Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday gave a mantra of 4Ps for a Cleaner world while addressing the end of four-day Mahatma Gandhi International Sanitation Convention. He said that political leadership, public funding, people’s participation and partnerships is the need of the hour for a Cleaner world.
PM Modi asserted that the Swacch Bharat Mission has brought a behavioural change in the people. He further said that the government is focusing on sanitation as well as nutrition.
The Prime Minister also said that rural sanitation was 38 percent in 2014, and now it has gone up to 94 percent. He further added that so far at least five lakh villages have become Open Defecation Free.
PM Modi, on the occasion, said that the noble thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi have given strength to millions across the world. “He was a stalwart who lived for others and to make our world a better place,” PM Modi noted.
Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres congratulated PM Modi for giving priority to sanitation. In his address, Guterres asserted that to reach the Sustainable Development Goals, there is an urgent need to tackle the issue of sanitation as is being done in India. “India is an example of how political will and commitment can help achieve safe sanitation,” he added.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said, “Swacch Bharat Mission is not a government programme, but a people’s movement. The convention, which began on Saturday, was organised by the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation to mark the beginning of the 150th birth anniversary celebrations of Mahatma Gandhi. The convention also coincides with the fourth anniversary of the launch of Swachh Bharat Mission.”
Fifty-three Ministers of Sanitation from around the world and more than 160 international representatives from 68 countries participated in the convention. The conference brought together Sanitation Ministers and other leaders in WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) from around the world. Swachh Bharat Awards were also distributed on the occasion.
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