PM Modi will be honoured by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for Swachh Bharat Abhiyan

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be presented with the 2019 Global Goalkeeper Award, a 'special recognition' that cherishes a political leader who has "demonstrated his commitment to Global Goals through unparalleled work in their country or globally'.

The Prime Minister will also address world leaders and corporate executives at the Bloomberg Global Business Forum during his visit to the high-level session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

Modi will be honoured for his leadership in the Swachch Bharat expedition, which he launched on 2 October 2014. The Foundation will host the fourth annual Goal Award Goals on September 24.

This ambitious mission aims to accelerate efforts to achieve universal health coverage in the country this year in recognition of Mahatma Gandhi's 150th anniversary.

 Today, 90 million toilets have been built to eliminate open defecation before 2 October 2019, and currently, 98 per cent of Indian villages have rural sanitation coverage instead of 38 per cent four years ago. 

 But a group of prominent South Asian Americans, who say they are "charitable allies", have written an open letter criticizing the award and urging the institution to withdraw it, citing concerns about its human rights record since Modi came to power in 2014. CNN.

In a CNN statement, Bill and Melinda Gates defended their decision: “Before the Swachh Bharat mission, more than 500 million people in India did not have access to safe sanitation, and now most have done so.

"The mission of Swachh Bharat could be a model for other countries in the world that desperately need to improve access to health facilities for the world's poorest people."

Annual awards are presented, in five categories, to leaders and individuals for their efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The categories are Progress, Changemaker, Campaign, Goalkeepers Voice and Global Goalkeeper.

 "These awards tell exceptional stories of prominent people taking steps to achieve global goals and helping them achieve them by 2030," the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation said, adding that the goalkeepers will focus this year on the challenge of fighting. Against global inequality to ensure that no one is left behind.