Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was honoured with the prestigious "Global Goalkeeper" award by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for his Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, said that the cleanliness campaign played a critical role in helping achieve the United Nations' goals and targets. Microsoft founder Bill Gates presented the award to PM Modi at a ceremony on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York City.
"Getting the award in the year of Mahatma Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary is personally significant for me. When 1.3 billion people take a pledge, any challenge can be overcome," the prime minister said as he accepted the award at a special ceremony.
"Gandhi ji's dream for swachhata (cleanliness) is now becoming true," PM Modi said. "The World Health Organisation has reported that 300,000 people have been saved (from diseases) by the campaign... Such as campaign was never heard of," he said. "Due to lack of toilets, a number of girls had to drop out of schools. Our daughters want to study, but because of lack of toilets, they had to abandon their education midway and sit at home," he added. "The Swachh Bharat programme has changed this."
PM Modi launched the Swachh Bharat Mission in October 2014 as a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi. It is the world's largest behavioural change programme. It seeks to improve cleanliness through solid and liquid waste management and making villages open-defecation free.
The inaugural Goalkeepers event in 2017 hosted a diverse group of leaders. Speakers, including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, former US President Barack Obama and activist Malala Yousafzai had attended it. Started by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Goalkeepers award seeks to "bring together leaders from around the world to accelerate progress for ending poverty and fighting inequality", according to the organisers.
