PM Modi receives Gates Foundation Goalkeepers award for Swachh Bharat campaign

PM Modi receives Goalkeeper award from Bill Gates in US. (Photo: Twitter @narendramodi)


Prime Minister Modi on Wednesday received the Global Goalkeeper award from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for his ambitious Swachh Bharat Abhiyan campaign and other initiatives on sanitation.

Accepting the award Modi said, “This honour is not mine but of the crores of Indians who not only fulfilled the Swachh Bharat dream but also made it a part of their daily lives.”

The prime minister said, receiving the award in the year of Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary was significant for him, adding that when 130 crore people take a pledge, any challenge can be overcome.

Goalkeepers is Bill and Melinda Gates Gates foundation’s campaign to accelerate progress towards sustainable development goals. PM Modi was chosen for the award, one of the most prestigious awards in the development sector, for the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, which was among the first programmes announced by him in his first stint as prime minister.

The Gates foundation in its statement said, “Before the Swachh Bharat mission, over 500 million people in India did not have access to safe sanitation, and now, the majority do…The Swachh Bharat Mission can serve as a model for other countries around the world that urgently need to improve access to sanitation for the world’s poorest.”