About SPM-NIWAS | UPSC Current Affairs

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Context:

The Union Cabinet has given ex post facto approval for the renaming of the National Centre for Drinking Water, Sanitation and Quality, Joka, Kolkata as ‘Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee National Institute of Water and Sanitation (SPM-NIWAS)’.

About SPM Nivas:

The Institute has been set up on 8.72 acres of land at Joka, Diamond Harbor Road, Kolkata, West Bengal.
The Institute is envisaged as a premier institute to develop capacities in states/UTs in the field of public health engineering, drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene through training programs.
Such capacities are envisaged not only for the front-line workforce engaged in the implementation of the Swachh Bharat Mission and Jal Jeevan Mission but also for the representatives of local bodies, both rural and urban. Accordingly, suitable infrastructure has been developed, including training infrastructure, and R& D Block and a residential complex.
Working and miniature models of Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) technologies are also installed to facilitate the training at the institute.

Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee:

Syama Prasad Mookerjee was a front-runner in national integration, and inspiration for industrialization was also an eminent scholar and academician and the youngest Vice Chancellor of the University of Calcutta.
After falling out with Nehru, protesting against the Liaquat-Nehru Pact, Mukherjee resigned from Nehru's cabinet. With the help of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, he founded the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the predecessor to the Bharatiya Janata Party, in 1951.
Since the Bharatiya Janata Party is the successor to the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, Mukherjee is also regarded as the founder of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by its members.