Mindsets Need To Change: Foreigners On Clean India Mission
NEW DELHI: Mindsets need to change if Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Swachh Bharat Abhiyan or Clean India Mission to make the country litter and squalor free in the next five years is to succeed, diplomats and foreign tourists say.
"I believe that all countries, developing and developed, have realised too late the importance of a clean environment," Swedish Ambassador Harald Sandberg.
"It is great that this understanding is now emphasised in India. I believe that care for our environment begins at home and builds to the broader, national and global issues," he added.
Namibian Ambassador Pius Dunaiski said it was "impressive to see the government take such a lead in mobilising such a big country of 1.25 billion citizens".
"If the Modi government is successful in energising the people in every corner of India, especially in the mega cities, and changing their mindsets, India can be like any European country in terms of tidiness.
"Strong leadership and linking the initiative with Mahatma Gandhi, who is really respected worldwide, can bring the change India has needed since decades," Dunaiski told IANS.
Modi Thursday twice wielded the broom, at the Mandir Marg police station and at the Valmiki Colony, where Mahatma Gandhi once stayed, to launch the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, a nationwide campaign that seeks to change the mindsets of Indians and make India a clean nation in every way.
The prime minister also administered near the India Gate monument a cleanliness pledge which said that Indians had a responsibility of fulfilling Mahatma Gandhi's dream of ridding the country of dirt and filth by 2019 - the year that would mark Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary.
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