Beach Cleaning campaign’s success vindicates ‘Whole of Government’ approach: Dr Jitendra
STATE TIMES NEWS
NEW DELHI: Union Minister, Dr Jitendra Singh said here on Thursday that the recently concluded 75-day long Beach Cleaning campaign’s success vindicates the “whole of Government” approach.
Chairing a meeting to review the recently concluded “Swachh Sagar, Surakshit Sagar” campaign from 5th July to 17th September which is observed as “International Coastal Clean Up Day”, Dr Jitendra acknowledged the support of over a dozen Union Ministries for its grand success, while the nodal Ministry was the Ministry of Earth Sciences headed by him.
The Minister thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who in his latest “Mann ki Baat” broadcast, mentioned the “Swachh Sagar – Surakshit Sagar” campaign and the mass public participation in it.
Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Dr M. Ravichandran, Secretary, DARPG, V.Srinivas, DG, Coast Guard, V.S.Pathania, Shri Gopal Arya from Paryavaran Sanrakshan Gatividhi and representatives of Environment Ministry and senior officials joined the review meeting.
Dr. Jitendra said that India’s 7500 km-long coastline will play a vital role in shaping up India’s Vision @ 2047 and added that we need to leverage our under utilised oceanic resources in order to advance the economic growth of our nation.
The Minister said, a high-level team constituted to organise year long activities on coastal clean-up will also coordinate in India’s Deep Sea Mission.
Referring to the Swachh Bharat Mission launched on 2nd October, 2014 after the Prime Minister’s announcement from the Red Fort during his first Independence Day address on 15th August, 2014, Dr Jitendra said, the whole of government approach has combined with whole of nation approach to make swachhata a true Jan Andolan by bringing about the largest behavioural change in the world.
He said, the SBM’s emphasis on behavioural change in rural sanitation at the grassroots level also led to rigorous verification and sustainability of the benefits accrued to rural communities.
Dr Jitendra Singh lauded the role of the Ministry of Earth Sciences in executing such a mammoth task of simultaneous coastal clean-up and sea beach cleaning across all the sea beaches along 7,500 km long coastline of India.
