1. Introduction:
To accelerate the progress of sanitation in rural areas, Government of India is implementing from 1.4.2012, the ‘Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan
(NBA)’, a Centrally Sponsored Scheme [earlier Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC)]. Similarly, to provide drinking water to rural population in adequate quantity, the Govt. of India is implementing a centrally sponsored Scheme called the National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP).
New Delhi:
The union cabinet Wednesday gave its approval for restructuring of “Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan"” into "Swachh Bharat Mission". The programme is aimed at creating a clean India by 2019 with people's participation.
"The cabinet has approved the Swachh Bharat Mission," union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said here after a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Prasad said the mission will be launched Oct 2, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
The prime minister has been striving to make the mission a mass movement.
The cabinet also approved a "Swachh Bharat Mission" for urban areas, which will be part of a joint "Swachh Bharat Mission" which has another component for rural areas. The drinking water and sanitation ministry will implement the programme in rural areas while the urban development ministry will do the same in urban areas.
"The 'Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan' will be restructured into the 'Swachh Bharat Mission' with two sub-missions - 'Swachh Bharat Mission' (rural) and 'Swachh Bharat Mission' (urban). Budgetary provisions for the two sub-missions will be provided separately in the demand for grant of the ministries of drinking water and sanitation (for rural) and ministry of urban development (for urban)," an official statement said.
“I take this pledge that I will remain committed towards cleanliness and devote time for this. I will devote 100 hours per year — that is two hours per week — to voluntary work for cleanliness. I will neither litter nor let others