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The two-day Maha Swachhta Abhiyan, which spread the message of ‘Ek Kadam Swachhata Ki Or’, witnessed massive participation across the state of Maharashtra. The event, which was kick started on January 11th, saw thousands of students come up with novel ideas on Swachh Bharat through their drawings. The drawings were not only impressive on their account of abstraction and visualization but also on being reflective of the innocence and inherent natural talent of school children. Each school, among the 2,900 other participating schools, will select three best drawings. These drawings, which are soon to be displayed at a national level exhibition in Pune, are sure to get thousands of eyeballs.

The events of Maha Swachhta Abhiyan were organized during January 11 & 12, 2019 by Regional Outreach Bureau Pune, Government of India in collaboration with Department of Education, Government of Maharashtra.

The Regional Outreach Bureau has been tasked by the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs, Government of India for the Swachh Bharat Information, Education and Communication activities across Maharashtra region. Nearly 116 Special Outreach programmes associated with cultural activities are to be organised as a part of the IEC activities.

As part of the campaign, the main focus has been on making citizens aware of the benefits of clean living and on promoting citizen participation and awareness towards a cleaner India.On January 12th, the National Youth day, the concept and vision of Swachh Bharat was taken to another level by the participating schools. The Swachhta Activities in the school premises were carried out by the students in the morning with pioneering zest and keenness. This was followed by a Swachh Bharat Oath dictated by school authorities. Several dignitaries also participated in the Swachh Bharat oath. Maharashtra State Cabinet Minister Shri Eknath Shinde inaugurated the events at Anand Vishwa Gurukul School in Thane.

Guardian Minister Shri Eknath Shinde taking Swachhta pledge at Maha Swachhta Rally at Anand Vishwa Gurukul, Thane.

In Amravati, Member of Parliament Shri Anandrao Adsul initiated the events.  Several legislators, Mayors, Senior Central and State Government officers were present across the state for the Oath taking ceremony.MP Shri Anandrao Adsul  lighting the lamp at the rally at Shriram Highschool, Vadali.

Director General (West Zone), Ministry of I&B, Shri R. N. Mishra flagged off Maha Swachhta rally at R. C. Patel High School, Borivali.

Education commissioner, Government of Maharashra Shri Vishal Solanki IAS; Director (Addl Charge) Regional Outreach Bureau, Pune Shri Santosh Ajmera IIS; and Deputy Director, PIB Goa, Shri Vinod Kumar I.I.S, Government of India marked the inauguration of the events in New English School, Pune. Speaking on the occasion, DG PIB Mumbai Shri R.N. Mishra commented that “An event of such scale at 2,900 schools with participation of 5 lakh students reaching out to more than 1 million population, is one of its kind. I am very happy that students are a part of this whole movement, which will lay a strong foundation for a clean India in the future”.

After the Oath taking ceremony, the students proceeded on a one-and-a-half kilometer rally spreading the tenets of Swachh Bharat. Students displayed their creativity in the form of fancy dresses and slogans on the rally. The rally was flagged off by the Chief Guest. More than half a million school children participated in the Oath taking ceremony and the rally.  After the rally and refreshments, each student proceeded to Shopkeepers and retail vendors near their neighbourhood, encouraging them to take the Swachh Bharat Oath. Each student was motivated to reach out to minimum twenty shopkeepers/retail vendors, thus taking the overall reach of campaign to more than one crore citizens.

More details on the event can be found at the Twitter Handle of ROB Pune here; https://twitter.com/maha_rob

ROB Pune

Regional Ourteach Bureau Pune has nearly 11 field units located across the state. ROB has recently been rechristened by merging the various media units of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India viz. Directorate of Field Publicity, Directorate of Audio Visual Publicity and Song & Drama Division (S&DD). ROB is responsible for various outreach activities of Government of India and has to reach out to people with awareness campaigns regarding various plans, policies and flagship schemes of the Government in the entire Maharashtra and Goa region. ROB carries out outreach programmes and campaigns at the field levels and ensures that development communication reaches the last mile.

Swachh Bharat Mission

Swachh Bharat Mission is a nation-wide campaign in India for the period 2014 to 2019 that aims to clean up the streets, roads and infrastructure of India’s cities, towns, and rural areas. The objectives of Swachh Bharat Mission include eliminating open defecation through the construction of household-owned and community-owned toilets and establishing an accountable mechanism of monitoring toilet use. The mission will also contribute to India reaching Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6), established by the UN in 2015. To accelerate the efforts to achieve universal sanitation coverage and to put focus on sanitation, the Prime Minister of India launched the Swachh Bharat Mission on 2nd October, 2014. It is India’s largest cleanliness drive to date with three million government employees and students from all parts of India participating in 4,041 cities, towns, and rural areas. Hon’ble Prime Minister NarendraModi has called the campaign ‘Satyagraha se Swachhagraha’ in reference to Gandhi’s Champaran Satyagraha launched on 10 April 1917.The mission has two thrusts: Swachh Bharat Mission (“gramin” or ‘rural’), which operates under the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation; and Swachh Bharat Mission (‘urban’), which operates under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. Together, the aim is to achieve Swachh Bharat by 2019, as a fitting tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th Birth Anniversary.