Prime Minister Narendra Modi encouraged school children to adopt a hygienic way of living while linking its importance to containing the coronavirus pandemic while inaugurating the Rashtriya Swachhata Kendra. The initiative is an interactive experience centre on Swachh Bharat Mission established in Delhi to showcase various aspect of the flagship social change drive undertaken by the NDA government in its first term between 2014 and 2019.
“I am happy to see that you are interested in issues of cleanliness,” he told a group of 36 school kids, who were picked to represent the 36 states and Union Territories of the Indian federal state.
“We have to step out and carry out our business and still safeguard ourselves from Corona. For this we have to wear masks, maintain 6 ft distance and avoid spitting in the open,” PM Modi told the children.
Earlier, the PM watched a short video on ‘Swachh Bharat Mission’ at the Rashtriya Swachhta Kendra. He also went through a 360 degree audio-visual show, which narrates the sanitation journey in a story form.
The 11 zones at the centre represent the 5 year journey of the Swachh Bharat Mission from 2014 to 2019 depicting the behavioral change brought up in 6 lakh villages for giving up open defecation practice. This is often described as the largest behaviour change campaign in the history of the world.
The first zone at the centre contains Mahatma Gandhi ‘s thoughts on sanitation and cleanliness, captured through hologram technology and audio visuals.
Second zone presents the sanitation related problems that existed before the drive began including open defecation and safety and hygiene risks posed to women, elderly and children of the family who were forced to relieve themselves in the open.
Fourth zone displays the process to be followed to achieve complete sanitation and the fifth zone displays various milestones, launches, campaigns and other information of the drive broken up into years.
Sixth zone lists contributions of the women folk including women sarpanches, Aasha workers in making the drive successful through awareness drives.
Another zone is dedicated to Swachhta Champions—listing inspirational stories of such personalities who have made remarkable and defining contributions in the field.
The Rashtriya Swachhata Kendra is a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi.
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