PM Modi will get an award from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for his work in the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been conferred with yet another award, this time it's by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, for the PM's ambitious pet project, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.

MoS PMO, Jitendra Singh on Monday made the announcement and said, "Another award, another moment of pride for every Indian as PM Modi's diligent and innovative initiatives bring laurels from across the world. PM Modi to receive award from Bill Melinda Gates Foundation for Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan during his visit to US (sic)".

Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, or the Clean India Mission, was one of the first few ambitious projects that PM Modi launched in his first term at the Centre in 2014. The project was launched as an ode to Mahatma Gandhi on his birth anniversary on October 2, 2014.

The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan aimed to make India 'Open Defecation Free' by 2019 and it had set out with a 5-year target to build 9 crore toilets.

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is a private foundation owned by billionaire philanthropist and Microsoft founder Bill Gates and his wife Melinda Gates.

Earlier this year, Bill Gates lauded PM Modi for the mega health scheme that the Modi government had launched, the Ayushman Bharat scheme that aims to provide free healthcare to over 10 crore people.

In May 2018, Bill Gates also came out in support of the Aadhaar scheme saying the Aadhaar technology does not pose any privacy issue.