Government working to realise Bapu's vision on sanitation: Sitharaman
New Delhi, Oct 2 : Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said the Narendra Modi government believed in Mahatma Gandhis vision on sanitation and was working to realise it.
"Gandhi ji said that sanitation is more important than independence. The government believes in this vision of Bapu," the Minister said.
She said even after 72 years of Independence and despite many awareness programmes about sanitation and personal cleanliness launched by earlier governments, not much progress could be achieved.
"Therefore, in order to fulfil dream of Mahatma Gandhi to make India clean, Swachh Bharat Mission was introduced," she said.
She said Swachh Bharat Mission is the biggest public campaign launched by the government on October 02, 2014, wherein people, government employees and students have voluntarily taken part.
The 62 Cantonment Boards under the Defence Ministry actively participated in ‘Swachhta Hi Sewa' campaign from September 15 to October 2 this year. She said out of 62 cantonments, 61 across the country have been certified as Open Defecation Free (ODF).
Sitharaman also participated in the 'shramdaan' (voluntary labour) with a broom outside Cantonment General Hospital at Sadar Bazar along with senior officials.
She also inaugurated a free health camp organized by the Delhi Cantonment Board at Cantonment General Hospital.
Deputy Director General Defence Estates Suresh Nagar administered Swachhta oath to the gathering. Director General Defence Estates Deepa Bajwa, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Subhash Chandra, General officer Commanding (GOC) Delhi Area Lt. Gen Asit Mistry and other senior officers of Defence Ministry were also present.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
NATO, others turn down US call for help in Hormuz: Trump
Washington (PTI): President Donald Trump on Tuesday said NATO and most of US' other allies have rejected his calls to help secure the Strait of Hormuz as the war with Iran entered the third week.
In a social media post, Trump asserted that Iran’s military has been “decimated” and he no longer felt the need for assistance from NATO countries or anyone else.
Last week, Trump had sought help from European nations and others who depend on oil supplies transiting from the Hormuz Strait to safeguard the critical waterway.
“The United States has been informed by most of our NATO “Allies” that they don’t want to get involved with our Military Operation against the Terrorist Regime of Iran, in the Middle East, this, despite the fact that almost every Country strongly agreed with what we are doing, and that Iran cannot, in any way, shape, or form, be allowed to have a Nuclear Weapon,” the US President said in a post on Truth Social.
Iran's attacks on Gulf nations and its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil is transported, have sparked increasing concerns of a global energy crisis and are unnerving the world economy.
“I am not surprised by their action, however, because I always considered NATO, where we spend Hundreds of Billions of Dollars per year protecting these same Countries, to be a one-way street — We will protect them, but they will do nothing for us, in particular, in a time of need,” Trump said.
He said Australia, Japan and South Korea too have turned down his call for help.
“Fortunately, we have decimated Iran’s Military – Their Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their Anti-Aircraft and Radar is gone and perhaps, most importantly, their Leaders, at virtually every level, are gone, never to threaten us, our Middle Eastern Allies, or the World, again,” Trump said.
He said that given the scale of recent military successes, the US no longer "need" or desires assistance from NATO countries, adding that it never relied on such support in the first place.
Speaking as President of the United States, the "most powerful" country in the world, "we do not need" help from anyone, Trump said.
The West Asia conflict began on February 28 when the US-Israeli combine conducted airstrikes on Iran.
The Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, has effectively been shut following the US and Israel attack on Iran and Tehran's sweeping retaliation.
However, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had said that from Tehran's "perspective", the strait is "open". "It is only closed to Iran's enemies, to those who carried out unjust aggression against our country and to their allies.”
Earlier in the day, a second Indian-flagged LPG tanker, Nanda Devi, reached the country after safely sailing from the war-hit Strait of Hormuz. On Monday, the first ship, Shivalik, reached Mundra port in Gujarat.
As of now, 22 Indian vessels remain on the west side and two on the east side of the strait.
Indian authorities are in constant touch with all the relevant stakeholders in the region to secure the safe passage of the remaining ships, officials said.
