Centre to rope in multiple ambassadors for Swachh Bharat Abhiyan

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Bollywood actress Vidya Balan might not be the sole brand ambassador of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pet Swachh Bharat Abhiyan project.

The government is planning to rope in state-specific celebrities and eminent persons to publicise the programme. Noted personalities from districts and villages could also be roped in to spread the message of the programme.

"The idea is that there would be a super-brand ambassador at the national level, while we would also approach local-level eminent personalities and celebrities to become brand ambassadors for Swachh Bharat Abhiyan," said a senior official from the ministry of rural development, the nodal ministry for the programme.

He said sportsmen from states and writers could be approached to push the programme to the ground level.

Balan was first associated with the sanitation campaign during the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government when the then Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh roped her in for the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan, a scheme similar to the current one.

She has reportedly also been approached by the Madhya Pradesh government to be the brand ambassador for handloom saris made in the state. Balan, along with Amitabh Bachchan, is among the top celebrities taking the role of brand ambassador for social campaigns. Her television commercial on the need for building toilets at home is well received.

"The idea is not to lower the stature of a brand ambassador, but to create multiple ambassadors to take the message of stopping open defecation deeper into the hinterlands," said the official.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) is another organisation that follows the same concept of having multiple ambassadors to encourage people to vote. For state polls, it has a separate set of ambassadors who are different from those for national elections.

"Much of this depends on the programme and the message. If any social campaign has a strong local thrust, then I feel it is perfectly legitimate to have multiple brand ambassadors. In fact, for commercial campaigns, too, companies adopt this strategy of having different ambassadors for non-Hindi speaking states," Santosh Desai, managing director and CEO of Futurebrands India, told Business Standard.

The Centre is also in the process of devising a model law under which municipalities can impose fines on those found spitting, urinating and throwing garbage at public places.

Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's flagship programme, was announced during his maiden Independence Day speech last year. The programme has two components; rural and urban. The programme aims to make India open defecation-free in the next few years, by subsidising construction of toilets in villages, households and also schools.

An additional objective of the programme is also to inculcate a sense of hygiene and cleanliness among people.

BRAND BOOSTER

• Swachh Bharat Abhiyan may have more ambassadors at state and district levels; Vidya Balan at national level
  

 

Brands ambassadors likely to be state-level or district-level celebrities and eminent personalities
 

Vidya Balan first made brand ambassador of the campaign during the UPA government, when it was known as the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan
 

Election Commission, too, has national- and state-level brand ambassadors to encourage voting