The Clean Paper Initiative by Government Senior Secondary School in Makha of East Sikkim converts old pages stocked in their school into note books, thereby adding value to paper and reusing the same rather than selling it to scrap vendors. The programme which earns them a small revenue is a part of the school Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.

Sakshi Yadav, an eleven year old school girl from Meedhiki village in Magardha Gram Panchayat of Jabalpur district in Madhya Pradesh had heard about the Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen (SBM-G) campaign both on radio and on television. She was convinced about the need to practice safe sanitation and the need to use toilets. So when the Gram Pradhan, Roop Ram Sena asked her if she had a toilet at home, she was embarrassed and ashamed and decided to do something about it.

Over the last five years, the people of India have rallied behind the clarion call of the Prime Minister and have collectively changed habits that they had held on to for centuries. India has witnessed a sanitation revolution – a movement, of the people, by the people and for the people. This massive people’s movement is arguably the largest behavior change movement of all time.

महात्मा गांधी का कथन है, ‘स्वच्छता, राजनीतिक स्वतंत्रता से अधिक महत्त्वपूर्ण है।’ यह कथन समाज में स्वच्छता के महत्व को रेखांकित करता है। उनके इसी कथन को को मूर्त रूप देने के लिए माननीय प्रधानमंत्री श्री नरेंद्र मोदी ने 15 अगस्त, 2014 को लाल किले की प्राचीर से राष्ट्र को संबोधित करते हुए कहा था कि “हमें गंदगी और खुले में शौच के खिलाफ लड़ाई लड़नी है, हमें पुरानी आदतों को बदलना है और महात्मा गांधी की 150वीं जयंती के वर्ष 2019 तक स्वच्छ भारत का लक्ष्य प्राप्त करना है।” जिसके तहत 15 सितम्बर से 2 अक्टूबर (गांधी जयंती) तक देश भर में एक विशेष स्वच्छता अभियान का आगाज किया गया, जिसे पीएम मोदी ने ‘स्वच्छता ही सेवा’ (क्लीनीनेस इज़ सर्विस) नाम दिया है।

Three years ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a mission that brought together the entire country to fight against an age old, common evil. The journey of Swachh Bharat has been marked by many successes and has been instrumental in bringing about a never-seen-before change.