Govt to launch 'Swachh Bharat Mission'

Narendra Modi government will launch a new mission to tackle sanitation and waste management issues in the country, which will also be a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th birth anniversary.
Outlining the government's policy in the joint session of Parliament, President Pranab Mukherjee today said for ensuring hygiene, waste management and sanitation across the nation, a "Swachh Bharat Mission" will be launched.
"We must not tolerate the indignity of homes without toilets and public spaces littered with garbage," the President said in his address.
He said the "Swachh Bharat Mission" will be "our tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th birth anniversary to be celebrated in the year 2019."

Addressing a programme in Delhi last year, Modi had highlighted the need of proper sanitation in the country.
"Build toilets first and temples later," he had said at a function organised for the youth.

"I am known to be a Hindutva leader. My image does not permit to say so, but I dare to say. My real thought is - Pehle shauchalaya, phir devalaya' (temple first, toilet later)," he had said.
The Modi government's announcement also came a month after a recent report jointly prepared by the WHO and the UNICEF said that 597 million people practice open defecation in India.

Successive governments at the Centre have tried to address the issue of sanitation.
During his stint in Drinking Water and Sanitation Ministry in UPA government in 2012, Jairam Ramesh had launched a programme called Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (NBA) to address the matter.
It was the rechristened version of the Total Sanitation Campaign launched in 1999. Before that in 1986, the then government had had launched the Central Rural Sanitation Programme.
When asked about his reaction, Ramesh said parties are not divided on the issue.