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The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, or Clean India Mission, was first announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Lok Sabha on June 11.
He elaborated on it further in his Independence Day speech, explaining that it aims to create a ‘mass movement’ to realise Mahatma Gandhi’s dream of a clean India by his 150th birth anniversary in 2019.
The mission kicked off on September 25, with Minsters initiating cleanliness drives in their ministries and departments. On Thursday, the birth anniversary of Gandhiji, Modi will launch the mission and administer the oath to gathering, followed by inaugurating toilets in Valmiki Colony in Central Delhi.
Toilets and fundsSince the mission also involves setting up toilets, various Ministries are encouraging Central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) to take the initiative.
Accordingly, the Ministries of Power, Coal and New and Renewable Energy have said that their CPSEs will set up 50,000 toilets in schools with work on 1,001 of these starting on October 2.
Corporate responsibilityThe Finance Ministry has invited contributions under the ‘Swachh Bharat Kosh’ (Clean India Fund) to mobilise resources for improving sanitation facilities in rural and urban areas, particularly in schools. The aim is to get corporate social responsibility funds from the private sector as well as contributions from individuals and philanthropists.
The Government also plans to offer tax benefits on these contributions.
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