PTI, NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet ‘Swachh Bharat’ mission today came in for sharp criticism by a top UN expert on sanitation who said it “lacked a holistic human rights approach”, drawing swift reproval from the government.
The government also took exception to the United Nation’s Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation Leo Heller’s reference to Mahatma Gandhi’s spectacles in the mission’s logo, abd his “rambling” report containing “inaccuracies, sweeping generalisations and biases”.
“In the last two weeks I have visited rural and urban areas, slums and settlement camps where undocumented population is residing… and I have found that these initiatives lack a more human rights approach,” he said. A press release by the office of the High Commissioner, United Nations Human Rights, on the issue, which had a reference to Mahatma Gandhi, drew strong criticism from the government. The release was distributed at the press conference.
