Ministry of tourism is organizing an All India Workshop on “Campaign Clean India” in New Delhi on December 20, 2011. The workshop has been organized to hold wider consultations on the campaign, strategize the campaign as people’ programme, to strive for a synergy of efforts with other Ministries concerned, State Governments, Industry and corporate, other institutions / interested individuals and Schools/ colleges / private institutes, to secure the support and commitment of the regulatory agencies to the campaign, such as the Police and Municipalities to develop implementable program of action and to give the campaign the desired visibility and momentum by taking the media on board. 

The Inaugural Session of the Workshop (1030 hrs. to 1145 hrs.) will be graced by the former President of India Shri APJ Abdul Kalam as Chief Guest. Union Minister of Tourism Shri Subodh Kant Sahai will preside over the workshop in the presence of Minister of State for Tourism Sri Sultan Ahmed. Union Ministers like the Railway Minister and Corporate Affairs Minister are also expected to grace the occasion and participate in the workshop. 

The Workshop will have participants representing possible action groups on a wide sweep including students, teachers, parent-teacher associations, NGOs, INTACH, Sulabh International, professional bodies, clubs of repute, hotels, hotel associations, MNCs, Banks Adventure Clubs, Adventure Tour Operators, Tour Operators, Domestic Tour Operators, Travel Agents, Transport, Operators, Tourist Guides Federation of India , Representative Associations, media persons, film personalities, travel media, DAVP, print media, TV Channels, Archaeological Survey of India, Municipalities, Police, State Governments, Central Ministries, etc. 

The workshop will have five groups : Academic Group, Group of Institutional Volunteers, Travel Trade Group, Corporate Group and Media Group. 

In the year 2009, the Ministry conducted an independent study to identify major gaps that existed in terms of infrastructure and service delivery at major tourist destinations. Five destinations having substantial tourist footfalls were selected for the study. In the study, various infrastructure and service related attributes were categorized based on their perceived level of importance and satisfaction levels. The study concluded that both for foreign and domestic tourist, the key factors that were categorized as low in satisfaction and high in importance included , Hygiene and Sanitation conditions in and around the monuments/ destinations, Solid Waste Management around the monuments/destinations, and absence of hygienically maintained public amenities like Toilets 

The Ministry of Tourism has all along been alive to and seized of this problem. It has been undertaking a major domestic social awareness media campaign under the brand of “Atithi Devo Bhawah”. Shri Aamir Khan, Film Actor is the Brand Ambassador of the campaign since the year 2008. The campaign is being run on Television channels, FM Radio channels, print and internet media under various themes. These include “campaign against defacement of monuments” and “Hygiene, sanitation and solid waste management”. The campaign has been well received and effective in sensitizing the domestic stakeholders on these issues. 

However, it was felt that the social awareness campaign though a step forward was not enough to meet the magnitude and pervasiveness of the problem of lack of hygiene and cleanliness. The need was to put in a comprehensive strategy, in consultation and partnership with the key stakeholders, providing for multi pronged action. Hence, the Campaign Clean India has been proposed. 

The campaign will aim at creating a collective mindset of hygiene and cleanliness. It will employ a balance of persuasion, education, sensitization, training, demonstration and regulation for achieving its goal. The approach will be comprehensive and inclusive. It will involve every strata of the society, people of every age, Institutions on a wide spectrum – schools, colleges, NGOs, professional bodies and the governments. 

Though, cleanliness is every one’s mandate, the Ministry of Tourism is justified in taking the lead as clean-India is a pre-requisite to achieving the targeted growth of tourism. A time indeed has come to back up the universally conveyed sentiment ‘Atithi Devo Bhav’ with results on the ground and is not dubbed as a mere rhetoric. 

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