By :HimadrishSuwan
Mahatma Gandhi had rightly said, “Sanitation is more important than Independence”. He was aware of the pathetic situation of Indian rural people at that time and he dreamed of a clean India where he emphasised on cleanliness and sanitation as an integral part of living.

We have completed 68 years of independence and we have only about 30 per cent of the rural households with access to toilets. The People’s Movement “Swachh Bharat Abhiyan” recently launched under the leadership of NarendraModi is a milestone and a step which will transform India into ‘Clean India” which is nothing but the need of the hour. Cleanliness is no doubt connected to the tourism and global interests of the country as a whole. India is already a known hub in the world tourist map. It is high time now that India’s top 50 tourist destinations display high level of hygiene and cleanliness so as to change the nation’s global perception.

There is no doubt about the fact that change begins at home. Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan should be a combined effort of both the Government as well as the people. The same initiative was taken by a leading student run online news portal-DU Khabar. DU Khabar.com accomplished what they call as the power of the youth to take initiative and potentiality of journalism to come out of the papers to make the things possible in reality.
Third November 2014 was marked as a day when all the students from different collegesof DU like Daulat Ram College, Lady Shri Ram College, Jesus & Mary College, Hindu, Hansraj, Miranda House, ShaheedBhagat Singh College , Sri Venkateswara College came together to clean their campus and create a green and untainted hub of learning. DUkhabar.com organized the cleanliness drive -‘Rise for Untainted DU’ in support of swacchbharatabhiyan wherein the main campus of country’s prime university was taken charge by young enthusiasts.
The drive began at Daulat Ram College at 11 a.m. and over 500 volunteers cleaned the campus till KhalsaCollege.The volunteers in white- symbolic of cleanliness and purity with gloves in hand and brooms in power could be seen as prospective responsible citizens who acknowledge the power of common man to bring a change.The event was sponsored by Flowguard Plus Pipes & Fitting TM, CollegeDuniya(collegedunia.com) and Reformaton- IAS academy .

The way such social initiatives connect the people all around was witnessed when not only the south campus students were busy in the work but also the students from other universities. Cleaning the path with the broom, separation of biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste, managing the traffic, collection of waste, volunteering the participants and guiding them, encouraging the public to participate, all these works were very well managed by the team and participants.

“Hum sabkaek hi naara – Swach Bharat Hamara”, following these words, participants were enthusiastically engaged in the cleaning their own city, their own country. They were happy that their efforts are somewhere helping to achieve the goal visioned by our Honourable Prime Minister NarendraModi.

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