UNICEF Credits PM Modi’s Flagship Swachh Bharat Abhiyan For Reducing Groundwater Contamination In India

The UNICEF has credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s flagship Swachh Bharat Abhiyan for reducing the groundwater contamination in India, ANI has reported.

This finding was part of an independent UNICEF study which was released by Union Minister for Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on the occasion of World Environment Day.

Under this study, the UNICEF researchers collected and studied samples from Open Defecation Free (ODF) and non-ODF villages in the states of Odisha, Bihar and West Bengal.

The study concluded that non-ODF village are 11.27 times more likely to suffer from groundwater contamination as compared to ODF villages. The non-ODF villages are also more likely to suffer from soil contamination, food contamination and drinking water contamination.

A year ago in 2018, the World Health Organisation (WHO) too had concluded that the Swachh Bharat mission would save three lakh lives in India after it is totally open-defecation free.