US to partner India in ‘Swachch Bharat’ campaign

Friday, November 7, 2014

NEW DELHI: Taking the US-India joint statement forward, USAID chief Rajiv Shah announced three partnership projects with India on areas close to PM Narendra Modi’s heart — “strengthen water and sanitation, expand access to clean energy and increase access to banking services for poor Indians”.

The announcement also kicked off a series of high level official meetings as follow-ups after the summit. Shah was in India to meet officials earlier this week. Endorsing the ’Swachch Bharat’ campaign, Shah said the US would, if they had funds, commit $20 million for a new urban water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) initiative to share expertise on scalable models. He announced another $41 million initiative in financing to provide energy services to one million Indians over three years. In addition, a new transactions team will bring together public and private players to finance clean energy opportunities. The US has put in the first $10 million for the Jan Dhan initiative to building financial products for those at the bottom of the pyramid.

Source: Times of India (link opens in a new window)

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