Aafrin Kidwai Union Minister Mr Hardeep Singh Puri has launched Swachhotsav, a three-week women-led swachhata campaign, under the Swachh Bharat Mission Urban 2.0. The campaign aims to recognize and celebrate the transition from women in sanitation to women-led sanitation.
A series of events and activities will be organized across cities to celebrate women from all walks of life, who will provide leadership in making the mission of garbage-free cities (GFC) a success.
At the launch, the first edition of Women Icons leading Sanitation & Waste Management (WINS) Challenge-2023 was announced. The WINS Challenge-2023 will recognize high-impact women entrepreneurs or women-led enterprises working to achieve urban swachhata. The nominations for the WINS Awards-2023 will begin from March 8 onwards.
The Swachhata Yatra will kick off on 10th March and conclude on 30th March, which has been declared as International Day of Zero Waste by the United Nations General Assembly. Representatives of 34 States/UTs will be traveling to 24 States/UTs as part of the Yatra. It is a one-of-a-kind inter-state peer learning initiative that will encourage members of Area Level Federations (ALF) or Self-Help Groups (SHG) to travel to selected cities as ‘Swachhata Doots’. Also, during the yatra Women Self Help Groups (SHGs) will be invigorated to vow their commitment to the vision of ‘Garbage-Free Cities’ through the pledge for swachhata.
Swachh Mashaal March will set the tone for the ‘Women-led Swachhotsav’ on 30th March, which will follow cleanliness drives to be held at public places, open plots, water bodies, railway tracks, public toilets in every ward of a participating ULB.
Cities will create a network of 75,000 GFC Influencers or Garbage Free City Influencers across India in sanitation and waste management during the campaign period. These women swachhata warriors will be trained for sanitation to create a conducive environment to mainstream their leadership in sanitation.
The women-led swachhata campaign aims to celebrate women and their leadership and contribution towards a sustainable future. The campaign aims to not only create a peer learning network but to encourage women at large to join the mission of urban swachhata.
Disclaimer: This article is taken from a press release issued by the Press Information Bureau.
