Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will honor Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a laurate for an unprecedented nationwide project of constructing toilets in India. Eliminating open defecation from India is part of an ambitious project ‘Swach Bharat Abhiyaan‘ or ‘Clean India Mission’ launched by Prime Minister Modi when he came to power in 2014.
Dr. Jitendra Singh, Minister of State for Ministry of Development of Northeast Region and MoS for Prime Minister’s Office, informed the public in his tweet on Monday. “Another award, another moment of pride for every Indian as PM Modi’s diligent and innovative initiatives bring laurels from across the world. PM Modi to receive an award from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan during his visit to the US,” wrote Minister Singh in his tweet. PM Modi will receive an award during Bill Gate’s visit to India.
Another award,another moment of pride for every Indian, as PM Modi's diligent and innovative initiatives bring laurels from across the world.
Sh @narendramodi to receive award from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for #SwachhBharatAbhiyaan during his visit to the United States. pic.twitter.com/QlsxOWS6jT— Dr Jitendra Singh (@DrJitendraSingh) September 2, 2019
Swach Bharat Mission
Swach Bharat Abhiyaan, a big-scale cleanliness project initiated five years ago intended for achieving clean roads, streets, and infrastructure of the countries’ cities. Building up 9 crore toilets throughout India by 2019 was part of the strategy to clean Indian, open defecation and unavailability of toilets facility in homes is a quandary for India and a major threat to its environment.
It was inaugurated on October 2nd, 2014 as a homage to leader Mahatma Gandhi on his birth anniversary. It has two sub-mission namely, Swach Bharat Mission (Urban) and Swach Bharat Mission (Gramin) to accelerate the universal sanitation coverage in India. Aiming for an Open Defecation India is its prime objective, achieved through the construction of community-owned and household toilets. So far, 999 lakh toilets have been built in rural areas and villages. Additionally, a total number of 5, 94,263 villages have been declared open defecation free (ODF).
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Bollywood also actively campaigned for the cause, movie Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, featuring Akshay Kumar was produced with a core objective of convincing people with the benefits of having proper sanitation and toilet facilities at the doorstep. The movie mainly intended for the rural population stressed upon the hazards of open defecation in farms and fields.
Accolades for PM Modi
PM Narendra Modi continues to woo the international community despite the ongoing acute human rights violations in Kashmir. Last month he was conferred with the UAE’s highest civil award Order of Zayed. He also received the Seoul Peace Prize in South Korea earlier this year. Bahrain conferred PM Modi with Bahrain’s Order-First Class also known as ‘King Hamad Order of the Renaissance’, for strengthening bilateral relations of India with the Kingdom of Bahrain.
Russia on April 12, 2019, announced that it had honored Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the Order of St Andrew the Apostle, the highest order of the Russian Federation. UN also honoured PM Modi with Champion of Earth Award for scaling up the use of solar energy.
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Palestine also conferred PM Modi with the ‘Grand Collar of the State of Palestine’ for fostering peaceful relations between the two countries, in 2018.
Saudi Arabia bestowed its highest civil award ‘King Abdulaziz Sash’ by King Salman bin Abdulaziz at the Royal Court of Saudi Arabia in 2016.
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is a private organization established by Bill Gates, American business giant and co-founder of Microsoft. He along with his wife Melinda, funds for charitable welfare projects throughout the world. The foundation is also actively working in Pakistan in collaboration with the government for the eradication of poliovirus from the country.