India’s successful Chandrayaan-3 mission to the moon cost around Rs 600 crore. Believe it or not, the Narendra Modi government could well have funded two such missions, by selling scrap like files, condemned office equipment and obsolete vehicles.
The latest government report says nearly Rs 1,163 crore have been earned by selling scrap since October 2021, including a whopping Rs 557 crore earned during a one-month-long campaign in October this year. The report says an astounding number of 96 lakh physical files have been weeded out in central government offices since October 2021 and nearly 355 lakh square feet of space has been freed in government offices in all. This has led to cleaned-up corridors in offices, utilisation of freed space as recreation centers and for other useful purposes.
“The Russian moon mission, which was unsuccessful, cost Rs 16,000 crore, and our (Chandrayaan-3) mission cost just around Rs 600 crore. Hollywood films based on moon and space missions cost over Rs 600 crore,” MoS Space, Jitendra Singh, had said earlier this year.
The Rs 1,163 crore revenue figure from the sale of scrap shows how big and important the government programme on cleanliness has been, with the push coming right from PM Narendra Modi. The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances has led this drive.
Who Earned Maximum Revenue?
Out of the Rs 556 crore earned by the government this year from selling scrap, nearly Rs 225 crore was earned by the Ministry of Railways alone. The other major earners were the Defence Ministry at Rs 168 crore, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas at Rs 56 crore and the Coal Ministry at Rs 34 crore. Out of the total space of 164 lakh square feet freed this year, the maximum space was freed in the Ministry of Coal at 66 lakh square feet and the Ministry of Heavy Industry at 21 lakh square feet, followed by the Defence Ministry at 19 lakh square feet, the report shows.
This year, nearly 24 lakh files were weeded out and the maximum was weeded out in the Ministry of External Affairs (3.9 lakh files) followed by the Department of Military Affairs (3.15 lakh files). The overall e-file adoption has grown to nearly 96% in the government due to the impact of the cleanliness campaign. Nearly 2.58 lakh office sites were covered in the campaign this year.
“The Special Campaign 3.0 for institutionalizing swachhata (cleanliness) and reducing pendency represents India’s largest ever campaign for swachhata in office spaces. The month-long campaign conducted in 2,58,673 offices across India and abroad, resulted in freeing up 164 lac sq ft of office space, weeding of 24.07 lakh physical files and earned revenues of Rs 556.35 crore from disposal of office scrap,” said V Srinivas, Secretary, DARPG.
“The Special Campaign 3.0 was successful in significant reduction in pendency with Ministries/Departments achieving nearly 100 percent targets in redressal of public grievances, records management practices and replies to MP references. The Swachhata Assessment Report 2023 presents the leadership role played by the Council of Ministers, the Secretaries to GOI in successful implementation of Special Campaign 3.0 under the guidance of Prime Minister Modi, documenting the best practices and innovations. The swachhata campaign practices will be institutionalized in government with three hours per week being devoted for swachhata activities.”
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