A Look Back At How India Celebrated The Mega 15-Days ‘Swachhata Hi Seva’ Campaign

New Delhi: To mark the beginning of the year-long build-up to Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary, this year on October 2, India came together to participate in mass cleanliness drives. From Bollywood stars to sports personalities and people from different walks of life, everyone came out to be a part of the ‘Swachhata Hi Seva’ movement, a 15-days cleanliness campaign initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to strengthen the Clean India mission and help meet the goal of a clean nation by October 2, 2019.

Through a series of tweets, the Badshah of Bollywood – Shah Rukh Khan urged people to do their bit for the planet by becoming a part of Swachh Bharat Mission. Shah Rukh Khan shared few videos along with his message and talked about why as a nation it is important to end open defecation, keep the public toilets clean and segregate the waste at source. He adds,

Together we all should help fulfill the dream of our ‘Father of the Nation’ and Prime Minister, a dream of a Swachh Bharat.

Also Read: Four Years Of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan: With Over 9 Crore Toilets, India Inches Towards Becoming ODF

Suresh Raina and the Cricket sensation Sachin Tendulkar too joined the PM Modi’s Swachhata Hi Seva campaign.

Sachin Tendulkar participated in a Swachhata Hi Seva special function organised in one of the Mumbai’s schools, where he guided the children on the importance of Swachh Bharat Mission and becoming the Swachh Bharat Ambassador for the nation. He said,

In 2014 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi initiated Swachh Bharat Mission, he announced my name as one of the Swachh Bharat’s Ambassador. I am working towards the mission because I think Swachh Bharat means Swasth Bharat. I want everyone to be the Swachh Ambassador for the nation because the time is now, the moment is right, we all need to ask ourselves how we can be a part of the change.

Also Read: If Each One Of Us Will Just Keep One Square Foot Area Clean, Our Country Will Become Truly Swachh: Sachin Tendulkar

Cricketer Suresh Raina asked everyone some questions – Why will the tourists come to our country, if it is not clean; how will our country progress, if the nation is not clean and how will we fight the diseases. He further added,

If the nation is Swachh, we all will be able to fight all the problems. We have come a long way together in making India Swachh, but this does not end here…it is just the beginning!

Professional Tennis Player Ankita Raina took up a broom and participated in a cleanliness drive in a bid to spread the message of Swachhta.
Sharing the glimpses on her social media platform, she added,

On this Gandhi Jayanti, participated in the ‘SwacchhataHiSeva2018’ campaign. Thank you @narendramodi sir for making me a part of this initiative. #SwacchhataHiSeva #SwachhBharatDiwas #SHS18 #HappyGandhiJayanti #MahatmaGandhi

Later, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also thanked everyone for participating in Swachhata Hi Seva campaign and making clean India mission part of their lives.

PM’s message to King Khan for his efforts, “Thank you @iamsrk, for lending vital support for the Swachh Bharat Mission. I am sure your words will motivate citizens to work towards Swachhata.”

Thank you for spreading awareness on the issue of cleanliness, Suresh,” PM Modi’s message for Suresh Raina.

Many leaders, government departments, many institutions, schools, colleges showed great enthusiasm to participate in clean-up drives in different parts of the country.

In four years of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, India’s sanitation coverage has increased from a mere 38 per cent in 2014 to 94 per cent now. 9 crore toilets have been built in four years and 4.5 lakh villages, 450 districts, 20 states, and Union Territories have been made open defecation free successfully.

This year, on October 2, Union Territory Puducherry, Jharkhand and Punjab have declared themselves open defecation free.

Also Read: How A 45-Year-Old Visually Challenged Man In Bihar Mobilised People To Construct Toilets And Made His Village ODF

NDTV – Dettol Banega Swachh India campaign lends support to the Government of India’s Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM). Helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan, the campaign aims to spread awareness about hygiene and sanitation, the importance of building toilets and making India open defecation free (ODF) by October 2019, a target set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when he launched Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in 2014. Over the years, the campaign has widened its scope to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and menstrual hygiene. The campaign has also focused extensively on marine pollution, clean Ganga Project and rejuvenation of Yamuna, two of India’s major river bodies.