Union Human Resource Development Minister Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ addressed the 3rd Swachhata Ranking Award Function through video conferencing in New Delhi today. The3rd Swachhata Ranking Award process was undertaken by the Ministry of Human Resource Development as a part of the Swachh Bharat Mission of Government of India to promote environmental hygiene in the Higher Education System and beyond. On the basis of the reports of UGC and AICTE, 48 Universities and Institutions have been recommended for awards in various categories. The selected Universities/ Institutions were awarded by Secretary, Department of Higher Education, Shri R. Subrahmanyam in AICTE Auditorium, New Delhi. Speaking on the occasion, the Minister said that Swachhata, as a Mission is essential for our living environment, body and soul. A clean environment will result in a pure mind and elevate the thoughts of our students and teachers towards lofty thoughts for the larger benefit of the society. He said that the principle of cleanliness is next to Godliness and it should govern our day-to-day life. He added that the higher education system is the best mechanism towards achieving success in Swacchh Bharat Mission through the powerful and influential base of 3 crore plus students and teachers in the country.He further said that the ranking system based on various parameters of hygiene like student-toilet ratio, hostel hygiene, hostel kitchen hygiene, availability of water, water conservation measures, campus greenery, administrative responsibility for hygiene etc. has been formulated by the Ministry to generate peer pressure amongst educational institutions to improve their level of campus hygiene and also take up off-campus hygiene activity in nearby villages/surrounding areas.The Minister expressed his happiness in informing that over the last three years, the response from institutions to the Swachhata Ranking process has been steadily growing. In 2017, 3200 institutions participated, in 2018, it was 6100 institutions and now in 2019, a total of 6900 institutions participated in the ranking exercise.
Therefore, the need and awareness of maintaining Swachh Campuses and also voluntarily taking up village hygiene activity is now spreading across the Indian Higher Education system with active enthusiasm.He further informed that the Higher Education Institutions that participated in the ranking exercise have achieved ODF in 2091 villages and installed solid and liquid waste management facilities in 2216 villages. This contribution of the Higher Education System to environmental hygiene will keep on rising in the years ahead. Students are emerging as change agents in the field of Swachhata.He appreciated the Ministry’s effort to develop clean and green college campuses that would create healthy study environment for students thereby, stimulating their minds towards higher learning. The Ministry recognizes that it is essential to create an ambience for learning for the youth of our country who will play a big role in economic and social development of our great country.Shri Pokhriyal congratulated the winners in various categories of awards like Residential Universities, Non-residential Universities, Technical Universities, Residential Colleges, Government Universities, etc. The Minister hoped that the participating institutions in such a ranking exercise will grow year after year so that the crucial element of Swachhata is ingrained into the day-to-day activities of our educational community. He appealed that students and teachers should strive to achieve a zero tolerance towards anything unhygienic in our environment.The Minister was delighted to inform that MHRD has been providing knowledge inputs into the Swachhata Campaign launched in this country under the inspiring leadership of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi.He added that the Ministry has made careers and professions out of Swachhata by creating curriculum for a PG Diploma in Waste Management, Elective Course in Waste Management, MBA in Waste Management, Operations Manual for Swachh Campus, Jal Shakti Gram Manual, BBA in Rural Management and MBA in Rural Management. These set of courses which are being offered in many institutions in the country are field study oriented, internship oriented and the entire curriculum is industry driven.Chairman, AICTE, Shri Anil Sahsrabudhe; Chairman UGC, Professor D.P Singh; Dr Abhay Jere, Chief Innovation Officer (CIO) and senior officials of the Ministry were also present on the occasion.