Active Stocks
Tue Mar 19 2024 10:01:05
  1. Tata Consultancy Services share price
  2. 4,032.60 -2.71%
  1. Tata Steel share price
  2. 150.00 0.27%
  1. NTPC share price
  2. 313.55 -1.14%
  1. HDFC Bank share price
  2. 1,442.00 -0.29%
  1. ITC share price
  2. 416.40 -0.24%
Business News/ Politics / Policy/  India’s new broom PM sweeps clean
BackBack

India’s new broom PM sweeps clean

Narendra Modi to launch 'Clean India' mission along with an app to upload pictures, videos from campaign

Narendra Modi will launch a mobile app that will enable the pictures to be uploaded online, according to officials at the Prime Minister’s Office familiar with the plan. Photo: Hindustan TimesPremium
Narendra Modi will launch a mobile app that will enable the pictures to be uploaded online, according to officials at the Prime Minister’s Office familiar with the plan. Photo: Hindustan Times

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch the Clean India mission on Thursday on the lines of the ‘ice bucket challenge’—he will personally clean up a public place, post before-and-after pictures and a video on social media networks and tag nine luminaries to follow suit.

Guru Sri Sri Ravishankar may be one of the nine, Mint learns.

Modi, 64, fresh from a visit to the US where he had his first meeting with President Barack Obama, will launch a mobile app that will enable the pictures to be uploaded online, according to officials at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) familiar with the plan.

“The PMO was keen on developing an app specifically for this campaign. Besides before-and-after pictures, the app will also allow videos to be uploaded," said an official close to the development who didn’t want to be named.

The first Indian prime minister to put sanitation and public hygiene at the top of his governance agenda, Modi is borrowing a leaf from the book of independence hero Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, a fellow Gujarati who laid great store by cleanliness and its connection with good health.

Modi, who announced the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Campaign) on Independence Day, is launching the five-year mission on Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday. The campaign is also aimed at ending the practice of open defecation, ensuring every household has a toilet and making the country rubbish-free by 2019, the 150th anniversary of Gandhi’s birth.

The place chosen for the PM to start the cleanliness drive is Valmiki Basti on New Delhi’s Mandir Marg, an urban slum cluster where Mahatma Gandhi once lived. Ministers and members of parliament will join the drive in various slums of around the capital. Health minister Harsh Vardhan will be cleaning New Delhi Railway Station.

After his trip to Valmiki Basti, the Prime Minister will administer a pledge to clean India at India Gate, a First World War memorial.

All government employees and the public are being encouraged to join the nation-wide campaign. The PMO is hoping to draw celebrities, politicians, innovators, businessmen and young people by taking the campaign viral on social media.

“As a part of the “Swachh Bharat Mission", the Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) under the Ministries of Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy will construct 50,000 toilets in schools all over the country within next one year up to August 2015. The work of 1001 toilets will begin tomorrow, 2nd October 2014 in various states," said a government statement on Wednesday.

Modi famously said in his election campaign that building toilets was more important than constructing temples in a country where about 53% of the households have no access to toilets. On a recent visit to Bangalore, a city struggling with garbage, he asked citizens to contribute 100 hours of their time every year to keep India clean.

Unlock a world of Benefits! From insightful newsletters to real-time stock tracking, breaking news and a personalized newsfeed – it's all here, just a click away! Login Now!

Catch all the Politics News and Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates & Live Business News.
More Less
Published: 02 Oct 2014, 12:06 AM IST
Next Story footLogo
Recommended For You
Switch to the Mint app for fast and personalized news - Get App