MISSIONARY ZEAL
WINNER: Global Interfaith WASH Alliance WHY IT WON: Committed to water, sanitation and hygiene, GIWA’s ‘toilet college’ in Rishikesh has trained more than 6,000 people
IT WAS IN SEPTEMBER 2013, that Swami Chidanand Saraswati, 67, president of the Parmarth Niketan Ashram in Rishikesh, set up the Global Interfaith WASH Alliance (GIWA), an initiative that works on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH).
This year, GIWA carried out a campaign at the Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj. In partnership with the Harijan Sevak Sangh, GIWA hosted a ‘Gandhian resurgence summit’ from January 1618 at Mela City, bringing together leaders from minority, political, social, tribal and religious communities.
The summit was inaugurated by President Ram Nath Kovind and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath. Rita Bahuguna Joshi, Lok Sabha MP from Allahabad, said, “GIWA volunteers played an important role in making Mela City open defecationfree and improving cleanliness.”
Parmarth Niketan Ashram currently serves as the secretariat of GIWA, with a team of 20 young people monitoring the alliance. Currently, GIWA is working to clean the Kali river in Saharanpur district.
On November 19, 2016, GIWA
launched a ‘world toilet college’ at Parmarth Niketan Ashram with the help of Unicef. Describing this initiative, Swami Saraswati said: “The college provides training in toilet construction, how water can be recycled and how areas can be made open defecationfree.” The course is free of cost—GIWA has tied up with the government’s Swachh Bharat Mission, as well as with technical universities in UP and Maharashtra, for trainers. More than 6,000 people, including those from government service and academia, have attended its courses. ■