Bachchan lauds kids who use creativity to make India clean

Dettol Banega Swasth India’s Campaign Ambassador, Mr. Amitabh Bachchan engaged with national winners of ‘WhiteHat Jr Swasth Bharat Tech Champs’ live on Dettol and NDTV’s Swasth Bharat, Sampann Bharat Telethon. Amitabh Bachchan was impressed with the ingenuity of the children who created mobile applications with an aim to address some of the key health and hygiene challenges faced in India.

To all of the children, Amitabh Bachchan, said, “There is something fascinating about the way a child’s mind works. Where adults see constraints, children see possibilities. Seeing the wonderful app ideas by the young winners addressing issues pertaining to health and hygiene, fills my heart with hope for the future of India. It is these young creators of today who are going to become the inventors and leaders of tomorrow. Interacting with these young creators was an enriching experience for me, and I wish them all the very best for their future!” 

WhiteHat Jr and Reckitt joined hands earlier this year to launch ‘WhiteHat Jr Swasth Bharat Tech Champs’ with an aim to inspire the younger generation to find solutions to the health and hygiene issues in our country leveraging technology.  The program saw participation from more than 10,700 students, in the age-group of 6-18 years, from 700+ cities and towns in India. The top 50 winners explored ideas ranging from waste management, COVID-19 care and vaccination, community and personal health and hygiene, mental health and menstruation (details in the annexure). Along with students from metro cities, the program also saw winners from towns across India including Panipat, Ernakulam, Thissur, Nasik, Kharagpur, Indore, Muzaffarnagar, Faridabad, Durgapur and more.

These 50 winners were recognized and awarded a scholarship of Rs. 50,000 each by Reckitt with the opportunity to engage with Superstar and Dettol Banega Swasth India’s Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan live on Dettol and NDTV’s Swasth Bharat Sampann Bharat Telethon.

Gaurav Jain, Senior Vice President, Reckitt South Asia, commented, “Over the years, Dettol Banega Swasth India program has successfully focused on driving people to adopt habits for making India healthier and hygienic. In the digital era, WhiteHat Jr Swasth Bharat Tech Champs program has helped us engage and inspire young minds to bring about a change in the way we approach health and hygiene issues. This wonderful amalgamation of technology and creative thinking has yielded exciting ideas. It is exactly this kind of creative thinking that can help us in creating Swasth Bharat in the long run!”

“The children today are leveraging technology to express themselves, give shape to their ideas and create real solutions. The WhiteHat Jr Swasth Bharat Tech Champs program reinforces this amazing movement. Children responded in multitude ways to address some of the most pressing health problems. While some wanted to drive action by getting people to volunteer or donate medicines, others wanted to enable them by offering self-help tools to improve their personal health. Some even wanted to explore societal issues by galvanizing community support or creating awareness about specific issues,” said Trupti Mukker, CEO, WhiteHat Jr. “We are enthused to shine a light on these bright minds. Seeing children turn into creators is the fruition of all the work we’re putting in at WhiteHat Jr.”