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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched a campaign to modernize the country’s sanitation system within the next five years.
Modi launched the USD 10-billion Clean India campaign, also known as Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, on Thursday, the national holiday for the birthday anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the leader of India’s independence movement.
Modi’s campaign aims to install more toilets in homes and public places, improve trash collection services, and educate citizens about the link between sanitation and public health.
The campaign was launched to coincide with Gandhi’s 145th birthday, who was assassinated in 1948 and still serves as an icon for Indians.
“We have to give Mahatma Gandhi something on his 150th birth anniversary, in 2019,” Modi said, adding, “Just like the whole nation united to fight for freedom back then, we have to work together to clean India now.”
The Indian premier also compared the nation’s garbage problem with the cleanliness of other countries.
“When we travel abroad, we are so impressed by how clean other countries are. The secret of their cleanliness is the discipline of the citizens in those countries,” the Indian premier noted.
According to the charity organization, WaterAid, less than a third of India’s 1.2 billion people have access to proper sanitation. Over 186,000 children under five also die every year from diarrheal diseases caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation.
The World Bank stated in 2011 that the lack of toilets and other proper sanitation facilities costs India, the third Asian economy, nearly USD 54 billion a year.
India has the second highest economic growth in the world, but some 500 million people in the country live in poverty.
PressTV - India’s prime minister launches campaign to modernize sanitation
Modi launched the USD 10-billion Clean India campaign, also known as Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, on Thursday, the national holiday for the birthday anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the leader of India’s independence movement.
Modi’s campaign aims to install more toilets in homes and public places, improve trash collection services, and educate citizens about the link between sanitation and public health.
The campaign was launched to coincide with Gandhi’s 145th birthday, who was assassinated in 1948 and still serves as an icon for Indians.
“We have to give Mahatma Gandhi something on his 150th birth anniversary, in 2019,” Modi said, adding, “Just like the whole nation united to fight for freedom back then, we have to work together to clean India now.”
The Indian premier also compared the nation’s garbage problem with the cleanliness of other countries.
“When we travel abroad, we are so impressed by how clean other countries are. The secret of their cleanliness is the discipline of the citizens in those countries,” the Indian premier noted.
According to the charity organization, WaterAid, less than a third of India’s 1.2 billion people have access to proper sanitation. Over 186,000 children under five also die every year from diarrheal diseases caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation.
The World Bank stated in 2011 that the lack of toilets and other proper sanitation facilities costs India, the third Asian economy, nearly USD 54 billion a year.
India has the second highest economic growth in the world, but some 500 million people in the country live in poverty.
PressTV - India’s prime minister launches campaign to modernize sanitation
