News Release

Young Single Adults Heed PM Modi's "Swachh Bharat"

Priya Market Park in the New Delhi’s Vasant Vihar district received a good Swachh or cleaning. Debris was picked up and paths were swept. More importantly, friendships were made between the locals and the New Delhi’s Young Single Adults, (YSA) of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  

The New Delhi young adults participated in the nationwide initiative from Prime Minister Modi called ‘Swachh Bharat’. Swachh Bharat or Clean India was implemented in 2014. PM Modi’s goal is to have a clean India by Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birthday on October 2, 2019.

Near Gandhi’s birthday, there is renewed interested and discussion about Swachh Bharat. Two weeks before Gandhi’s 147th birthday, the YSA answered PM Modi’s call to clean India on Saturday Sept 24, 2016.  They cleaned Priya Park.

The park was a flurry of activity from the YSA volunteers.  The volunteers swept and raked leaves, filled bags full of debris, picked up hundreds of plastic cups and broken bottles, moved piles of bricks and swept the walkway.  David Vaiphei, a YSA volunteer said, “I came to work and serve others.”

The YSA volunteers were joined by a group of workers, currently living near the park. The labor workers happily used their tarp to haul debris and shared their raking equipment. A boy, approximately 6 years old, happily wore safety gloves and helped move a pile of broken bricks.

Many of the surrounding parks have hired security officers to keep vagrants away. This particular park does not have a security guard and thus quickly accumulates debris near the benches. Anil Kumar said, “This park does not get the attention as other parks.”

YSA is a young adult group of men and women ranging in age from 18-30 in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Many of their activities involve helping the community. They typically wear ““Mormon Helping Hands” vests, during many of their community activities.   

Mrs. Laul, a longtime local said, “I wish more people helped neighborhoods as your organization does.”

For more information on Swachh Bharat visit https://swachhbharat.mygov.in/  

Style Guide Note:When reporting about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, please use the complete name of the Church in the first reference. For more information on the use of the name of the Church, go to our online Style Guide.