Global Citizen movement encourages lakhs of youngsters to take action on Sanitation, Education and Gender

New Delhi [India], Nov 2 (ANI): Global Citizen India has announced that over four lakh young Indians have signed up and taken action on issues such as sanitation, education and gender equality, making it the largest youth movement in the country today. Global Citizen India is a social action platform that aims to amplify the voice of youth to push leaders to commit to positive change on sanitation, education and gender issues so India can eradicate extreme poverty by 2030. Nearly 1.5 million actions have been taken by the committed global citizens who are engaged in the world, knowledgeable about its diversity and passionate about change and who hail from around India since the movement launched in India on 12 September. This is the first time that the Global Citizen movement has moved outside of North America and Indians have embraced the movement as a powerful way to amplify their voice as well as to catalyse change. Bhavya Bishnoi, Global Citizen India spokesperson, said: "The Global Citizen India movement is uniquely positioned to galvanise support from our 800 million young people on the issues that matter, to us and to future generations, which are key to tackling the challenges the world faces. Already, over 4 lakh youth have taken action with Global Citizen India to really embody the call #ShuruaatHoonMain, and the number is only growing with every action journey" By taking these actions, 23,000 global citizens have won free tickets to the Global Citizen Festival India, to be held on November 19 in Mumbai, a festival where pop culture icons from Coldplay to Kareena Kapoor will join hands with public policy makers including the most senior levels of state and central government to commit to change and pledge their support to the issues that matter the most to the youth of India. Vidya Balan, Global Citizen India Ambassador said: "In 2014, PM Modi went on stage at the Global Citizen Festival in New York and committed to making India Open Defecation Free by 2019. His commitment is a step in the right direction, and it's us Global Citizens who can make sure that this commitment is adhered to and encourage others to follow his lead." V K Madhavan, Chief Executive, WaterAid India, said: "The lack of adequate urban sanitation is a key challenge for India in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals' target of universal access to water and sanitation for everyone, everywhere by 2030. The impetus provided by the Swachh Bharat Mission in achieving an open defecation free India by 2019 is timely and welcome especially for towns and cities with burgeoning populations in slums without access to reliable basic services." Malaika Arora Khan, Global Citizen Ambassador, said: "The Sustainable Development Goals are something which every individual needs to be aware of. Moreover, each person must work towards eradicating all issues and achieving these goals. We're in 2016 and aim to transform the world by 2030 hence it is extremely necessary to spread knowledge amongst people. One of the SDG's, which should top our priorities list, is clean water sanitation & hygiene. We need to make our environment safe & healthy not only for us but for each being living on Earth." The inaugural Global Citizen Festival India will be held in Mumbai on 19 November 2016, and will be headlined by Coldplay, Jay Z, Aamir Khan, Arijit Singh, Arjun Kapoor, A.R. Rahman, Amitabh Bachchan, Ayushmann Khurrana, Dia Mirza, Farhan Akhtar, Kareena Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Malaika Arora Khan, Monali Thakur, Parineeti Chopra, Ranveer Singh, Sachin Tendulkar, Sakshi Malik, Shah Rukh Khan, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Shraddkar Kapoor, Sonakshi Sinha, Vijender Singh. (ANI)