Almost three years had passed since the launch of the Mission, recent reports showed that the state of Arunachal Pradesh, along with Nagaland, is yet to display significant changes. Reasons provided were crunch of funds and rough terrains which have made it difficult to provide accessibility to toilets and drinking water. In spite of that, the government has put several efforts to fulfil the objectives of the Mission by allotting additional funds apart from that obtained from the central government. Notwithstanding financial problems, the most noticeable obstacle towards achieving cleanliness (take Itanagar for example) are lack of proper waste management system and people’s indifferent attitude. Garbage dump sites located along the roadsides or near drains and people throwing garbage haphazardly is not only an unpleasant sight, but also a cause of many health hazards. The recent initiative by the Itanagar Municipal Council for door-to-door collection of garbage is a commendable step which can be further strengthened and expanded to cover larger areas. Waste segregation should start at the household level and facilities may be created with government assistance for safe disposal/treatment of each type of waste. Moreover, unless the people are sensitised and their mindset changed about the importance of cleanliness of their houses and surroundings, the government’s efforts would prove to be futile. Therefore, the movement for a ‘Clean India’ calls for voluntary participation of each and every citizen of the country because keeping our surroundings clean is not the responsibility of the government but everybody’s business.

As a step towards achieving ‘Swachh Bharat’, the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), Govt. of India is celebrating SwachhtaPakhwada from the 1st to 15th June 2017. In this connection, the G.B. Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment & Sustainable Development the fortnight at its Headquarter at Almora, Uttarakhand, along with the regional units in the entire Indian Himalayan Region, viz., Northeast Unit (Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh), Sikkim Unit (Gangtok, Himachal Unit (Kullu) and Garhwal Unit (Srinagar, Uttarakhand).