Swachhta Hi Seva in the Villages – Cleanliness is Service

Saturday, September 15,  2018

“Keeping our environment clean stops the spreading of diseases and saves lives. I urge you all to commit to a Swachh Bharat by offering Swachhata Shramdaan.” Amma

Inspired by Amma’s message on cleanliness, straight after a nationally televised video conference with the Honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the launch of the Central Government’s Swachhta Hi Seva (Cleanliness is Service) initiative, which is part of the long-term Swaach Bharat (Clean India) campaign, a huge cleanup initiative started in the villages and all across India.

In the video conference Amma spoke about the environmental protection and cleanliness efforts of the Mata Amritanandamayi Math (MAM) mentioning, how Amrita SeRVe village women have become self-dependent through various empowerment programs. Amma also reminded: “It is not enough to know about waste management. We also need to know how to stop producing waste.” Referring to Saukhyam Pads, which are reusable sanitary pads that were developed by the ashram, Amma mentioned that “making these pads has also become a means to earn a living.”

Amrita SeRVe villages have held cleaning drives continuously since the beginning. During the nationwide Swachhta Hi Seva campaign from 15^th of September to 2^nd of October, Amrita staff will organize rallies, awareness sessions and cleaning drives for the whole village. All are contributing: school children, Self-Help Groups, Village Development Committees and Farmers’ groups.

To keep the campaign in the villages running until Gandhi Jayanti on 2^nd of October, Amrita SeRVe village coordinators and health workers along with AMMACHI Labs and Amrita CREATE staff will form groups of youngsters. These groups would take responsibility to organize the cleaning session in every part of the village, inspiring people to join along.