The massive scale and size on which India is working on sanitation, cleanliness and water, no one has done earlier, said Amitabh Kant, the G20 Sherpa and former CEO of NITI Aayog, at Network18 & Harpic’s Mission Swachhta aur Paani telethon. The most critical initiative taken by the government in the last seven to eight years is the Swachhta Mission, he said.
“Sanitation impacts a vast range of areas. It impacts the health, nutrition, education and livelihoods of people and women in many ways. Therefore, providing close to 10.1 crore toilets across India is like providing every citizen of Germany a toilet…The scale on which India is working on sanitation, no one has done it,” Kant said.
Around 25 million Indians have been provided access to tap water in recent years, he said, adding that sanitation really helps the environment. It impacts life and society.
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The former CEO of the government think tank NITI Aayog also said the Swachhta Mission had brought a behavioural change in the people about using the hard infrastructure.
One of the biggest breakthroughs achieved by India was the use of new technology in making toilets under the Swacchta Mission. The new tech requires less usage of water in toilets.
Kant was speaking at the grand 8-hour telethon under Mission Swachhta aur Paani being organised on World Toilet Day, November 19, by Network18 and Harpic. The Harpic Network18 Mission Paani campaign has been expanded to include Swachhta as well. The campaign is being done to advocate equality for all genders, abilities, castes and classes. It believes that giving access to clean toilets is a shared responsibility.
Despite the government’s efforts to make progress on sanitation, lack of adequate access to water has been one of the key barriers for several Indian homes to maintain cleanliness and hygiene of their toilets.
(Edited by : Sudarsanan Mani)
First Published: Nov 19, 2022 4:47 PM IST
