<span style="color: #222222;">Vice President Venkaiah Naidu today said India is well on its way to achieve Open Defecation Free status by 2019. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Addressing the Mahatma Gandhi International Sanitation Convention in New Delhi, Mr Naidu said an Open Defecation Free India is the best gift the nation can give to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th birth anniversary. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">He expressed happiness that Swachh Bharat Mission has become a people's movement. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The Vice President pointed out that Mahatma Gandhi felt that sanitation is more important than political freedom and the Father of the Nation accorded the highest priority to sanitation and cleanliness. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Speaking on the occasion, Union Minister Uma Bharati said that all villages in the banks of river Ganga are now Open Defecation Free. </span><br />