Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday thanked Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan for supporting Swachh Bharat Mission. In a tweet, the Prime Minister said: “Thank you @iamsrk, for lending vital support for the Swachh Bharat Mission. I am sure your words will motivate citizens to work towards Swachhata.” PM Modi’s response came after 52-year old Bollywood actor posted a 38-second video in which he requested people to shun open defecation and realise Mahatma Gandhi and Prime Minister Modi’s dream of Swachh India. “Milkar karein apne Raashtrapita aur apne Pradhan Mantriji ke ek #SwachhBharat ke sapne ko saakaar. @SwachhBharatGov @PMOIndia #MyCleanIndia,” Shah Rukh Khan wrote while tweeting the video.

In 2014, Prime Minister Modi had launched the Swachh Bharat Mission to accelerate the efforts to achieve universal sanitation coverage and to put the focus on sanitation. The key objectives of the mission were to eliminate open defecation and convert insanitary toilets to pour flush toilets.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Prime Minister said that it was Mahatma Gandhi’s inspiration, that led to the Swachh Bharat Mission. He said this while addressing 4-day Mahatma Gandhi International Sanitation Convention in the national capital. In his address, Prime Minister Modi mentioned the emphasis that Mahatma Gandhi placed on cleanliness. He recalled Mahatma Gandhi’s “Constructive Programme”, published in 1945, where rural sanitation was an important subject.

He further said that inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, Indians have made the Swachh Bharat Mission the world’s biggest people’s movement. “Rural sanitation, which stood at 38 per cent in 2014, has now reached 94 per cent and more than 5 lakh villages are now ODF,” the Prime MInister said.

This year in June, the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation had informed that sanitation coverage in rural India, under the Swachh Bharat Mission, rose to 85 percent. “Through mobilisation of rural communities, 7.4 crore toilets have been built across rural India, and as an outcome, over 3.8 lakh villages and 391 districts have been declared Open Defecation Free (ODF),” the Ministry said in a press statement.

According to the Ministry, a recent survey conducted by an Independent Verification Agency across 90,000 households in over 6000 villages found the use of toilets in rural India was 93.4 per cent. The Swachh Bharat Mission is the first sanitation programme in the country to measure outcomes (ODF) instead of output (toilets) alone.

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