Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman,  administered the ‘Swachhata Pledge’ here today to the officials of the Ministry of Finance, reaffirming commitment of the Government and Ministry of Finance employees to be facilitators and enablers of this massive campaign to eliminate ‘Single Use Plastics’ both in the official and personal sphere of life.

The ‘Swachhata Hi Seva’ campaign 2019 was held by the Ministry of Finance from 11^th September - 2^nd October 2019 with the theme - to create awareness and make India free of  ‘Single Use Plastics’.

The Hon'ble Prime Minister in his 15^th August 2019, Independence Day speech called for a campaign to make India free of single use plastics from 2^nd October 2019, which is the 150^th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. He shared this resolve in his address to the UN General Assembly on 27^th September 2019.

During the ceremony , Shri Rajiv Kumar, Finance Secretary & Secretary (Financial Services) briefly highlighted the steps taken by the five Departments under the Ministry of Finance to minimize and eliminate ‘Single Use Plastics’ in its’ day-to-day functioning which inter alia include:

• Replaced plastic water bottles provided to officials and in meetings with Glass water bottles and Tumblers which are refillable.
• Replaced plastic folders with recycled paper folders and other environment -friendly and biodegradable material.
• Minimize usage of disposable plastic cups/plates.
• Awareness creation among the officials through visitation to office rooms and sections with placards highlighting the negative impact of plastics and encouraging usage of environment - friendly and biodegradable material.

RM/KMN