World Bank to commit $1 bn for Modi's Swachh Bharat campaign

World Bank today said it will commit $1 billion in the Narendra Modi government’s Swachh Bharat (Clean India) campaign. World Bank’s country director in India Onno Ruhl said the World Bank is considering large sums of financing for that. “The government has asked us at the highest level to prepare this with speed. So, we have teams here working flat out day and night to support. [caption id=“attachment_1830979” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  PM Modi inaugurates the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. Image courtesy: PIB[/caption] “Given the fact that we haven’t fully completed our discussion, I wouldn’t want to commit to an amount. However it will be no less than $1 billion. So, it is a significant amount,” he told CNBC-TV18. He said the World Bank is working with the government on this specific programme where it would support the programme in the low income states in India. He further said the World Bank would try to use its money to help make the government’s programme “really result focus”. On October 2, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the country’s biggest-ever cleanliness drive. The mission is expected to cost over Rs 62,000 crore. PTI