Cleanliness Will Only Make India Healthy And Developed: President Droupadi Murmu

Ujjain (MP): President Droupadi Murmu on Thursday (September 19) said cleanliness will only make the country healthy and developed and appealed to the people to come forward and take a step in this direction. Addressing the Safai Mitra Sammelan (conference of sanitation workers) in Ujjain, President Murmu also lauded Madhya Pradesh’s Indore city for remaining on top in the cleanliness survey for the seventh time in a row and Bhopal for being the cleanest state capital in the country.

Also Read: How Did Indore Become India’s Cleanest City For 5 Years In A Row?

She said,

It gives me immense happiness to felicitate safai mitras (sanitation workers). Cleanliness only will make the country healthy and developed. By honouring safai mitras we are hounouring ourselves.

President Murmu appealed to the people to take a step forward for making the country “swachh, swasthya aur viksit” (clean, healthy and developed).

The Swachh Bharat Mission has become a nationwide movement in the last 10 years and resulted in bringing about comprehensive changes in the country, she said.

The campaign raised awareness about cleanliness among the people and their behaviour towards “swachhata” has changed a lot, the president said.

She also congratulated the government for making a provision of toilets for girl students in schools, which has resulted in raising their literacy level.

On the occasion, President Murmu felicitated five safai mitras, including four women, for their dedicated efforts towards cleanliness.

She also laid the foundation stone for the Ujjain-Indore six-lane road, to be built at the cost of Rs 1,692 crore.

Earlier in the day, President Murmu planted a Kadamb (Bur flower) sapling on the campus of the more than two-century-old Residency Kothi in Indore.

MP Governor Mangubhai Patel and Chief Minister Mohan Yadav joined her and planted the saplings of Rudraksh and Parijat trees, respectively, in the premises, officials said.

Mr Yadav presented to President Murmu a literature containing details of the public welfare schemes being run by his government, they said.

President Murmu presented the CM a picture of the Rashtrapati Bhavan as a souvenir of her visit to the state.

Also Read: Country’s Cleanest City Indore Spends Rs 200 Crore Per Year On Waste Management

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which in its Season 10 is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Ayushmann Khurrana. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – the LGBTQ population, indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In a world post COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fight malnutrition, mental well-being, self-care, science and health, adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.