MoHUA to Organize 'Swachhotsav- International Day of Zero Waste: Rally for Garbage Free Cities' in New Delhi

Over 350 delegates, including Mayors, Commissioners, Mission Directors, Business & Tech experts, women & youth leading sanitation, technical institutions, development partners, and others, are expected to attend this event in the presence of Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs, and Shombi Sharp, UN Resident Co-ordinator.

The Swachh Mashaal March will set the tone for the 'Women-led Swachhotsav,' during which citizens will demonstrate for garbage-free cities on March 29, 30, and 31, 2023. Following this, cleanliness drives will be conducted in public spaces, open plots, water bodies, railway tracks, and public restrooms in each ward of a participating Urban Local Body (ULB). The Mashaal march has already brought together over 2000 cities.

'Swachhotsav - International Day of Zero Waste: Rally for Garbage-Free Cities' will feature debates and best practices presentations on Circularity in Garbage-Free Cities, Women and Youth for GFC, Business and Technology for GFC, and a fireside chat with Mayors. MoHUA will organize the event in partnership with GIZ, the Federal Ministry of Environment, Natural Conservation, Nuclear Safety, and Consumer Protection, and UNEP.

On October 2, 2014, the Prime Minister inaugurated the Swachh Bharat Mission, the world's largest sanitation behavioural change programme, to focus on sanitation coverage and efforts. The movement was strengthened by the Hon'ble Prime Minister's vision of 'Garbage Free Cities,' which aimed at scientific solid waste management and was launched on October 1, 2021, by the SBM- Urban 2.0.

PM presented the notion of 'Lifestyle for the Environment (LiFE)' at COP26 in Glasgow on November 1st, 2021, in line with UNEP's Sustainable Development Goals. He urged the worldwide community of individuals and institutions to lead LiFE as an international mass movement towards "mindful and intentional consumption, rather than mindless and harmful consumption" in order to conserve and maintain the environment.

Swachhotsav, a three-week women-led Swachhata campaign, was launched by Shri Hardeep S. Puri on March 8, 2023. The goal of the campaign was to acknowledge and celebrate the shift from women in sanitation to women-led sanitation. A number of events and activities were planned across cities to honour women from all walks of life who contribute to the achievement of GFC's goal.  The three-week programme will conclude in a Swachhotsav ceremony on March 29, 2023, in advance of the International Day of Zero Waste on March 30, 2023.

The first edition of the Women Icons Leading Swachhata (WINS) Awards 2023 was announced as part of the initiative to reward high-impact women entrepreneurs or women-led firms working for urban swachhata. Swachhata Yatra, a novel peer learning project, has been launched, providing SHG members working as garbage entrepreneurs with the exciting chance of inter-state travel. Many of these women are first-time travellers, and this enriching experience is providing them with a platform to see, interact, and learn.