Akshay Kumar Launches Ad Campaign for Swachh Bharat
A Bollywood actor, Akshay Kumar, launched Sunday an advertisement campaign for the Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) in Delhi. The campaign was launched at a Collectors Convention for Toilet Technology organized in the capital.
The campaign focuses on promoting the twin pit toilet technology in rural India, and also features actor Ms Bhumi Pednekar along with Shri Kumar.
In his welcome address, Parameswaran Iyer, Secretary, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, spoke about the contribution made by Akshay Kumar to the Swachh Bharat Mission.
Akshay Kumar interacted with Swachh Bharat Mission officials, district collectors, communication experts and members from the media on the occasion.
During his interaction, he spoke about the need for influencers of society to talk freely about toilets, and empty toilet pits around the country to destigmatize cleaning of one’s own toilet by members of the family itself.
The District Collectors and field officials, during the interaction, spoke about the power of women in leading the sanitation mission in rural areas, and the role played by the movie “Toilet Ek Prem Katha” in leading this behavior change.
It was also announced by the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation on this occasion that the producers of “Toilet Ek Prem Katha” have given rights to all State and District teams of the Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) to screen the movie in villages on a non-commercial basis.
According to the government, the twin pit toilet technology was invented in India and is the most well-suited toilet technology for rural India, and is recommended by Government of India and the World Health Organization.
The States are continuously encouraged by the Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) to include awareness generation about the above facts as part of their grassroots information, education and communication (IEC) efforts.
The new advertisement campaign is an effort supported by the World Bank, towards encouraging this technology using mass media.
The film can be found on the YouTube channel of the Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen). It will be translated in several regional languages, and the Hindi version will start airing on television channels with immediate effect.
Photo courtesy: Press Information Bureau
