As the ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ completes its third anniversary, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation at an event at Vigyan Bhavan. The Centre’s Swachhta mission, that coincides with Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary, was launched with an aim to create Swachh Bharat by 2019.
The vision – to achieve the target by 2019 – is to present a ‘Clean India’ as a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th Birth Anniversary.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said the target of a 'Clean India' cannot be achieved even if 1,000 Mahatma Gandhis, one lakh Narendra Modis and all the country's Chief Ministers come together. It can only be achieved by the unity of its 125 crore people.
The country has come a long way since, but a lot remained to be done before the Clean India target could be achieved, Modi said.
Modi said the issue of cleanliness should be looked at from the point of view of women, who face difficulties due to lack of toilets, and lauded children for being the ambassador of the key programme.
Stating that cleanliness was very crucial in India's bid to become a superior country, Modi urged against politicisation of the issue.
Video editor: Sandeep Suman
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)