Mumbai: The Swachh Bharat Mission that started four years ago with an aim to provide basic sanitation to people in the form of toilets has not only managed to reach the remotest parts of India but is now transcending borders and inspiring several countries to extend support to the cleanliness movement. The latest country to offer its help in improving sanitation is Japan.
It was on the eve of Gandhi Jayanti when Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe wrote a letter for the Mahatma Gandhi International Sanitation Convention (MGISC) pledging his support towards the Clean India Mission under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The MGISC was a four-day international conference that brought together Sanitation Ministers and other leaders in WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) from around the world from September 29 to October 2 this year.
He underscored Japan’s commitment to realise healthy societies in Asia and congratulated India on the success of the Mahatma Gandhi International Sanitation Convention.
Commending the recently concluded #MGISC organised by the #SwachhBharat Mission, the Prime Minister of #Japan, Mr. Shinzo Abe offered his government’s support to the #SBM. https://t.co/chaOxxEuOb pic.twitter.com/ObkoCtL8Ag
— Swachh Bharat I #AzadiKaAmritMahotsav (@swachhbharat) October 11, 2018
“I would like to wholeheartedly congratulate that the MGISC is held in a grand manner. The government of Japan advocates the ‘Asia Health and Wellbeing initiative’ aiming to realise healthy and longevity societies in Asia,” Prime Minister Abe wrote.
Japan being a technology-advanced nation, Prime Minister Abe further said that technologies like Johkasou will be helpful in recycling wastewater. Johkasou systems are designed for treating the domestic wastewater of individual houses or one to several buildings in a decentralised manner.
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“We will cooperate with India, which promotes Clean India initiative under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership by utilising Japan’s advanced technology such as Johkasou,” Prime Minister Abe said in his message.
He also highlighted how every country is facing challenges of having clean water and good sanitation conditions,
Securing clean water and improving sanitary conditions is a common challenge in the world. We hope for the further progress of each country’s efforts to address the challenge through active discussions at this convention (MGISC).
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had praised the Japan for its cleanliness at NDTV-Dettol Banega Swachh India 12-hour cleanathon and said how school children of the age of 4 or 5 leave their house with a small bag to collect their waste. Be it a chocolate wrapper or empty water bottle, everything goes into the bag and is disposed of in their home only.
A few days ago, world’s most successful and influential businessman and philanthropist, Bill Gates had also praised the work of Prime Minister Modi and his government for their flagship programme of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.
The leadership of @narendramodi and the Indian government has played an important role in improving sanitation. Now is the time to build on the success of @swachhbharat, Mr Gates had said.
Swachh Bharat Abhiyan has shown a tremendous progress in the last four years as nine crore toilets have been built since 2014 across the country. 25 States and Union Territories have become ODF. According to the recently released figures by Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, more than 5 lakh (5,11,087) villages and 530 districts have achieved the open defecation free status. Moreover, from mere 38 per cent in 2014, today country’s rural sanitation coverage has achieved the mark of 95 per cent.
Also Read: Prime Minister Narendra Modi Lauds NDTV’s Banega Swachh India Campaign
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.
