which will run till October 2, 2019, aims to:
- Eliminate open defecation by constructing toilets for households, communities
- Eradicate manual scavenging
- Introduce modern and scientific municipal solid waste management practices
- Enable private sector participation in the sanitation sector Change people’s attitudes to sanitation and create awareness.
