New Delhi, Nov 22, 2016: Spiritual and religious heads of several organisations belonging to different faiths have come together to counter pollution in the Ganges and other rivers as well as to fight global climate change.

To ensure access to clean drinking water, sanitation and hygiene, the campaign "WASH" is a cleanliness drive, mentioned PTI.

The idea came into being under the leadership of inter-faith leader Swami Chidanand Saraswati and it focuses on achieving peace and environmental protection and start a sanitation revolution in the country.

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Sanitation and meditation are of equal importance. "To achieve a cleaner India, we have to not only sanitise our surroundings but our minds too. Different religions and faiths along with stakeholders and civil society, we all have to come together to put our heart and soul in achieving a cleaner India," said Saraswati.

Apart from that, he has initiated several critical programmes like Namame Ganga (Clean Ganga), Swachh Bharat (Clean India) and Swachhta Kranti (Clean Revolution). He is also the co-founder of Global Interfaith WASH Alliance (GIWA), mentioned PTI.

During Ujjain Kumbha Mela too, the alliance worked to make people aware of sanitation and repercussions of bad environment, especially on children's health.

On World Toilet Day, which was on November 19, a huge crowd gathered that included youth and many leaders from different communities who pledged for a clean environment as well as proper sanitation. "It's time that we should move from building temples to more and more toilets," Saraswati said to PTI.

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For Chidanand Saraswati, Ganga is not a religious topic but a lifeline for millions of citizens in the nation.

"River Ganga is not a religious topic but the very lifeline of millions of people and our heritage. When we talk about Ganga we are actually talking about mostly all the rivers in the country and the deteriorating conditions of most of these rivers. Health, hygiene and harmony all should go together for a changed India," he said.

To induce and spur growth, the drive is supporting technology and several other innovations.

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If we want to see true Socio-economic development, it has to happen from the bottom-of-the-pyramid population. Saraswati says, "We along with spiritual leaders from all across the world have created a new term for us- RSR- Religious Social Responsibility."

"It is amazing how our Prime Minister spoke vigilantly about cleanliness from Red Fort and actually started a campaign to make people aware of the initiatives and how we all can come come together to achieve this dream," Saraswati further added.

– prepared by NewsGram with PTI inputs