A fortnight-long cleanliness campaign was launched on Friday with the aim to mobilise the participation of people across the country through various activities such as Indian Swachhata League 2.0 and SafaiMitra Suraksha Shivir, according to an official statement.

The "Swachhata Hi Seva" programme was launched by Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri and Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Giriraj Singh.

Puri said the upcoming ninth anniversary of the Swachh Bharat Mission and the launch of Swachhata Hi Seva 2023 is a moment of celebration, according to the statement issued by the Union housing and urban affairs ministry.

"It is a time to reaffirm ourselves to the cause of keeping our cities clean. With the launch of the Swachhata Hi Seva fortnight, we re-dedicate ourselves to the cause of Swachhata," the minister said.

He said that when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the SBM from the ramparts of the Red Fort on August 15, 2014, such a large-scale transformation had never been imagined before.

Despite a poor performance on sanitation till then, India achieved the target of Open Defecation Free (ODF) in the next five years. All 4,884 urban local bodies (100 per cent) in India are now Open Defecation Free (ODF), he added.

According to the statement, Puri said that by building 73.62 lakh toilets -- 67.1 lakh individual household toilets and 6.52 lakh community and public toilets -- we have provided dignity and health to millions of urban poor.

"Ninety-five per cent wards in India have 100 per cent door-to-door collection of waste. More than 88 per cent of the wards have source segregation of waste. This was possible because the Swachh Bharat Mission evolved to become a 'Jan Andolan' instead of a typical sarkari programme," he added.

The minister emphasised that "swachhata", or cleanliness, has become a foundational tenet in not just every government scheme but also in the way of life of citizens.

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