Sindhu, Malik, Dipa may be new faces of PM Modi’s Swachh Bharat Mission

Rio Olympics medallists PV Sindhu and Sakshi Malik, besides Olympian Dipa Karmakar, are likely to be the new faces of the Swachh Bharat Mission for creating awareness about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s initiative.

“We are very keen to involve both Olympic medal winners Sakshi Malik and PV Sindhu along with gymnast Dipa Karmakar, in Swachh Bharat Mission. The stories about role of hygiene and sanitation in their success will be great booster for this mission,” Secretary, Drinking Water and Sanitation, Parameswaran Iyer told PTI.

He said these sportspersons can inspire many women, especially in rural areas.

“We will approach Sports Ministry for involving these Olympians,” he said.

Modi had nominated 27 prominent personalities from various walks of life for promoting his pet programme.

The list includes Amitabh Bachchan, Baba Ramdev, Sachin Tendulkar and Anil Ambani, among others.

For achieving universal sanitation and to put focus on hygiene, Modi launched the Swachh Bharat Mission on October 2, 2014.

The Mission is coordinated by the Secretary of Drinking Water and Sanitation (MDWS) with two Sub-Missions, the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) and the Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban), which aims to achieve universal sanitation (Swachh Bharat) by 2019.

It is a national campaign that covers more than 4,000 statutory cities and towns involving cleaning the streets and other infrastructure across the country. One of the main objectives of this mission is to achieve an Open-Defecation Free (ODF) India by October 2, 2019 as a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi.