Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday hailed the Swachh Bharat Mission as the largest and most successful people's movement of the 21st century, emphasising its impact on public health and prosperity.
Speaking at an event to mark 10 years of the mission, Modi said that mass participation had transformed the campaign into a new path to prosperity for India.
"You all made the Swachh Bharat Mission a success," the prime minister said while noting that over 28 crore people took part in more than 27 lakh events organised in just 15 days during the 'Sewa Pakhwada'.
He said chief ministers, ministers, and other representatives played key roles in this national effort and underlined that "continuous efforts can only lead to a clean India." During the event, the prime minister inaugurated projects worth around Rs 10,000 crore under the Swachh Bharat and AMRUT 2.0 missions, which include water and sewage treatment plants across several states.
"When people talk about 21st-century India even after 1,000 years, they will definitely remember the Swachh Bharat Mission," Modi said, emphasising the mission's lasting legacy.
The prime minister also criticised previous governments for neglecting basic sanitation.
"They never considered dirt and lack of toilets as national issues. It was like they made dirt a part of their lives," he said.
"The first job of a prime minister is to make the lives of the common man easy. I talked about toilets and sanitary pads, and today, we see the results," he said.
The prime minister highlighted that more than 60 percent of the population was forced to defecate in the open a decade ago, which he called as an insult to Dalits, backward classes, and tribal communities, and a major source of inconvenience for women. Modi also cited studies and reports that underline the positive outcomes of the mission.
An international study has shown that the Swachh Bharat Mission is saving the lives of 60,000 to 70,000 children annually, while a UNICEF report indicates that over 90 percent of women feel safer due to construction of household toilets, he said.
Additionally, the World Health Organization has credited the mission with saving 300,000 lives between 2014 and 2019 by reducing deaths from diarrhoea, Modi added.
The prime minister also noted a shift in attitudes toward sanitation workers, stating that the Swachh Bharat Mission has brought them respect and pride.
"Cleanliness is not just a one-day task but a lifelong value," he said, urging citizens to pass on the value of cleanliness from generation to generation and treat their surroundings with the same care as places of worship.