Clearing pending files added to I&B ministry’s Swachh agenda
NEW DELHI: For the information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan doesn’t mean just clean toilets and public places but desks with no backlog
NEW DELHI: For the information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan doesn’t mean just clean toilets and public places but desks with no backlog of files.

The ministry has drawn up an activity calendar for one year and sent a communiqué to all divisions on clearing pending work — old court cases, pending files, service records, interministerial and government communication apart from identifying old, unused items that can be auctioned.
For instance, all departments will prepare a list of unused or obsolete electrical items for disposal in September. In October, the exercise will be to identify fixtures and furniture that have outlived their utility.
April 2017 has been earmarked for a special drive to identify and review pending court cases, comply with old orders or settle issues by initiating legal action or out-of-court settlement.
According to officials, there are many pending legal cases as Information and broadcasting ministry draws up activity calendar for a year Departments are to prepare list of unused items for disposal in September In October, they will identify fixtures and furniture that have outlived their utility well as issue that are stuck in arbitration, which the ministry wants to dispose of.
Swacch Bharat Abhiyan was initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 2, The ministry will review activities on a quarterly basis to ensure continuity Programmes will be aired on radio and television on cleanliness There will be a crackdown on spitting, littering and misuse of office stationery 2014 as a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi, whose 150 birth anniversary will be celebrated in 2019. He led the campaign by wielding the broom at the Mandir Marg Police Station in the Capital and exhorted his council of ministers to follow suit.
While most ministries have periodically carried out cleanliness drives to clear junk, the calendar of activities drawn up the information and broadcasting ministry will have to be reviewed quarterly to ensure continuity.
Divisions will also have to submit photographs of ‘before’ and ‘after’ as evidence of having carried out the cleanliness activities.
As part of the drive, special programmes on radio and television woven around the theme of cleanliness will be also be broadcast. A sanitation committee has been set up for implementing the standard operation procedure, drawn up by the ministry of urban development. There will be a crackdown on spitting, littering, and misuse of office stationery.
“A Swachhta Pakhwada (fortnight of cleaning) was carried out in August, during which 1,591 files were weeded out apart from identifying items that can be auctioned for disposal,” an official said.
ABOUT THE AUTHORSmriti Kak RamachandranSmriti covers an intersection of politics and governance. Having spent over a decade in journalism, she combines old fashioned leg work with modern story telling tools.

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