Mamata Banerjee and Kiran Bedi take the lead on World Handwashing Day. Here's what they did

There are only 365 days in an average year, and, as it turns out, no shortage of causes. As a result, almost every day is some form of occasion, generally with the purpose of highlighting and bring attention to a particular topic. We've seen some of the big ones, namely World Environment Day and International Women's day, but these are just the tip of the iceberg. One can always find a full list online, but the other, more convenient way to keep up with these various 'days' is to simply follow West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Twitter!

Monday, October 15, for instance, is World Handwashing day, and the Trinamool Congress supremo has taken the lead on this. She has issued a post that succinctly sums up the importance of washing hands, which one would think is general knowledge, but is often overlooked.

She has also not overlooked the other things about October 15 that make it important, such as it being the 'International Day of Rural Women' and the birth anniversary of former President of India APJ Abdul Kalam. 

Two days earlier, on October 13, she had also marked 'International Day for Disaster Reduction' with a tweet, emphasising her government's initiatives towards this:

Banerjee is not the only prominent Twitter handle to draw attention to World Handwash day, or 'Global Handwashing Day' as the observance that began in 2008 is formally known. Apart from virtually every brand of handwash in the world, the WHO has also issued a tweet with an infographic:

And so has UNICEF, which has put things into perspective:

Back home, Puducherry Lt Governor Kiran Bedi has posted a video:

However, despite their efforts, Bedi and Banerjee aren't the ones who have taken the biggest ever initiative in India on World Handwash day. That honour falls upon the state of Madhya Pradesh, which in 2014, set the Guinness World Record for the largest handwashing programme in which over 1.2 million children participated.