The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a list of MoUs and joint declarations to be signed between India and the United States during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit.
These include a Joint Declaration of Intent between the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) and the US Department of State for cooperation in the field of higher education for Study Webs of Active-learning for Young Aspiring Minds (SWAYAM), a programme for online education; Joint Declaration between MHRD and the National Science Foundation (NSF) of the USA to initiate a new program — Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN) in Higher Education. And, an MoU) between India and the United States for cooperation in gas hydrates for a period of five years.
Cabinet also decided to restructure the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (NBA) as Swachh Bharat Mission. The Mission will be kick-started on 2nd October 2014 and will be implemented over 5 years.
The programme includes elimination of open defecation, conversion of insanitary toilets to pour flush toilets, eradication of manual scavenging, bringing about behavioural change in people regarding healthy sanitation practices, generating awareness among citizens about sanitation and its linkages with public health, strengthening of urban local bodies to design, execute and operate systems to fulfil these objectives and creating an enabling environment for private sector participation in capital expenditure and operational expenditure.
Among other decisions the Cabinet decided to establish a `Clean Ganga Fund' with voluntary contributions. T he CGF will be largely contributions from NRIs, PIOs and others and will be operated through a bank account by a Trust. The Cabinet has decided to withdraw the Higher Education and Research Bill, 2011 from Parliament (Rajya Sabha).