CII launches Mission SoS as part of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan

LUCKNOW: To strengthen the 'Swachh Bharat' initiative announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has launched 'Mission -Sanitation of Schools (SoS)', an initiative to work with companies on construction of toilets across the country. "As India's apex industry body with a direct membership of over 7200 from the public as well as private sector and an indirect membership of 1,00,000 enterprises, CII will work with industry and the Government to make Swachh Bharat a reality," said Mr Sumit Mazumder, president designate, CII and chairman & managing director, TIL Limited. "We have set up a mechanism to create awareness and encourage industry participation through our network of 64 offices in India, spread across 26 states and 2 Union Territories."

According to recent UN statistics, half of India's population does not have access to toilets, with the condition even more dismal in rural areas where around 60% of the population still defecates in the open. Poor and inadequate sanitation accounts for various health-related issues causing economic and social losses. It is estimated that 1.01 lakh government schools do not have toilets for girls, 1.52 lakh schools do not have toilets for boys and a 1.64 lakh schools have dysfunctional toilets. Poor sanitation facilities lead to drop out from schools, especially among girls in the 5-14 age bracket. Retention of the girl child in schools has increased by 30% in schools with access to proper sanitation facilities.

Therefore, adequate and appropriate sanitation facilities are a pre-requisite for the socio-economic development of the country. Today's school children will be tomorrow's leaders, employers and resources and it is imperative to provide basic amenities to them in order to have a healthy, productive workforce.

CII was one of the conveners for consultation on the Millennium Development Goals post 2015 Development Framework and had organized one national and 24 state level consultations where around 723 participants felt that sanitation was a critical component in achieving the goal of reasonable, accessible, sustainable and responsible infrastructure for all.

CII will leverage its Membership across India to make 'Swachh Bharat' a reality. The initiative will be led by the CII Foundation, set up in 2011 to undertake a wide range of developmental and charitable activities and initiatives pan India by enabling industry. The CII Foundation will work closely with a specially constituted task force, led by R Seshasayee, past president CII and executive vice chairman, Hinduja Group & MV Subbiah, past president CII and former chairman, Murugappa Group, for this initiative. The task force will work at the national, regional and state level to promote and facilitate industry participation towards sanitation in Government schools. CII will sensitise industry to increase its participation through.

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