Cleanliness Drive Gains Momentum
“Swachhta Pakhwada” the cleanliness drive to make our surroundings cleaner, healthier and appealing to visitors has gained momentum around the second anniversary of ‘Swachh Bharat Mission’ on October 2, 2016.A countrywide intensive Swachh Bharat Weeks are being organized involving people, central and state governments , third tier of Panchyati Raj Institutions and Urban local Bodies, people’s representatives and all other stakeholders.
The Ministry of Human Resource Development observed Swachhata Pakhwada from 1st September to 15thSeptember, 2016. Various schools, institutes, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, Navodaya Vidyalayas, Kendriya Vidyalayas, NIOS, NCERT & JSS and the Ministry premises celebrated the swachhata pakhwada. To accelerate efficiency in the maintenance of existing school toilets and to make them sustainable and durable, M/o Human Resource Development along with M/o Panchayati Raj and M/o Drinking Water & Sanitation has jointly issued a joint letter regarding prioritizing the funds from devolution of 14th Finance commission to the local bodies on maintenance and up-keep of toilets. Department of School Education and Literacy has initiated Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar to recognize, inspire and celebrate excellence in Sanitation and hygiene practice in schools. These are categorized under water, sanitation, hand washing with soap, operations and maintenance, behavior changes and capacity building sub-categories. The awards will be given at district level, state and national level. The process for selection of schools for state level is in progress. By the end of November, 2016, schools for national level awards would be selected.
During this initiative, it was noticed that the role of children as “change agents” in the society can be highly useful and is centered around the belief that once school children imbibe good sanitation and hygiene practices, they could motivate their parents, family and others in the neighborhood ultimately promoting community participation to adopt good sanitation and hygiene practices, which would ultimately lead to the “Swachh Bharat’’.
The Ministry of Tourism observed Swachhta Pakhwada from 16th to 30th September, 2016 to create a general awareness on the need for cleanliness in all walks of life. During the period, innovative activities like cleaning of tourist sites including India Gate and around, Jantar Mantar, Nizamuddin Dargah, Red Fort, QutubMinar and Sai Mandir, were undertaken. During the cleaning activities at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi Artists from Song & Drama Division, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting performed awareness programs on cleanliness and Nukkad Natak. A ‘Run for Swachh Paryatan’ from Transport Bhawan to India Gate was also planned in New Delhi. The Ministry organized an in-house Essay competition both in English and Hindi on the subject of cleanliness. Weeding out of files was also undertaken.