The Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi in his maiden Independence Day Speech committed to a “Swachh Bharat” by 2019 as fitting tribute to 150th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. He emphasized on providing of toilets for all schools by Aug 2015 and for making India “Open Defection Free” by 2019.

The Chief Minister Shree Vijaybhai Rupani  – One important aspect of swachhtaa Abhiyaan is, making the state 100% open-defecation free. Open-defecation leads to unhygienic and unhealthy conditions, exposing the people, specially the poor, to public health risks. Government of Gujarat is dedicated to the cause of providing in-house toilet facilities to every household across the state.

Still today, almost 40% of the world population do not have access to something as basic as a clean toilet. Hand-washing with soap before eating and after using the toilet (the most critical hygiene behaviour) is not yet practised widely or consistently. The consequences are severe. The global economic damage of poor sanitation is estimated at a staggering USD 260 billion per year, with people in developing nations bearing the brunt of this burden. Diarrhoea caused by dirty water, poor sanitation and a lack of hygiene kills 800,000 people every year, including more children under the age of five than HIV/AIDS, malaria and measles combined.

Now, under the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted in September 2015, the global community has resolved to fix this and achieve safe WAter, Sanitation and good Hygiene (WASH) for all people by 2030.