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Tag: Swachh Bharat

  • Swachh Bharat to Chakachak Mumbai – Viacom18 takes the road to prosperity through cleanliness

    Swachh Bharat to Chakachak Mumbai – Viacom18 takes the road to prosperity through cleanliness

    MUMBAI: With more than half the country’s population without access to a toilet, coupled with the peril of open defecation India is facing a sanitation crisis. While the Honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan has seen a number of corporates aligning with the cause, a majority of the work has focussed on construction of toilets in the rural India. But with each passing day, the realization dawns that building awareness about the need to use toilets is as, and perhaps more, important in realizing the dream of an open defecation free India.

    And it is in this spirit that, at a recently concluded cleanliness and sanitation awareness drive, Viacom18 flagged off its CSR behaviour change communication campaign to tackle the unhygienic sanitation condition in the slums of Mumbai. The company has adopted 4 slums (Subhash Nagar, Dsouza Chawl, Upadhyay Nagar and Salve Nagar) in the densely populated Andheri suburb of Mumbai. Under the umbrella of ‘Chakachak Mumbai’, Viacom18 has been working over the last year, to renovate and reconstruct over 200 toilets for the residents of these areas. Underlining the importance of instigating a change in people’s mindset at the ground level, Viacom18 has roped in Padma Shri and Ramon Magsaysay award winner Jockin Arputham and under-privileged women’s self-help collective Mahila Milan, to undertake a concerted behaviour change communication programme. 

    Viacom18 group CEO Sudhanshu Vats flagged off the drive along with Kesarben Patel, Corporator – Salve Nagar, K-East Ward, Andheri East and well-known Marathi film personalities Mahesh Kothare, Urmila Kanetkar Kothare and Sonalee Kulkarni. 

    “It is my firm belief that just as its people define the organization, the organization has a soul that is the collective of its people. It is with this belief that Viacom18 has been at the forefront of amplifying socially relevant issues, through our movies, tv series, support for social causes and various on ground activities. When we formalized our CSR journey, we decided to contribute towards realizing the challenging dream of a Swachh Bharat, both through enhancing infrastructure and building awareness,” said Sudhanshu Vats, Group CEO, Viacom18. He further added, “We are India’s favourite storytellers and we decided to leverage that primary strength to build the story of why good sanitary practices are important. Thus our entire behaviour change communication campaign focusses on how cleanliness leads to prosperity.”

    On the initiative Kesarben Patel, Corporator – Salve Nagar, K-East Ward, Andheri East, remarked, “The government is happy to encourage like-minded stakeholders for the benefit of each and every individual in the city and communities at large. These toilets are a step towards providing each and every citizen with access to clean sanitation. Now the onus is on the community to use these toilets judiciously, own them and safeguard it as an asset to the community. Just building these toilets, is not the objective of us or Viacom18, we would want the community to use them. We should eliminate Open Defecation from the community.”

    With the 360 degree approach of infrastructure development and behaviour change communication programme, Chakachak Mumbai looks set to bring about a noticeable improvement in the swachhta quotient of this maximum city. 

  • Three ad campaigns to watch out for on Republic Day

    Three ad campaigns to watch out for on Republic Day

    MUMBAI: Marketers are forever in search of new engaging ways to connect with consumers, but consumers, at the end of the day, are people. In India, the word ‘people’ has a varied connotation with the country having a population of over a billion, nestling several languages, religions and cultures. Hence a message targeted at a few million might not connect with the rest. 

    While the Indian calendar is checkered with festivals that trigger traction from several millions, there are few things that connect the 1.8 billion as one like cricket, a national crisis or even our pride as Indians. 

    Creatives understand this well, and have time and again thrilled, moved, excited and even tickled us with these instances of Indian-ness. This Republic Day too, there are a handful of brands riding the patriotic wave and delivering some version of the many facets of what makes us Indian. Indiantelevision.com handpicks a few for our readers.

    9XM’s #OneDreamOneIndia

    A Republic Day video preaching religious harmony has been done to death and therefore is commonplace. But what about a video that reflects unity of several political ideologies? That is exactly what we see in this 90-second video where actors — who are clearly depicting stalwarts from major political parties in India — join hands to stand up against any threat to the nation. Going on air on 25 January, the ident ‘OneDreamOneIndia’ is sung by JSL Singh and Ranjit Bawa capturing the nation’s spirit of unity and freedom. The ident will be promoted across social media platforms and YouTube. After laughing at several newspaper cartoons that make fun of the rivalry between the national parties, and cracking up at their puppet parodies on television and digital medium, this new initiative from 9XM comes as a breath of fresh air.

    Gaali Free India

    Our constitution grants us free speech and by virtue of it we are free to use the language we choose, even if it is vulgar. But have we stretched our freedom too far to notice that ‘gaali’ has become part of our vocabulary? A question Water Communications’ founder and director Vandana Sethhi asks the nation through an innovative campaign.

    Inspired by Prime Minister’s ‘Swachh Bharat’ initiative, the campaign gives an interesting spin off and seeks cleanliness in speech. 

    Videocon: FlagOfChange

    The tricolour of Indian national flag evokes several emotions. It also carries the burden of several freedom fighters who gave their lives to gift us this day when we walk free with pride. It also carries the pride of the leaders of that time who gave their blood and sweat in building the Constitution. And yet we see many amongst us who take this for granted and bring down the decades worth of effort in a minute by giving into petty temptations. To some, it’s for extra cash, while for others, it might be to save themselves from bureaucratic hassles. This powerful short-film by Videocon created by Rediffusion Y&R reminds us of the burden of the Indian flag and urges everyone to start changing our mindset, at the same time inserting a message on anti-corruption.

  • Three ad campaigns to watch out for on Republic Day

    Three ad campaigns to watch out for on Republic Day

    MUMBAI: Marketers are forever in search of new engaging ways to connect with consumers, but consumers, at the end of the day, are people. In India, the word ‘people’ has a varied connotation with the country having a population of over a billion, nestling several languages, religions and cultures. Hence a message targeted at a few million might not connect with the rest. 

    While the Indian calendar is checkered with festivals that trigger traction from several millions, there are few things that connect the 1.8 billion as one like cricket, a national crisis or even our pride as Indians. 

    Creatives understand this well, and have time and again thrilled, moved, excited and even tickled us with these instances of Indian-ness. This Republic Day too, there are a handful of brands riding the patriotic wave and delivering some version of the many facets of what makes us Indian. Indiantelevision.com handpicks a few for our readers.

    9XM’s #OneDreamOneIndia

    A Republic Day video preaching religious harmony has been done to death and therefore is commonplace. But what about a video that reflects unity of several political ideologies? That is exactly what we see in this 90-second video where actors — who are clearly depicting stalwarts from major political parties in India — join hands to stand up against any threat to the nation. Going on air on 25 January, the ident ‘OneDreamOneIndia’ is sung by JSL Singh and Ranjit Bawa capturing the nation’s spirit of unity and freedom. The ident will be promoted across social media platforms and YouTube. After laughing at several newspaper cartoons that make fun of the rivalry between the national parties, and cracking up at their puppet parodies on television and digital medium, this new initiative from 9XM comes as a breath of fresh air.

    Gaali Free India

    Our constitution grants us free speech and by virtue of it we are free to use the language we choose, even if it is vulgar. But have we stretched our freedom too far to notice that ‘gaali’ has become part of our vocabulary? A question Water Communications’ founder and director Vandana Sethhi asks the nation through an innovative campaign.

    Inspired by Prime Minister’s ‘Swachh Bharat’ initiative, the campaign gives an interesting spin off and seeks cleanliness in speech. 

    Videocon: FlagOfChange

    The tricolour of Indian national flag evokes several emotions. It also carries the burden of several freedom fighters who gave their lives to gift us this day when we walk free with pride. It also carries the pride of the leaders of that time who gave their blood and sweat in building the Constitution. And yet we see many amongst us who take this for granted and bring down the decades worth of effort in a minute by giving into petty temptations. To some, it’s for extra cash, while for others, it might be to save themselves from bureaucratic hassles. This powerful short-film by Videocon created by Rediffusion Y&R reminds us of the burden of the Indian flag and urges everyone to start changing our mindset, at the same time inserting a message on anti-corruption.

  • Narendra Modi to felicitate Clean Champions at India Today Awards

    Narendra Modi to felicitate Clean Champions at India Today Awards

    MUMBAI: It’s been one year since Prime Minister Narendra Modi nominated India Today Group chairman and editor in chief Aroon Purie to be a Clean India advocate. The India Today Group will be commemorating the honour with the India Today Safaigiri Singathon and Awards 2015.

    The event will be held on 2 October, the first anniversary of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be the keynote speaker and give away awards to the Clean India Champions.

    Purie said, “I was delighted when the PM nominated me and The India Today group as an ambassador of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. A clean India is such a simple idea but a revolutionary one.  It will only succeed if all of us work to make it a movement. So many of our ills will be solved if we fix our sanitation. By one estimate it could increase our average per capita income by seven per cent. As a media group, we can play a role to raise awareness of this campaign and get people involved. Our first step is Safaigiri Singathon & Awards. Our aim is to work on an attitude change and bring viewers face to face with uncomfortable facts in an entertaining manner. I am glad that we are not just reporting   but   making a difference.”

    India Today Safaigiri Singathon & Awards is a key initiative of the group’s efforts in realising the vision of Swachh Bharat and in recognising Clean Champions across the country. The Clean Champions are selected in 13 categories through a process of online entries, field work, and selection by a jury of eminent citizens.

    The event will be highlighted by the Safai Singathon with singers and musicians performing through the day. The singers and musicians attending the daylong event include, Asha Bhosle, Kailash Kher, Daler Mehndi, Sonu Nigam, Hans Raj Hans, Papon and Udit Narayan. 

    The Safai Singathon will be telecast on all four channels of the network namely India Today Television, Aaj Tak, Tez and Business Today for over eight hours non-stop Live on 2 October.

  • Prasoon Joshi pens new anthem song for Swachh Bharat mission

    Prasoon Joshi pens new anthem song for Swachh Bharat mission

    NEW DELHI: An anthem has been written for the ‘Swachh Bharat Mission’ by ad man and lyricist Prasoon Joshi.

     

    The song was written in response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for a ‘jan andolan’ to make the mission successful.

     

    The celebrities have come together to enthuse and inspire citizens to join hands in realising the collective dream of a ‘clean India.’

     

    The anthem penned by Joshi is set to tune by musical trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. It is sung by Shankar Mahadevan and other playback singers, who will also feature a video being produced by Mukesh Bhatt for the same.

     

    Cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar has contributed to this endeavour by reciting a few lines that will specially feature in the anthem, as well as providing various musical suggestions for the recording.  

     

    The audio of the song is expected to be released on the eve of Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary on 2 October.

  • Swachh Bharat, National Anthem, Amitabh Bachchan to dominate Pro Kabaddi 2 marketing blitzkrieg

    Swachh Bharat, National Anthem, Amitabh Bachchan to dominate Pro Kabaddi 2 marketing blitzkrieg

    MUMBAI: Bollywood’s quintessential superstar Amitabh Bachchan is emerging as the flag bearer of Star Sports’ Pro Kabaddi League season 2 marketing blitzkrieg. It all began with Bachchan composing and singing the anthem song ‘Le Panga’ for the league. Star India converted the entire recording studio voyage to a television commercial (TVC) and is telecasting it across its network.

     

    However, Bachchan’s contribution to the marketing campaign of Pro Kabaddi League season 2 is not just limited to the anthem that he composed and sung. This year, the tournament has integrated with many national awareness initiatives and special importance has been given to the Indian National Anthem. Bachchan will mark the beginning of Pro Kabaddi League season 2 not by lighting lamp but by crooning the National Anthem of the country.

     

    “Every match will start with the Indian National Anthem and we are delighted to announce that in the first match MrBachchan will sing the national anthem and mark the opening of the tournament. Kabaddi is a homegrown sport and pride and honour is deeply associated with the sport,” said Star Sports head NitinKukreja.

     

    Speaking to Indiantelevision.com Pro Kabaddi initiator and Mashal Sports director Charu Sharma said, “Last year also we wanted to have renowned singers on board to start matches by singing National Anthem, but it wasn’t possible and we played the instrumental version of it. This year, we will have many significant dignitaries and Amitabh Bachchan is one of them. To start with him was pre-planned and his personality is one of the reasons behind it.”

     

    International Kabaddi Federation president Janardhan Singh Ghelot opined, “For every Indian whenever the national anthem is sung in a sports event, it’s a matter of pride and honour and Kabaddi is a sport with pride and honour enthralled in it throughout. So the National Anthem is the best way to kickstart the league. Kabaddi always made India proud but no one was aware of the achievements of Indian Kabaddi players. Thanks to Mashal Sports, Charu Sharma, Nitin Kukreja, Star India Team and all their initiatives that the sport and the players got global recognition. The day Kabaddi will find a spot in Olympics, my dreams will turn true.”

     

    According to a source close to the development, Star India is said to have paid Bachchan approximately Rs 2.5 crore for the ‘Le Panga’ campaign. However, the source also informed that Bachchan did not charge for the National Anthem appearance.

     

    The tournament also stretched its arm to shake hands with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Swachh Bharat’ campaign. In a silent support to the campaign last year, Star in one of its TVCs opposed throwing waste on the roads in a creative way. “This year, we are actively part of it. We decided to join the campaign and push it actively. We need a cleaner India, we need to stop throwing waste in the middle of the road. There are waste paper baskets to throw garbage and so we decided to talk about it more this year. We will talk about the campaign across every medium,” added Sharma.

     

    The tournament’s last year record may emerge as the biggest challenge this year. If Pro Kabaddi League 2 fails to garner more than 435 million viewers, will it affect the brand value and pose a question mark over the sustainability? Terming last year’s record as a compliment rather than a challenge, Sharma said, “I don’t take it as a challenge. Last year the tournament was over before people got into it. This year, people are waiting for it so I expect it to grow bigger and better.”

  • MTV launches clean-up drive with Sushant Singh Rajput to support Swachh Bharat

    MTV launches clean-up drive with Sushant Singh Rajput to support Swachh Bharat

    MUMBAI: After a successful ‘MTV’s Rock The Vote’ campaign last year, Viacom 18’s youth centric channel has launched the ‘MTV The Junkyard Project’.

     

    ‘MTV The Junkyard Project’ is an attempt to involve youth in cleanliness on ground, while adding fun quotient by blending in music and art. To lend his support to this initiative actor Sushant Singh Rajput picked up the broom to launch the campaign by sweeping a street in Mumbai as two bands played to cheer him. This event was hosted in association with JJ School of Arts, and kickstarts across 15 cities.

     

    ‘MTV The Junkyard Project’ will be integrating this campaign across all the screens including television, mobile, web with an on-ground outreach across 300 colleges and 15 city clean up drive. In addition, MTV is collaborating with musicians to create a music video with a strong messaging of ‘Swachh Bharat’. While music gets youth grooving, humor urges them to spread the message. In line with that, MTV is partnering with leading humorists across the country to create compelling yet funny videos that deliver the message loud and clear.

     

    The channel is rolling out a massive 15 city clean up drive that identifies unofficial junkyards and convert them into art projects. The core idea is to create spaces that truly reflect the talent of the youth and their strong willingness to forge a new tomorrow.

     

    Speaking about his association with the project, Rajput said, “For a young nation like India, real change can be brought out only if the young people decide to do something about it. While today everyone’s talking about making India clean, very few are working on developing sustainable models for achieving it. MTV The Junkyard Project is a unique initiative because it successfully marries the power of the youth along with solutions that are long term and enables them to have fun while executing the whole idea – which is brilliant! I am thoroughly excited to be a part of this splendid project and would like to tell them that we are awesome and urge them to be the agents of change!”

     

    MTV EVP and business head Aditya Swamy added, “Warm is the new cool, young people care about the world they live in and believe that they can be powerful change agents. We at MTV have always created platforms for the youth to act and make a difference. This is a key part of what we do and we leverage all the assets of MTV to create a fun and impactful movement.”

  • Rs 18000 crore worth investments received for ‘Digital India’: Prasad

    Rs 18000 crore worth investments received for ‘Digital India’: Prasad

    NEW DELHI: The Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s mandate of ‘Digital India’ will be a game changer for the country and will have a cascading effect on the entire system said Communications and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

     

    Chairing the consultative committee meeting attached to his Ministry, he informed the members that about 700,000 kilometer of cable for broadband is proposed to be laid in the next three years as against one million kilometers already laid in the country, so far.

     

    The Minister informed members that 50,000 gram panchayats will be provided broadband facility in the first tranche and 2.5 lakh in the next three years. Prasad also assured the members that the government is giving priority to the production of electronic goods as part of the ‘Make in India’ programme.

     

    Reacting to the concern of some of the members about poor services of the BSNL network in the country, he said more funds are proposed to be provided to the public sector telephone service providers during the VII phase to improve their functioning and make them commercially active.

     

    The Department of Electronics and Information Technology secretary RS Sharma, made a presentation on the ‘Digital India’ programme before the members of the consultative committee. Earlier at the FICCI, Prasad said Rs 18000 crore worth investments proposals have been received till now for the ‘Digital India’ programme, of which Rs 4000 crore worth have been approved and more are in the pipeline.

     

    Speaking at the session on ‘The role of ICT and ‘Digital India’ initiative in India’s growth’ at the 87th AGM of FICCI, Prasad said that while there are issues of spectrum to provide high speed connectivity and regulatory control, India will become an exciting place as far as ‘Digital India’ is concerned. E-commerce, he said, was worth billions of dollars and will help increase India’s GDP in a big way.

     

    Prasad said that the huge postal network can be used for various services like banking, insurance etc. The postal services earn Rs 280 crore from e-commerce, he said, and urged the private sector to take the initiative to develop India digitally.

     

    Stating that digital connectivity is needed for good governance, Prasad said India had more than $100 billion turnover in IT industry. All fortune companies connect with India’s IT. India has the potential of becoming number two after China and surpass the United States.

     

    Spelling out the initiatives that have already been taken under the Digital India Programme, the Minister said mygov.in portal has been launched to allow India to interact on various government programmes. Suggestions received on various programmes like ‘Clean Ganga’, ‘Swachh Bharat’ through the portal and designing, logo, slogan etc have been prepared. Under the ‘Jan Dhan Yojna’ – name for the programme was coined with the help of suggestions received through the portal, eight crore bank accounts have been opened till now with a total deposit amount of Rs 8000 crore. This is an ideal example of financial inclusion through digital technology.

     

    Additionally, programmes such as ‘Jeevan Pramaan’, a  biometric-enabled digital service for pensioners has been launched. Besides, through IT, two lakh schools were connected (two crore children) on the eve of Teacher’s Day.

     

    Prasad said the digital divide between those who have and those who don’t needs to be plugged. For this the government has initiated the programme – National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) – which proposes to connect seven lakh kilometers optical fiber to be laid to connect 250 gram panchayats in three years. Wi-fi spots will be provided around the clusters after that and all villages to be provided with internet connectivity.

     

    He said that to promote ‘Digital India’ it is proposed to set up a broadband duct which is a pre-requisite for getting sewer, water and electricity connections.