UPA’s sanitation programme, Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan will soon be replaced with ‘Swachh Bharat Mission’ that will be launched by the new NDA Government. It will tackle sanitation and waste management issues in the country.
Swachh Bharat Mission will be a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th birth anniversary, said President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday. “We must not tolerate the indignity of homes without toilets and public spaces littered with garbage,” the President said.
The need to launch the Swachh Bharat Mission is being felt that even after several years and pouring in hundreds of crores as 626 million people continue to defecate in the open in India as they have no access to toilets.
The announcement to launch new Mission comes in the backdrop of Badaun rape and murder case of two sisters which has once again highlighted the need of toilets and basic amenities facilities in Uttar Pradesh in particular and across the country in general to prevent such crimes as well as many environmental and health issues.
In fact, Narendra Modi during his various meeting last year has been stressing that sanitation was more important than building places of religious worship. “I am called a Hindu nationalist but you will be surprised to know that I keep telling people in Gujarat that first they should have sanitation and then places of religious worship. We spend lakhs on building temples but not on washrooms,” Modi had said.