Four Years Of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan: Ministers Talk About Different Aspects Of The Campaign

1. Minister of Commerce and Industry, Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu, talked about our diplomatic nature that is how we keep our house, our room, and our office clean, but when it comes to the nation, we leave it on the government.
   

   We will defile because it is our right and government will clean-up because it is their duty. This thing can never work, said Mr. Prabhu.

2. Arun Jaitley, Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs, lauded the Central government’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and talked about the role model country being Japan, for this campaign. Crediting women for bringing much required behavioural change in rural areas, Mr. Jaitley said,
   

   Even if you build a toilet, the old habit of people going into the fields rather than using an enclosed chamber at home, how do you get them to change that behaviour. And I think the critical part that helped here was the so called people’s movement became a women’s movement. It is the women who led it more in rural India than their male counterparts.

   Also Read: People’s Movement Became A Women’s Movement: Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Lauds Swachh Bharat Abhiyan

3. “The clean India programme will work with public participation, but conversion of waste into wealth is also an important aspect. If we manage waste effectively and generate value out of it, then the campaign will gain momentum,” said Union Minister of Water Resources and Road Transport, Nitin Gadkari, talking about solid and liquid waste management, Ganga clean-up, the problem of water and plastic in India. He also directed the authorities to use plastic and rubber waste in road construction and reuse waste water to generate power.

   Also Read: Faecal Sludge Management In India’s Urban Areas Raises A Stink: Naina Lal Kidwai

4. Jitendra Singh, Minister of State Atomic Energy and Space, shared inspirational stories of individuals who are leading the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in their own way. While a 14-year-old Nisha Kumari, from Jammu and Kashmir’s Udhampur district, who sat on a hunger strike to press her family and the authorities to ensure that a toilet gets constructed in her house, 87-year-old Rakki Devi, from Jammu and Kashmir’s Badali village in Udhampur, single-handedly constructed a toilet near her house in a weeks’ time. Since some people are used to defecate under the sky, roofless toilets were constructed in border areas and gradually that was ended, courtesy rigorous campaign to bring in a behavioural change.

   Also Read: Once Among The Worst Performing States In Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Jammu And Kashmir Is Now ODF
   

5. Discussing the issue of manual scavenging prevailing in the urban areas of the country, Uma Bharti, Minister of Drinking Water and Sanitation, said that it is a shameful act. She said, before sending someone in the pit to clean it, we should ask SDM (Sub-Divisional Magistrate) of the area to go down. For sure, he will not go without ensuring his safety. To raise the issue of cleanliness, she decided to make Gandagi se nafrat aur desh se pyar (Hate filth, love your country) as part of all her speeches.

Also Read: Prime Minister Narendra Modi Lauds NDTV’s Banega Swachh India Campaign