Shri. Venkaiah Naidu, Hon'ble Minister of Urban Development, Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation Inaugurates 14th edition of World Toilet Summit

Shri. Venkaiah Naidu, Hon'ble Minister for Urban Development, Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation officially announced the commencement of the 14th annual World Toilet Summit in New Delhi today. The two day summit is being organised in line with government's focus on Swachh Bharat Abhiyan that was launched by Shri. Narendra Modi, Hon'ble Prime Minister in October 2014 with a view to making India a clean and hygienic country.

Shri. Venkaiah Naidu stressed the importance of urbanization and how toilets and sanitation plays a major role for development. He also stressed 80 percent of the diseases in India are water borne or through water contamination, hence it is imperative to adopt sanitation programs to keep these diseases in check. Lack of access to clean water and sanitation contributes to 1.8 million deaths from diarrhoeal disease globally per year. Therefore a massive construction of toilet is required with the corporation of state and centre.

Apart from Shri. Naidu, other eminent participants include Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Hon'ble Minster of State for Tourism & Culture (Independent charge); Col Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Hon'ble Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting; Mr. Shankar Aggarwal, Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development; Mr. Vijay Goel, Member of Parliament as well as leading sanitation advocate Mr Jack Sim, Founder, World Toilet Organization, Mr Anuraag Saxena, CEO, Asia Pacific, World Education Foundation. The summit will see involvement from NGOs including World Bank, USAID, BRAC, CLTS, Water.org, WaterAid, Aqua for All, Sulabh International, WASTE, and FINISH Society among others. Representatives from the private sector will include Reckitt Benckiser, Hindustan Unilever Limited, Kimberly-Clark and American Standard Brands. Speaking on the occasion, Shri. Venkaiah Naidu, Hon'ble Minister for Urban Development, Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation said, "Schools should stress construction of toilets for girl child. We are also working towards massive development of toilets wherein corporates and local bodies. The construction of the toilets will be hand over to the local body under Swachh Bharat Mission. The mission will take care of important issues by making the country free from open defecation by 2nd Oct, 2019."

"Sanitation in India is at a tipping point, and there is a lot of momentum behind Prime Minister Modi's Swachh Bharat mission," said Jack Sim, founder of World Toilet Organization.

He also said, "We have to move all efforts into coordinated efforts, and make sure we don't repeat mistakes of the past, and that toilets are used as toilets, not for other purposes. The delegates at this summit are clear that the demand drive and supply drive must go hand in hand, and thus coordination is key. We look forward to collaborating with this exceptional group of policy makers, religious leaders, corporations and the media for the success of the clean India mission."

Mr. Anurag Saxena, CEO (Asia Pacific) World Education Foundation said, "If you can't cook healthy food in a dirty kitchen, or have healthy thoughts in a dirty temple; then how you can have a healthy education in a dirty school."

Mr. Lallit Gattani, Creative Officer, Showcraft Showcraft Foundation, said, "I am really glad to bring this summit to India, I feel sad when I see our Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi holding up a broom and cleaning up roads India has a population of 120 crore and if we all take a step together towards cleanliness then no one can stop us."

Artist like Papa CJ also participated in the summit to discuss the role of media and celebrities in spreading awareness on sanitation and hygiene to a wider section of Indian society.

The two day summit is jointly organised by World Toilet Organization (WTO), a global non-profit committed to improving toilet and sanitation conditions worldwide, World Education Foundation and Ministry of Urban Development, Govt. of India, along with Showcraft Foundation, strategic partner and key driver in bringing this global initiative to India.

The event will also examine and build on global best practices and sanitation experience from other countries, as well as evolving technologies that can help overcome the issue of open defecation, which is rampant in India.

Source : Equity Bulls

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