By IndiaTomorrow.net,
New Delhi, 02 Oct 2014: Jamia Millia Islamia Vice Chancellor Talat Ahmed Thursday exhorted the varsity students and teachers to take inspiration from Mahatma Gandhi on cleanliness and health, even as he appreciated the efforts of Prime Minster Narendra Modi for the nation to achieve toilet facilities for all within the next five years under the Swacch Bharat Mission.
On the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, Modi wielded the broom amid the launch of India’s biggest ever cleanliness drive that is expected to cost the exchequer over Rs.62,000 crore. The prime minister wielded a broom and swept a pavement in Valmiki Basti, a colony of sanitation workers here in an event marked by fervour and symbolism prompting the Jamia VC Talat Ahmed to applaud his “visionary initiative”. Modi said that his drive is beyond politics and inspired by patriotism.
Drawing inspiration from Mahatma Gandhi, the varsity head underlined the relationship between cleanliness and good health. “Cleanliness and good health,” he observed, “contributed to the general well-being of the nation”. Gandhiji gave equal significance to freedom and cleanliness.
Echoing the sentiments of Modi, the vice-chancellor remarked that the nation would achieve complete cleanliness and create toilet facilities for all within next five years.
Jamia Millia Islamia has given an innovative thrust to the Clean India Drive by administering Cleanliness Oath (Swachhta Shapath) to the university’s faculty members, students and staff to sustain cleanliness drive on the campus and create a habit and culture of cleanliness to make India litter-free.
