In honour of the nation’s father, Mahatma Gandhi, SJS GGSSS, Silana observed Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, or the Clean India Mission, on Sept. 30, 2023, on the school grounds. Mahinder Singh Yadav, the principal of the school, and the Sarpanch of the Gram Panchayat Silana graced the occasion with their presence. The children took part in the programme by cleaning the school premises.
Mahatma Gandhi’s Cleanliness Vision: Its Legacy
Mahatma Gandhi, often known as Bapu, had a clear idea about how clean India should be. He was adamant that maintaining personal hygiene was essential to advancing society’s standards of living as well as the economy. Gandhi famously said, “Sanitation is more important than Independence.” This statement demonstrates his love for cleanliness. He understood that a healthy and wealthy country required a clean environment.
Three key components comprised Gandhi’s vision for cleanliness: the elimination of untouchability, self-governance through Swaraj, and hygiene. He thought that obtaining true independence and self-reliance was linked to the concept of cleanliness. His mission was to purify not just the nation’s physical regions but also its social fibre.
Swachh Bharat Abhiyan: An Integrated Method
In keeping with Gandhi’s vision, India started the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, a national cleanliness campaign, in 2014. By concentrating on many aspects of cleanliness, such as waste collection, segregation and management, clean water and air, e-waste management, and universal sanitation coverage through community engagement, this mission sought to integrate cleanliness into everyday life.
SJS GGSSS, Silana: An Example of Hygiene
One excellent example of a school that actively upholds the values of cleanliness and community involvement is SJS GGSSS, Silana. Along with honouring the Mahatma, the school teaches its children environmental responsibility and hygiene by celebrating Swachh Bharat Abhiyan on Gandhi Jayanti.
Speech by Principal Mahinder Singh Yadav
In his speech to the programme, Principal Mahinder Singh Yadav stressed the value of cleanliness as a way of life. He emphasised how keeping things clean not only improves the physical surroundings but also helps people develop a sense of self-control and accountability. Principal Yadav challenged the kids to be the future change-makers and to continue the legacy of cleanliness.
Sarpanch’s Motivation
Additionally honouring the event and expressing his support for the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan was the Gramme Panchayat Silana Sarpanch. He commended the school’s and its kids’ efforts in helping the community’s cleanliness campaign. The Sarpanch emphasised the value of working together to create a cleaner, healthier environment for everybody.
Student Involvement
The students’ enthusiastic involvement was the focal point of the festivities. By helping to clean the school grounds, they demonstrated their dedication to Gandhi’s idea of a clean environment. In addition to reiterating the need of hygiene, this practical experience gave the children a sense of pride and ownership.
In summary
Upon contemplating the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan event at SJS GGSSS, Silana, we are struck by the lasting impact of Mahatma Gandhi. People all around the country, including towns, schools, and individuals, are still motivated by his vision of a clean and self-sufficient India. India’s population hold the key to a cleaner future, as demonstrated by the celebration held at SJS GGSSS, Silana. With widespread involvement and community involvement, we can make Gandhi’s vision of cleanliness a reality.
Let’s all make a commitment to improving our country and keeping our surroundings clean in the spirit of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi initiated the “Swachh Bharat Abhiyan”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi initiated the “Swachh Bharat Abhiyan” (Clean India Mission) on October 2, 2014, the 145th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s birth. This marked the beginning of India’s quest to integrate cleanliness into everyday life.
“Sanitation is more important than Independence,” as Gandhi once stated. His love of hygiene dates back to his time spent living in South Africa (1893-1914). Back ago, the Indian population was not renowned for maintaining tidy homes and surrounding areas. Gandhi worked with the community to implement voluntary steps to maintain cleanliness in an effort to alter this image.
Gandhi had three goals in mind for a clean nation: eradicating untouchability, promoting Swaraj, and promoting hygiene. “During my wanderings, nothing has been so painful to me as to observe our insanitation throughout the length and breadth of the land,” Gandhi remarked during one of his talks un Mandvi, Gujarat.
Gandhi believed that hygiene and independence went hand in hand. “All the religions in the world forbid the pollution of streams, their banks, public roads, and all thoroughfares,” the author said in one of his essays that was published in Young India. Ignorance or laziness is the sin that gave rise to this pollution.
After 75 years of independence, due to significant urbanisation, technical advancements, and economic growth, cleanliness has reached unprecedented heights. The Swachh Bharat Mission, which takes its lead from Gandhi’s concept of cleanliness, is multifaceted in nature and seeks to create a “Clean India” through trash collection, management and segregation, clean water and air, e-waste management, and community involvement in the implementation of universal sanitation coverage.
With the construction of 107.1 million toilets under the Swachh Bharat Mission, over 603 thousand villages and 711 districts are now devoid of open defecation. The goal of the Jal Jeevan Mission is to supply all rural homes with tap connections that provide clean and sufficient drinking water by the year 2024. Since the mission’s inception, tap connections have been placed in over 50 million homes.
The National Mission for Clean Ganga, or Namami Gange, is one of the initiatives the government is using to clean up India’s rivers. The project work on the reduction of pollution in rivers and their conservation and regeneration has begun, with a budget expenditure of INR 200 billion. The initiative addresses a number of topics, including industrial wastewater monitoring, riverfront development, surface cleaning of rivers, and biodiversity. Out of the 346 initiatives started under the mission, 158 have been finished thus far.
Additionally, the government is spearheading a significant campaign for proper trash management. As part of the project, measures for garbage collection from door to door, separation of dry and wet trash, etc., were implemented. As a consequence, 100% of 85,209 wards, or 4,520 cities, have had their waste collected door to door.
India’s Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016 and Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2021 aim to phase out single-use plastic by 2022. Through the Swachh Bharat Mission, it is also attempting to develop the waste management infrastructure in states and union territories.
Today, the entire globe is concerned about electronic garbage, or “e-waste.” Companies that manufacture or sell electronic equipment are required by the government’s E-waste (Management) Rules 2016, which were passed in 2017 and further amended in 2018, to make sure that, under the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) programme, the weight of the e-waste collected annually equals at least 10% of the total amount of waste they generate, with an annual increase of 10% until 2023.
Another way that the CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre (CII-Godrej GBC) supports the cause is by providing e-waste recyclers with a voluntary rating.
Another problem being tackled by the Swachh Bharat Mission is air pollution. Aiming to lower particulate matter concentrations by 20–30% by 2024, the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) has targeted 122 cities using air quality data from 2014–2018. Under the auspices of the Cleaner Air, Better Life Initiative, CII has also been tackling the problem of stubble burning to improve the quality of the air in northern India through its Crop Residue Management (CRM) Project.
The goal of Clean India cannot be achieved without widespread involvement and community involvement. Let’s step up and join the effort to make Mahatma Gandhi’s dream of cleanliness a reality as we honour his birth anniversary.