There numerous landmark initiatives taken by the present Government which have really transformed entire life of a person besides helping in steady growth of the country on the path of progress and prosperity. It is not that the earlier Governments did nothing for the country by the matter of fact is that quantum of development, which people witnessed during last eight years, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was earlier never witnessed before. It is only due to the people-centric approach and dedicated working of the Government that at present, the nation is 5th largest economy of the world behind just 4 countries. Among numerous such initiatives, a major one was Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, aimed to ensure a neat, clean and green Bharat as per the vision of Mahatma Gandhi. It is really matter of immense pleasure and joy that this campaign has now taken form of a mass movement, with every citizen participating in it actively and contributing his or her but for achieving the goal. Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Jal Shakti, has started a fortnightly campaign, ‘Swachhta Hi Sewa’ (SHS) to accelerate the efforts towards complete sanitation in rural India. It is a massive community mobilization drive for cleaning up of legacy waste and activities for solid waste management. As part of this annual campaign, States are requested to organise activities with the objectives of (i) ensuring community mobilization and participation, a ‘Jan Andolan’ towards Open Defecation Free (ODF) Plus villages (ii) disseminating importance of a ‘Sampoorn Swachh’ village (iii) reinforcing the concept of ‘Sanitation as everyone’s business’ and (v) commemorating Swachh Bharat Diwas (2nd October) at the village level. The Campaign has started from today i.e.15th September and will culminate on 2nd October. It is hoped that where on one hand SHS will accelerate efforts towards complete sanitation in rural India, on the other hand it will emerge as a massive community mobilization drive for cleaning up of legacy waste and activities for solid waste management at village level. The calendar of activities planned for the campaign include Shramdaan with massive peoples’ participation (September 15-17), United India for Swachhta in 9 States (September 26- 28) while Gram Sabha meetings for ODF Plus village declarations and other activities; and Awarding Swachh Survekshan Grameen (SSG) 2022 winners at National level will be done on October 2, the Swachh Bharat Diwas. A virtual conference (VC) was also conducted with the States under the co-chairmanship of Union Minster of Jal Shakti and Union Minister of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, in this regard wherein Union Ministers urged the participants for 3 dedicated days of concerted efforts on September 15, 16 and 17 as ‘Shramdaan’ on cleanliness activities particularly cleaning of legacy waste sites and public places. The key activities that will be organised in the villages under this campaign include, cleaning of legacy waste sites in the villages, construction of waste collection & segregation sheds/centres, keeping the areas near water bodies clean and doing tree plantation around them, community awareness for segregation of waste (dry and wet) at source, purchasing waste collection vehicle like tricycle/E-cart (battery operated vehicle) through GeM, Door to door collection of non-biodegradable waste like plastics, generate awareness about the ill effects of Single Use Plastics (SUP) by organizing Gram Sabha meetings and passing resolutions for ban on SUPs, promoting 4-R principle for Plastic Waste Management – Refuse, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, Sarpanch Samvads on ODF Plus elements, holding massive IEC and mass media campaign with wide range of activities as wall paintings, Nukkad Nataks, Swachhta Raths, social media material, gram sabhas to educate people through IPC, slogan-writing/pledge taking for ‘No Littering’ and updating daily progress of activities at SHS portal.
