Celebrating Swachh Bharat Mission: Of all Modi’s projects, it will have the greatest long-term impact on people’s live
Abstract:
I had the opportunity, in a conversation several months prior to 2014 elections, to discuss with the then chief minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi, the future course of economic and social policy. When it came to the health sector, I urged him to pay special attention to public health as prime minister.
I reasoned that over the decades the government had gone deeply into the provision of medical services, which even private sector provided. At the same time, it had neglected public health, which only it can provide. The result, for instance, had been that drainage systems in our cities had become so badly clogged that even moderate rains resulted in stagnant water bodies that then served as breeding grounds for vector-borne diseases.
I went on to add that the old tradition of parents inculcating in children the habit of washing hands first thing after entering home and before every meal had also been dying. As prime minister, through television broadcasts and other media, Modi could exhort parents to return to inculcating good personal hygiene habits in children.
Modi listened patiently and then said: “October 2, 2019, will be the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. Why not resolve to gift the father of the nation a Swachh Bharat on that day!” I did not fully appreciate the significance of what he had said at the time.