Swachh Bharat Abhiyan has become people's movement: Jaitley
New Delhi, Sep 15 : Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday described the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (SBM) as "the most successful" scheme of the Modi government which has become a "people's movement".
The Minister said SBM has witnessed a "phenomenal increase" in rural sanitation from 39 per cent to 92 per cent in the last four years.
Pointing out that initially, people in the rural areas were reluctant to accept the scheme and thus required a "behavioural change", the Finance Minister said the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan mission movement has transformed into 'women movement' with women playing a leading role.
"We all knew that the dignity of women demanded the privacy of toilet," Jaitley said in his blog and that in several parts of India toilets have been named "Izzat Ghar".
However, Jaitley said "women of India are now stepping beyond their roles as mere beneficiaries of this programme to leaders of it today".
Noting the construction of toilets has always been a male bastion, the Finance Minister in his blog said in many states, thousands of rural women have been trained as masons and with the assistance of self-help groups, they are becoming a primary force in driving the state in becoming free from open defecation.
Referring to the target of making India free from open defecation by 2019 -- the 150th year of Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary -- the Finance Minister in his blog pointed to the preventive health care benefits of the scheme.
"Global experts believe the SBM will have saved over three lakh lives in the country by the time we become 'open-defecation-free' in 2019," says the blog.
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RR beat RCB by six wickets in IPL
Guwahati (PTI): Blistering fifties by Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Dhruv Jurel powered Rajasthan Royals to a six-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bengaluru in their IPL match here on Friday.
Sent in to bat, RCB rode on a fighting half-century by skipper Rajat Patidar (63) to post 201 for 8.
Virat Kohli (32), Romario Shepherd (22) and Venkatesh Iyer (29) also chipped in with useful contributions.
In reply, Sooryavanshi (78 off 26 balls) and Dhruv Jurel (81 not out off 43 balls) shared a 37-ball 108-run partnership for the second wicket to set the platform. Krunal Pandya (2/30) tried to bring them back with back-to-back wickets.
But Jurel, in the company of Ravindra Jadeja (24), completed the task with another 68-run stand, with two overs to spare.
For RR, Jofra Archer (2/33), Ravi Bishnoi (2/32) and Brijesh Sharma (2/37) took two wickets.
Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: 201 for 8 in 20 overs (Rajat Patidar 63; Jofra Archer 2/33, Ravi Bishnoi 2/32, Brijesh Sharma 2/37).
Rajasthan Royals: 202 for 4 in 18 overs (Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 78, Dhruv Jurel 80 not out; Krunal Pandya 2/30, Josh Hazlewood 2/44).
