Akash Yadav and Rohan Dev, two young residents of Patwai village in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh, received a moment of national recognition on Sunday, 30 August when Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned them by name during his monthly Mann Ki Baat radio address, praising their grassroots cleanliness campaign. The duo, who launched the initiative nearly a year ago after noticing unchecked filth in their village, described the acknowledgement as a reward for months of quiet, determined effort.

How the Campaign Began

The story of Clean-up Patwai started with two friends picking up garbage bags and walking through their littered village. Akash Yadav and Rohan Dev initiated the drive after being troubled by the state of hygiene in Patwai. What began as a small, informal effort gradually drew in neighbours and young people from the area. Today, a core group of roughly 15 volunteers runs the campaign on a sustained basis.

Scale of the Clean-up Work

The volunteers have not confined their work to residential lanes. According to the team, four Ganga ghats have been cleaned under the campaign, and more than one tonne of plastic waste has been removed from public spaces. Clean-up drives have also been conducted at ponds, parks, markets, and religious sites across the region. In addition, a large number of saplings have been planted as part of parallel environmental conservation efforts.

What the Volunteers Said

Speaking after the Prime Minister's address, Akash Yadav said, 'I am overjoyed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned my name and that of my friend, Rohan Dev, today. It is not just me, people are congratulating my village and the entire city, acknowledging that hard work we put in over the last 8-10 months has truly paid off.'

Volunteer Paramjit Singh noted that the team cleans up filth wherever they find it — 'be it at religious sites or any other location.' Fellow volunteer Nikhil Srivastava said the group is now planning to take the campaign nationwide: 'We want to expand this initiative to all of India.' Volunteer Pawan Yadav added a pointed observation: 'The country will improve only when we improve ourselves. People complain about the filth, yet they are the ones creating it, and no one comes to clean it up.' Sameer Hussain called for scaling the campaign beyond Rampur to serve the broader objectives of the Swachh Bharat mission.

Wider Significance

A mention in Mann Ki Baat — the Prime Minister's monthly outreach programme broadcast on All India Radio — carries considerable symbolic weight, often amplifying grassroots initiatives to a national audience. For community-driven sanitation drives, such recognition typically spurs replication in other districts. This comes amid continued government emphasis on the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, now in its second phase, which targets cleanliness in rural and semi-urban pockets where informal citizen-led efforts often fill institutional gaps.

What Comes Next

The Clean-up Patwai volunteers say they intend to formalise their outreach and scale the model to other towns and cities. With national visibility now behind them, the team's stated ambition of a pan-India campaign has moved from aspiration to a credible near-term goal.