Bill Gates confers the “Global Goalkeeper” award to Modi in a grand ceremony in New York
The Prime Minister of India – Narendra Modi has been conferred with the ‘Global Goalkeeper’ Award by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation today, i.e., Wednesday, September 25, 2019 for his outstanding work on his ‘Swachh Bharat Mission’ (SBM).
The award was bestowed to Narendra Modi by the Principal Founder of the Microsoft Corporation and a renowned philanthropist – Bill Gates in a grand ceremony in New York, U.S.A.
Prior to this, a group of prominent South Asian Americans had written a letter to the Gates Foundation asking them to withdraw the award, citing concerns over Modi’s human rights record. However, the Gates Foundation defended its decision by saying that before the Swachh Bharat mission, over 500 million people in India did not have access to safe sanitation, but with Modi’s Swachh Bharat Mission, a large number of Indians now have access to toilet.
The twitter handle of Gates Foundation read, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi received the Global Goalkeeper Award at tonight’s Goalkeepers Global Goals Awards. This award recognizes the progress India has made in providing safe sanitation under his leadership.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi received the Global Goalkeeper Award at tonight’s Goalkeepers Global Goals Awards. This award recognizes the progress India has made in providing safe sanitation under his leadership. pic.twitter.com/QSMD4UqxiU
— Gates Foundation (@gatesfoundation) September 25, 2019
Thanking the Gates Foundation, Modi tweeted, “Thankful to the @gatesfoundation for recognising India’s strides in cleanliness.”
Thankful to the @gatesfoundation for recognising India’s strides in cleanliness. https://t.co/dfE85tPSvE
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 25, 2019
He further tweeted, “I dedicate the Global Goalkeeper Award, conferred by the @gatesfoundation, to the 130 crores people of India and the collective endeavours of our nation to improve cleanliness. It makes me most happy that India’s successes in sanitation have helped women and children the most.”
The PM Modi expressed his gratitude to all the Indians for making the Swachh Bharat Mission a huge success. He also mentioned that the award holds great importance for him as it comes in the year when India is all geared-up to celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation, India – Mahatma Gandhi.
It is to be noted that no such campaign has been heard about in any other country in the recent past. In the past 5 years, more than 11 crore toilets have been built across India, improving the sanitation and hygiene of the population.
Modi reiterated that due to unavailability of toilets at schools, a lot of girls had to discontinue their education. The Government then took the responsibility of proving toilets at schools so that girls can continue their education and can later contribute in the development of the nation. The improvement in the sanitation also contributed to a decline in heart problems among children and improvement in the Body Mass Index (BMI) among women.
Besides, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has also applauded the Modi’s Swachh Bharat Mission wherein a possibility was created to save three lakh human lives.
Relating the success of Swachh Bharat Mission to Mahatma Gandhi’s dream, Modi said, “Gandhiji used to say a village could only become a model when it was completely clean. Today we are heading towards making the entire country a model.”
For the records, Swachh Bharat Mission was launched on the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, i.e., October 2 in the year 2014. The SBM is a nation-wide campaign for the period 2014 to 2019 that aims to clean up the streets, roads and infrastructure of India’s cities, towns, and rural areas. The objectives of Swachh Bharat include eliminating open defecation through the construction of household-owned and community-owned toilets and establishing a mechanism of monitoring toilet use. The mission aims to achieve an Open-Defecation Free (ODF) India by October 2, 2019, the 150th birth anniversary Mahatma Gandhi.
Till date, the Government of India has constructed 86 million toilets since 2014, reducing the number of persons who openly defecate from 550 million to fewer than 150 million in 2018.
