Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for making 'Swacch Bharat' a mass movement, linking it to economic activity.
A high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Modi announced that Mission Swacch Bharat will be launched on Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary, October 2, to create a clean India by 2019.
Prime Minister Modi asked, "If the people of India clean their homes in due course around Diwali every year, why can this attitude not be extended to overall cleanliness and Swacch Bharat?"
Linking cleanliness to tourism and global interest in India, the Prime Minister also said that world-class levels of hygiene and cleanliness are required in India's top fifty tourist destinations to bring about a paradigm shift in India's global perception.
During his Independence Day speech, Prime Minister Modi had urged India to become a clean country by 2019, Mahatma Gandhi's 150 birth anniversary, and had said that building toilets will help achieve that goal.