Swachh Yug Campaign

The Minister of state (independent charge) for youth affairs & sports shri vijay goel has said that the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, in partnership with Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, has launched ‘Swachh Yug’ campaign, which involves intensifying support to the five States of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and

West Bengal to make all villages along the banks of the Ganga, Open Defecation Free (ODF). In a written reply in the Lok Sabha today he said, there are 4257 villages on the banks of Ganga under 1651 Gram Panchayats, 52 districts and 5 States. 1020 villages (23.96%) have been declared ODF as on 19-07-2016 in this effort.

He said,the Swachh Yug campaign is a collaborative effort between the Swachh Bharat Mission, local youth leaders and Namami Gange Project. The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports is enlisting the support of Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS) and other youth organisations. These organizations are called upon to mobilize local youth volunteers to support behavior change campaign in the targeted villages. 5 days Virtual classrooms trainings have been organized for this purpose. NYKS has formed 2,218 new youth clubs in targeted villages to ensure sustained participation of local youth in the campaign. 6,666 youth have been selected from youth clubs to take lead and actively participate in the campaign. This is also benefiting the youth participating in campaign by way of developing community leadership qualities in them.