New Delhi:-Albright Stonebridge Group headed by former US Secretary of State, Ms. Madeline K. Albright, has offered to collaborate in the “Swachh Bharat” campaign launched by Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi and to contribute in the flood relief work in Jammu & Kashmir.
Mr. Gary White, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Water.org, a non-governmental organization working under the auspices and advice of Albright Stonebridge Group, called on Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr. Jitendra Singh, here today, and assured him of the organization’s commitment to work for “Safe Water & Sanitation” across the world, including in the recently flood-hit areas of Jammu & Kashmir where such work is more urgently required in the immediate context.
Mr. Gary White, who is on a two day visit to India, informed that the organization has invested 7.7 million USD in Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) to expand water and sanitation lending which has, in turn, stimulated more than 55 million USD private capital to improve water and sanitation conditions in India. Till date, Water.org has reached over 1.5 million people worldwide and 1.3 million in India alone, he added.
Welcoming the offer made by Mr. Gary White and Water.org, Dr. Jitendra Singh said, Prime Minister’s “Swachh Bharat” campaign is in itself a testimony of the high priority that Narendra Modi government attaches to cleanliness and sanitation. In a country like India with heterogeneous living conditions and vast diversity, the task becomes all the more onerous, but the mass participation and enthusiasm inspired by Prime Minister’s call for cleanliness has began to show prompt results, he pointed out.
Appreciating the concern expressed by Albright Stonebridge Group and Water.org for the flood victims in Jammu & Kashmir, Dr. Jitendra Singh suggested Mr. Gary White to work out a strategy wherein the flood relief work in Jammu & Kashmir may be supplemented both financially as well as by way of latest technical know-how.
