“Satyagraha se Swachhagraha” campaign

• The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi addressed 20,000 Swachhagrahis in Motihari, East Champaran district of Bihar.
• This event marked the culmination of a weeklong “Satyagraha se Swachhagraha” campaign run in Bihar from 3rd April onwards.
• At this event, associated with the clarion call “Chalo Champaran”, the Prime Minister also awarded ten Swachhagrahis who have performed outstandingly in their villages.
• In the run-up to this event, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, in coordination with the Government of Bihar, worked to spread the message of Swachhata by initiating the “Satyagraha se Swachhagraha” campaign, from 3rd to 10th April.

Background:

• Mahatma Gandhi launched the Champaran Satyagraha over a century ago, on 10th April, 1917, to give the country freedom from foreign rule.
• April 10th, 2018 marks the end of the centenary year celebrations of the Champaran Satyagraha, and is going to be celebrated through the “Satyagraha se Swachhagraha” campaign, which is aimed at achieving freedom from filth.

Analysis:

• Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) Gramin, launched on October 2, 2014 is the largest behaviour change campaign ever attempted in the field of sanitation in the world.
• It aims to build an ODF (Open Defecation Free) and Swachh Bharat by October 2, 2019 as a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th birth anniversary.
• India is witnessing a sanitation revolution with the number of people in rural India, practising open defecation having fallen from 55 crores in October 2014 to 20 crores by April 2018.
• Sanitation has been proven, by various independent studies, to have a positive economic as well as health impact on families in rural India.
• Under the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin), 6.7 crore toilets have been built, 3.5 lakhs villages and over 360 districts, and 14 States and UTs have already been declared ODF.
• A recent survey conducted by an Independent Verification Agency across 90,000 households in over 6000 villages has found the rural toilet coverage to be 77% and the usage of these toilets to be 93.4%. The progress is accelerating every day and the Mission is on track to achieve an ODF India before October 2nd, 2019.

By: Vishal