In news
Recently, the Prime Minister of India launched the Gandagi Mukt Bharat Campaign
About the campaign
- Gandaki Mukt Bharat is a week-long campaign organized by The Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DDWS) in August 2020
- The campaign aimed to reaffirm commitment towards building a cleaner and healthier future.
- The highlight of the week-long campaign is the inauguration of the Rashtriya Swachhata Kendra (RSK) on 8th August.
- During this campaign, States and UTs were expected to actively participate in the programme as they mobilise communities at District, Block and Village levels to engage in cleaning, lantation, promotion of behavior change, shramdaan and other swachhata related activities.
Rashtriya Swachhata Kendra
- As a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi, the RSK was first announced by the Hon’ble Prime Minister on 10th April 2017 at the centenary celebrations of Gandhiji’s indigo agitation, the Champaran Satyagraha.
- The RSK has been established at the Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti at Rajghat in New Delhi – a dynamic experience centre to actively engage with citizens to impart information, awareness, and education around Swachhata in an interactive format with a balanced mix of digital and outdoor installations
A brief note on Swachh Bharat Mission
- The Swachh Bharat Mission was launched on 2nd October 2014 by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi towards eradicating the practice of open defecation across the country
- It is a massive mass movement that seeks to create a Clean India by 2019. The mission covers all rural and urban areas.
- The urban component of the mission is implemented by the Ministry of Urban Development, and the rural component by the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation.
Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban
The Swachh Bharat Mission – Urban (SBM-U), launched on 2nd October 2014 aims at making urban India free from open defecation and achieving 100% scientific management of municipal solid waste in 4,041 statutory towns in the country. The objectives of the mission are mentioned below: Elimination of open defecation.
Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin
Under the mission, all villages, Gram Panchayats, Districts, States and Union Territories in India declared themselves “open-defecation free” (ODF) by 2 October 2019, the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, by constructing over 100 million toilets in rural India
The rural component of the Mission, Swachh Bharat Mission – Grameen (SBM-G) has since witnessed unprecedented progress with increase in rural sanitation coverage of the country from mere 38% to around 100% today. Under SBM (G), more than 100 million toilets have been constructed in last five years. Due to universal sanitation coverage, all States and Union Territories have declared their rural areas open defecation free (ODF) ahead of the target deadline of 2nd October, 2019 – a befitting tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th birth anniversary
