Question

an essay on swachh bharath

Answer 1

Background

With effect from 1 April 1999, the Government of India restructured the Comprehensive Rural Sanitation Programme and launched the Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) which was later (on 1 April 2012) renamed Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (NBA).

On 2 October 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Swachh Bharat Mission, which aims to eradicate open defecation by 2019,[8] thus restructuring the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan.[7] Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is a national campaign, covering 4,041 statutory cities and towns.

Toilets

The government is aiming to achieve an Open-Defecation Free (ODF) India by 2 October 2019, the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, by constructing 12 crore toilets in rural India, at a projected cost of ₹1.96 lakh crore (US$29 billion).[10][11] Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke of the need for toilets in his 2014 Independence Day speech stating,

Has it ever pained us that our mothers and sisters have to defecate in open? Poor womenfolk of the village wait for the night; until darkness descends, they can`t go out to defecate. What bodily torture they must be feeling, how many diseases that act might engender. Can't we just make arrangements for toilets for the dignity of our mothers and sisters? — Narendra Modi

Modi also spoke of the need for toilets in schools during the campaign for 2014 Jammu and Kashmir state elections stating,

When the girl student reaches the age where she realises this lack of female toilets in the school she leaves her education midway. As they leave their education midway they remain uneducated. Our daughters must also get equal chance to quality education. After 60 years of independence there should have been separate toilets for girl students in every school. But for the past 60 years they could not provide separate toilets to girls and as result the female students had to leave their education midway.— Narendra Modi

As of May 2015, 14 companies including Tata Consulting Services, Mahindra Group and Rotary International have pledged to construct 3,195 new toilets. As of the same month, 71 Public Sector Undertakings in India supported the construction of 86,781 new toilets.

Answer 2

Swachh Bharat mission is a big campaign ever in India because around 3 million government employees and students have taken part on the day of its launch. This mission seeks the active participation of the people of any age group from all corners of the country to be completed till 2019, 2nd of October, the 150th birthday anniversary of the Mahatma Gandhi. This campaign was especially launched on 2nd of October in 2014 (145th birth anniversary of the Mahatma Gandhi) to fulfil the vision of clean India of Mahatma Gandhi.

Mahatma Gandhi had dreamt of clean India and said that, “Sanitation is more important than Independence”. According to the data of 2011 census, it has been estimated that only 32.70% of the total rural population has access to the toilets. According to the UN report, India is a country where largest number of people in the world use open defecation system. The nationwide cleanliness campaign of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi “Swachh Bharat Mission” was started from the Valmiki Basti in New Delhi. He had requested the 1.25 billion people of India to join the campaign while addressing the nation on the day of launch.

He himself swept the pathway of Valmiki Basti after paying tribute to the memorials of Mahatma Gandhi and former Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri on their birth anniversaries. He said that “Swachh Bharat Campaign logo is not just a logo, through it Gandhiji is watching us and we all should clean India. I am not claiming that the newly elected government is doing everything. Be it temples, mosques, gurudwaras or any place, we must take efforts to clean our surroundings. Cleanliness is not only the responsibility of the ‘safaai kaamgar’, it is the responsibility of 125 crore Indians. If Indians can reach Mars at a cheap cost, can we not clean our neighbourhoods?”

Swachh Bharat Abhiyan has following objectives to: make available individual toilets, eliminate open defecation, enhance public awareness for cleanliness, promote the use of latrine among common public, promote behavioural changes, keep villages clean proper disposal of solid and liquid wastes, set up water pipelines in villages, ensure water supply, etc. This mission is the ultimate goal to make our country a clean and developed country forever having clean and happy citizens.