KOCHI: Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and
United Nations General Secretary António Guteres honoured
Mata Amritanandamayi with an award for the largest contribution to
Swachh Bharat Kosh during the Mahatma Gandhi International Sanitation Convention held in Delhi on Tuesday.
Amma’s ashram had contributed Rs 100 crores to the Swacch Bharat Kosh (Clean India Fund) since the clean India campaign started four years back. The amount was used to build toilets for the poor living along the banks of the river Ganges.
Appreciating the math’s dedicated service to cleanliness and environmental protection, the PM said, “Ever since we started this work, she has taken this campaign very proactively.”
A video about Amma and her ashram’s cleanliness projects was played during the convention. In the video, Amma said, “As soon as we wake up in the morning, we brush our teeth. Environmental cleanliness is just like that. It’s for our own health and well-being. If we clean a sewage canal with the right attitude, even that becomes service to God. In Sanatana Dharma, the Creator and the creation are not two different things. Cleanliness is the most important thing.”
The math has also taken several other environmental projects such as construction of 12,000 toilets for the poor in Kerala, besides training women in basic plumbing and masonry so that they can build not only their own toilets but toilets for others as well. They annually organise about 1700 cleanliness drives across the country and have 16 villages in India to attain Open Defecation Free status.
