Satyagraha to Swachhagrah: Narendra Modi addresses rally in Champaran

Around 20,000 Swachhagrahis to attend Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address in Bihar on Tuesday

Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived Motihari to commemorate the concluding ceremony of the Champaran Satyagraha's of centenary celebrations. The theme of the centenary celebrations of the Champaran Satyagraha is "Satyagraha se Swachhagrah" to promote Swachh Bharat mission. Prime Minister Modi was received by Bihar Governor Saatyapal Malik, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan and several senior BJP leaders. 

Narendra Modi also flagged off India's first 12,000 horsepower electric locomotive from Bihar's Madhepura locomotive factory on Tuesday. 

1. Satyagrah se Swachhagrah:  

Around 20,000 Swachhagrahis attended Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address in Bihar on Tuesday.  "The Prime Minister's message to Swachhagrahis will be a true tribute to Bapu (Mahatma Gandhi) from the land of Champaran, especially on the occasion of the concluding ceremony of Satyagraha centenary celebrations,"  East Champaran District Magistrate Raman Kumar told reporters on Monday. 

2. Narendra Modi felicitates Swachhagrahis :

Swachhagrahis are the ambassadors of cleanliness movement. They are the 'foot soldiers' and motivators to implement the Community Approaches to Sanitation (CAS) at the village level. Around 10,000 Swachhagrahis from several parts of Bihar and rest from other states will be attending the event by PM Modi.

Narendra Modi felicitated the Swacchagrahi champions in East Champaran for their support, dedidation and commitment towards Swacch Bharat mission. 

3. Who are Swachhagrahis?

Swachhagrahis are key to driving progress towards achieving an open defecation free nation. The efforts are on to make the district open-defecation free (ODF) by April 10,  East Champaran District Magistrate Raman Kumar said. "More than 55 per cent households in East Champaran have been declared ODF till date. The district officials are making efforts to achieve cent per cent ODF status by April 10," Kumar added.

4. Prime Minister Modi unveiled several development projects on this occasion — the inauguration of Motijheel Project, Bettiah Nagar Parishad water supply scheme under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), doubling of Railway lines between Muzaffarpur and Sagauli, Sagauli and Valmikinagar. 

5. Developed at Madhepura's Electric Locomotive Factory, PM Modi launched India's first 12,000 horsepower electric locomotive. This train is the first big Make-in-India project completed by Alstom of France. With 100% electrification, the new locomotive will not only bring down operating costs for the Railways but will significantly cut down greenhouse gas emissions as well. Each double section locomotive will have a hauling capacity of 6,000 tonnes. With a speed of 120 km/hr, the high-speed all-electric locomotive will reduce the congestion faced by Indian railways. The heavy haulage locomotives will be used transport coal and iron ore confirmed a senior railway ministry official.

6. Modi will lay the foundation stone for four sewerage projects in Patna, an official release said on Monday. The entire sewerage projects will cost the government Rs 11.11 million. The four plants, along with 29 other ongoing projects in Bihar under the Namami Gange scheme, once completed will leave no untreated sewage water from Patna flowing into Ganga.
 

7. Under the Make-in-India project, about 35 locos will be manufactured at the Madhepura facility in the next fiscal (2019-20) and 60 in 2020-21. This project creates thousands of jobs for the local people as 90% of the components sourced locally, Alstom said in a press release.

8. In April 2017, Bihar government launched a year-long celebration to mark the centenary of Champaran Satyagraha movement of Mahatma Gandhi. India's first civil disobedience movement was started by Mahatma Gandhi Champaran district of Bihar. Champaran is known as the place where Mahatma Gandhi started his first experiments in Satyagraha.

9. World famous sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik made a sand art on with message ChaloChamparan to promote Swachh Bharat.
 

10. PM Narendra Modi also likely to flagged off a new bi-weekly train, Humsafar Express, connecting Katihar to New Delhi.