Kids to take up broom on Nov 14

Come November 14, children across the country will take up brooms to participate in the Clean India campaign. 

The Centre has asked all state governments to launch the “Bal Swachhta Mission” (Children’s Mission for Cleanliness) on Children’s Day, celebrated on November 14 every year to mark the birth anniversary of the first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

The mission intends to rope in children to the “Swatchh Bharat” or Clean India campaign Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched on October 2, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

Vijaylaxmi Joshi, secretary in the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (MDWS), has written to the chief secretaries of all the states, underscoring that children could play a very important role in turning into reality the prime minister’s call for making India clean by 2019. 

“If children can be motivated in keeping themselves clean, their homes, schools and surroundings clean and (are) given the right messages on the importance of sanitation, they can not only contribute immensely towards improving the sanitation situation in the country, but also become ambassadors of cleanliness in their homes and communities,” Joshi wrote to all chief secretaries.