Modi calls for 100-day drive to clean water bodies

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 28

Underlining the importance of collective responsibility towards water conservation, PM Narendra Modi on Sunday called for a 100-day campaign to clean all water bodies and prepare these for rainwater harvesting before the monsoon season begins.

In his monthly “Mann Ki Baat” broadcast, Modi said the Jal Shakti Ministry was also launching a “catch the rain” campaign. “This is the best time to think about water conservation in view of the summer months ahead,” Modi said.

He said the Atmanirbhar Bharat campaign should not just remain an economic campaign, but become a national spirit. “It will be possible when every person in the country takes pride in indigenous products and connects with the idea of self-reliance,” he said.

Citing examples of indigenous fighter jets, tanks and missiles, the PM said: “Our heads are held high when we see made in India coaches in metro trains in advanced nations or India-made Covid vaccines reaching other countries.”

“And it is not that only bigger things will make India self-reliant. Textiles, handicraft goods, electronic appliances, mobiles…in every field we have to increase our presence. When we move forward with this thought, only then will we become self-reliant in the truest sense,” he said.

Modi expressed happiness that the mantra of self-reliant India was reaching villages. He cited several examples of people using innovative techniques to emerge as shining examples of Atmanirbhar Bharat.