The ‘Swacch Bharat Abhyaan’, an initiative towards a cleaner India, was launched by the current Prime Minister of Indian on 2nd October, 2014. Being India's biggest cleanliness drive till date, 3 million government employees and numerous school and college students participated in the event.
After many celebrities like Priyanka Chopra, Kamal Hassan and Salman Khan, and politicians like Arvind Kejriwal and Shashi Tharoor joining the drive; the government has appointed its youngest ambassador till now, a 12 year old school girl.
Keeping a young girl at the forefront of a national drive is highly empowering for students and especially female students. After the recent library ban at the Aligarh Muslim University, the government (which expressed the disapproval of their decision,) has given the people of the country a reason to smile.
Rashmi Nayk, a student of Nigam Pratibha Vidyalaya in Defence Colony, was named the ambassador for the 'Swachh Bharat, Swachh Vidyalaya Abhiyan' drive, which was announced by Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani, this Children’s Day.
The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) held a grand celebration at the Ambedkar Stadium where Irani urged students to make efforts to keep their house, school and surroundings clean. SDMC has stated that it will be concentrating on the development of schools, their infrastructure and improving the quality of education.
The 2,500 students of SDMC's primary schools celebrated Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru’s 125th birthday with great enthusiasm. They performed shows dressed in traditional clothes, advocating the ‘One India’ message. Ashish Sood, Chairman (Education Committee) of SDMC, said that the programme was put together with support from three NGOs; Ark, CfBT and M-CRIL.
The government aims to accomplish the vision of 'Clean India' through the ‘Swacch Bharat Abhyaan’ by 2 October 2019, 150th birthday of Mahatma Gandhi. The Campaign is expected to cost over 62000 crore.