Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister, reiterated that the SBM or Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is not confined to cleanliness; it is now a tool of growth that has generated employment for the poor and has given them respect, especially women. Addressing the mission on the occasion of its 10-year celebration, Modi said it has become the shared will of millions of Indians who have adopted it as their necessity.
Modi wanted to thank everyone for the mission: the sweepers, the priests, sportspersons, artists, and others who made the campaign a people’s cause. It is a revolution that may take another one thousand years to materialize, but when the historians compile their study of Independent India in the first decade of the twenty-first century, the Swachh Bharat Mission will emerge as one of the monumental achievements to discuss at length. “It stands for the largest and most effective people’s revolution in the world,” he said.
The Prime Minister noted that the mission has not only improved the state of hygiene and cleanliness in the societies but has also created a lot of employment opportunities in the sectors. He quoted a UNICEF report, which assessed that about 1.35 crore of the population have benefitted from toilet constructions pertaining to the drive.
Remembering the early struggles, Modi said he was laughed at when he first started speaking about toilets and sanitation to the people. He expounded the humiliation that the poor, especially women, suffered daily in the course of searching for a place and time to defecate at night with considerable risks. This form of sanitation has also been instrumental in causing child mortality and diseases due to unsanitary conditions.
In particular, the activities of the mission, according to Modi, need to be carried out as soon as possible because no country can develop under such a scenario. “The situation could not remain the same – that is the conclusion we came up with. We understood it as a national and humanitarian issue, and it grew into a method to clean up India. This mission originated in pain, and efforts created in such circumstances do not disappear.”
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