In order to realize the vision of Mahatma Gandhi regarding a clean and green Bharat, although the earlier Governments did not perform as per expectations, but it is the ruling dispensation with took this herculean task and launched the Swachh Bharat Mission, across the country. It is only due to the strenuous efforts and dedicated efforts of the Government that at present the Swachh Bharat Mission has become a mass movement with every citizen contributing actively towards the noble mission of making the country clean and green as per the vision of the Father of the Nation. Recently, in a significant development, in order to celebrate eight years of Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban, the Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri officially announced the commencement of the ‘Swachh Amrit Mahotsav’, a fortnight of activities to galvanize action around Swachhta from September 17, 2022 Sewa Diwas, to October 2, 2022, Swachhta Diwas. The fortnight will focus on mobilizing citizen action and commitment towards the vision of building ‘Garbage Free Cities’. The Union Minister released the official logo for the fortnight, ‘Swachh Amrit Mahotsav: Ek Aur Kadam Swachhta Ki Or’ signifying the resolve to intensify and reinvigorate the Jan Andolan in the world’s largest sanitation programme. In line with the Prime Minister’s vision of harnessing youth energy for positive action, Union Minister has announced the opening of the first ever ‘Indian Swachhta League’, an inter-city competition to take place between the youth of the cities on the 17th of Sept. 2022. For the maiden edition of ISL, more than 1,850 city teams from across the country have officially registered to compete. Each team will compete in the League by creating their own unique sanitation initiatives to focus on creating garbage free beaches, hills, and tourist places. States with highest percentage of participating cities are Odisha, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, Tripura, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, and Jammu & Kashmir. Mumbai Emperor, Delhi Swachhta Prahari and NDMC Warriors, Namma Chennai, Indomitable Bengaluru, Heritage Ahmadabad, and Hyderabad Swachh Champions are the teams of megacities that have already registered in the League. Furthermore, 47 out of the 61 million plus cities and 20 State capitals are also joining the Swachhta race. Additionally, the ISL has successfully attracted a diverse set of Indian cities to take part in the first of its kind League. Cities from diverse geographies and with iconic tourist locations across the length and breadth of the country – such as Leh, Kanyakumari, Kohima, Dwarka, Konark, Port Blair, Rameswaram, Gaya, Poanta Sahib, Karta, Ujjain, Nashik, Varanasi, Pahalgam – have registered their teams and appointed team captains for the competition. As a next step, citizens are invited to join their respective city teams on the official MyGov portal from 11th September 2022 onwards. The link for citizen registration is as follows: https://innovateindia.mygov.in/swachhyouthrally/. This link will be live till 6PM on 17th September 2022. This initiative has already generated a lot of excitement and interest amongst the youth fraternity. Various other interesting initiatives have been lined up during the fortnight such as the Start-Up Challenge Forum, Toycathon- Making toys from waste, Technology Exhibition, Swachh Seher Samvad, etc finally culminating with the observation of Swachh Bharat Diwas on Gandhi Jayanti.
