This campaign was also criticised that the Prime Minister used it to earn political reputation by renaming ‘Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan’
What can be a better way to pay homage to the Father of the Nation? Clean India– the dream of Mahatma Gandhi has already started taking shape and people from several parts of the society came forward to join this huge movement of tidiness. Starting from the officials of the government to the armed forces, Bollywood celebrities to industrialists, spiritual leaders to sportspersons; all have stepped forward for this noble work. People in millions throughout the country have been joining this initiative constantly to make a clean India. Different local communities, NGOs and government departments have organised campaigns of cleanliness in order to spread mass awareness about health and hygiene by the means of street plays, musical programs and several other activities throughout the nation.
Origin, initiation and execution of the concept
‘Baapu’ dreamt of a clean India, moreover a clean place is almost any citizen of a particular country would like to live in. The Government of India had initiated ‘Total Sanitation Campaign’ by reconstructing the ‘Comprehensive Rural Sanitation Programme’ and later on in April 1st 2012 renamed it as ‘Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan’. Prime Minister Narendra Modi started this national program by sweeping the road himself. This is India’s biggest ever drive for cleanliness and 3 million employees of the government, school and college students have actively participated in this event. In the later months after the program was launched, the campaign earned maximum momentum when several politicians, celebrities, NGOs and academic institutions organised cleanliness drive throughout the country. The prime minister in his Independence Day speech brought up this issue as well, speaking about the insufficient number of toilets thus making a reminder about the seriousness of the mission which his government had taken.
Support from the celebrities
Prime Minister Modi made nominations for nine celebrities and had asked them to nominate more nine people individually to make the initiative go on like chain reactions. The celebrities included cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar, Governor of Goa Mridula Sinha, Yoga icon Ramdev Baba, industrialist Anil Ambani, former union minister Shashi Tharoor, actors Salman Khan, Priyanka Chopra and Kamal Hassan and the team of hindi TV serial ‘Tarak Mehta ka Oolta Chashma’. Apart from those mentioned above celebrities like Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Kailash Kher and sportsperson like Saniya Mirza, Mary Kom and Saina Nehwal came forward and joined the mass movement contributing the ‘Swachh Bharat Campaign’. Moreover, the Prime Minister himself helped spreading the motto of cleanliness by advocating people through his own words and action. He was seen to wield a spade near River Ganges in Varanasi under Clean Ganga Mission.
Objectives of Swachh Bharat Mission
The national program aims:
1. Eradication of open defecation by the construction of toilets for communities and households.
2. Elimination of manual scavenging.
3. Introduction of scientific and modern ‘solid waste management’ practices.
4. To enable participation of private sectors in the sector of sanitation.
5. Changing people’s view and creation of awareness among the mass.
