Cleanliness begins at home

[prasad1]

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One of the first signs of a well managed place — whether it is a restaurant, hotel, airport, office or train station — is its level of cleanliness. If the place isn’t clean, it is unlikely to impress anyone. The same applies to an entire country. Indians who travel abroad are often awestruck by cleanliness levels in the developed world.

Therefore, if we want our country to realise its full potential in the world, we have to make it clean. A land of filth, no matter how talented its people and how wonderful its natural resources, will never earn the respect it deserves.

Perhaps this is a reason why the PM has taken on the Swachh Bharat mission with such gusto. Not only him, several other influencers and prominent people have lent a hand to the cause, often holding a broom along with it.
However, while the broom in hand does make a compelling photo-op and is well intentioned, it will take a lot more to clean India. If we are really serious about this, let us first figure out why we are dirty in the first place, and what it would take to have a cleaner India.
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So why is our country dirty? Why is it when we step out of our homes, we will find the roadside littered? Is it the municipal corporation that isn’t doing its job? Is it the local politician who should ensure things are kept clean? Do we not have enough dustbins?
None of the above issues fully explain why India is unclean. The reason is that we make it dirty in the first place. And if we want truly to be a clean country we need to take steps to ensure we minimise filth in the first place, rather than hoping someone will pick up the broom and clean it. Developed countries in Western Europe and North America do not have local authorities sweeping the streets all the time. They have systems in place, and the local population cooperates to not create filth in the first place.
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So get out there, scan your 10 metres. Can you improve anything? A swachh Bharat is indeed possible. The first step is ‘swachh manasikta’ or clean mindsets. Are you game?
Times Of India | Blogs

 

[JR]

What happened to Modi's 'clean Ganges' initiative, using some German technology and collaboration?

First, our rivers might be kept clean.. even Koovum was clean 100 yrs ago, I heard.

 

[a-TB]

I think the mind has to be cleaned first - with right attitude in place people will have pride to stay clean

 

[V.Balasubramani]

First, our rivers might be kept clean.. even Koovum was clean 100 yrs ago, I heard.

It was a dream of M.K . Stalin to transform Coovum river into that of 'Thames of Chennai'.

Crores of amount was allotted by the respective Governments in every Budget to transform Coovum/Adyar/Buckingham rivers of Chennai.

Even the current ruling AIADMK Government has allocated more than 3000 crores for restoration of Coovum river in the Budget.

One earlier Government had promised ‘Coovum manakkum’

The Other promised that they will transform Coovum into that of ‘ Thames of Chennai’.

Govt. may come, Govt. may go, but unfortunately coovum remains forever as an eye sore proving to be a potential source for the politicians of Tamil Nadu to swindle several crores under the pretext of cleaning/restoration/improvement, etc etc

 

[sangom]

Historically, Indians belonged to two broad categories, as per the great caste-divide. The higher castes had all the conveniences for a clean home, clean surroundings, etc., whereas nobody bothered about whether the lower castes lived in similar, clean surroundings. The result used to be comparatively cleaner areas in which the higher castes lived and extremely unclean ghetto-like "Cheris" for the low castes, untouchables, etc. This caste-divide of the society has not yet been eradicated completely, in all parts of India, even today and so we continue to have very unclean areas.

Our development, Five-year Plans etc., have resulted in significant urban migration from the rural areas. The rural folks generally earn their livelihood by doing menial, dirtying tasks for the other urban elite, but they themselves are forced to live in slums which lack minimum living facilities like toilets with sewerage/septic tank connection, clean bath-rooms etc. As a result a sizable percentage of our urban population are forced to defecate in the open, take bath in public taps in the open, etc. This effect is pronounced in Mumbai. I don't think it will be possible to eliminate the bad smell which one feels on reaching Borivili/Dombivili, in the near future unless astronomical funds are available, these are utilized without any corruption and entry of new persons/families into Brihan Mumbai for settling down is controlled strictly.

Our other metros like Bengaluru have also become virtual garbage dumps and one can get suddenly attacked by stunning bad smell every place. Proper town-planning and implementation is lacking. There is also no scientific garbage collection, nor the place for its disposal.

Above all, we as a people lack civic sense. While personal cleanliness is very important to most people, many do not mind throwing their garbage, slyly, into the neighbour's compound!

Unless all these are tackled, India will not be able to attain the western standards of cleanliness. And, that will require a significant reduction in our population density.

 

[mkrishna100]

Unless all these are tackled, India will not be able to attain the western standards of cleanliness. And, that will require a significant reduction in our population density.

If you visit any City in India ( say Delhi , Chennai etc ) and make a trip to the main airport and the main railyway station , and main bus stand we can see the differnce in the cleanliess level and one can find that there is a link between the passenger density and cleanliess and also a link between how much each passenger pays in that respective zone and how clean it is . If you look at your airline ticket you can see in the price breakup 2 fees like Passenger Development Fee and User Development Fee .You do not see such fees in a Railway Ticket and Bus Ticket .
So if you have to keep our Railway stations and Bus Stands also clean and hygenic like the airports then we have to see to it that
i) we do not overlaod them ( possible to have multiple busstands but not possible for railway stations )
ii) charge extra fees for maintenance and do provide acceptable levels of cleanliness for the fees charged .

 

[B.Krishnamurthy]

There is no doubt that cleanliness in our Environment is very essential and the present central Govt has initiated steps to make India clean.
Participation of all individual citizen is very very important.
I was shocked to see a decent person seated in his car (in our area in Chennai) opening covers and throwing the cover on the road and busily engaged in reading the contents of the covers in a leisurely manner.
As far as emitting bad smell and odour,even in advanced countries ,you can feel this.
I visit Shirdi Sai Mandir in Milipitus,California every Thursday.
There is a Garbage dumping place very close to the temple and some days one is required to close the nose from the bad smell.

 

[prasad1]

Who does not want, or hasn’t wanted, a clean India the public places of which are today probably the dirtiest and the most polluted in the world?

The question one must ask is: why it has been so, and what has not been done to change the situation for the better? Otherwise, Swachh Bharat will only remain a slogan, like Indira Gandhi’s ‘Garibi Hatao.’ She was very upset when I once asked her in all humility what exactly she wanted to hatao (eradicate), what she wanted to replace it with, and how.

It is strange that while much has been said about Swachh Bharat, no one appears to have pointed out that Indians are traditionally and culturally clean people. If the country looks dirty to a visitor — as it truly is — the biggest culprit is the government which is unclean in ways more than one!

Just drive from the old airport in my city, Hyderabad, to the new airport via Tarnaka (a distance of 50 km). Sidewalks, if they are there, are broken, encroached, or otherwise dysfunctional. There are mounds of mud and garbage on the side of the road which have been there for years. The buildings acquired to widen the road have not been demolished and have remained abandoned for years.

There is leftover construction material such as broken stones that line the pavements of roads. Whenever there is construction, one often finds unnecessary encroachment. In many places, road dividers are non-functional. The poor condition of roads can lead to numerous health issues for users. Even elite residential localities do not seem to be free of these problems.

Non-functional municipality
The fact is that there is no professional expertise in the Municipal Corporation to keep the city clean. Combined with total apathy, it creates an irremediable situation.

This deplorable situation is compounded by corruption. There is virtually no supervision when a civil work contract is given by the Municipal Corporation or Municipality, for example, for road repair. It is the responsibility of the contractor to remove all the construction material or waste, but it is just pushed to the side of the road to save money that would be otherwise spent on its transportation and disposal — and no one cares.
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Needed, a holistic definition
Then, there is the question of environment. Can we really have Swachh Bharat when our environment is so polluted?

Finally, we have to consider the state of our villages where 70 per cent of India lives. Can we talk of Swachh Bharat, ignoring what happens in our villages where poverty is the greatest polluter? Can any scheme of cleaning up our villages be viable if, for example, we do not provide village children access to high-quality schools? Doesn’t education, including vocational education, provide the greatest resource for alleviating poverty? Thus, to think of Swachh Bharat as an achievable objective would be a folly unless equal emphasis is laid on several other objectives such as high-quality universal education.

If Prime Minister Narendra Modi is serious about Swachh Bharat, he must provide leadership in converting what is a slogan into a viable multi-faceted programme, no matter how difficult or challenging it is going to be.


(Pushpa Mittra Bhargava is Chairman, Council of Social Development, Southern Regional Centre.)
Swachh Bharat: a scheme or a pipe dream? - The Hindu

 

[Jaykay767]

All one has to do is outsource the work to a set of private companies like it was done for Telcom based on circles.

These companies will keep the country clean for some 1000 to 2000 crores. Similarly for the rivers, all one has to do is ask the private companies to clean the river & maintain it on a ongoing basis.

No need for this maha drama, so much of show off, discussions etc…

Of course in a country with 800 M below poverty, is it the most important priority?, not that we should not keep the country clean…

If the new govt had come with some kind of basic social security plan, basic health care plan like the west (apart from this country cleaning act - LOL), it would be laudable.. otherwise 5 yrs will go in time pass dramas & show offs… Most importantly to fund such initiatives, kick off another wave of massive reforms…

These are the big ideas we need to transform the 800 millions under poverty, not just focus on time pass slogans like 600 million toilets,cleaning country, cleaning rivers, etc…

 

[mkrishna100]

The Govt can first start implementing this cleanliness campaing in its Govt Offices , Govt Schools & Collages and show the tangible results within a year for others to follow example . Each and Every School and Collage student must be given a handout of how to implement cleanliness and if this is inculcated in children in a young age itself ,it will stay with them as they grow up . Also Govt must make mandatory for every Govt School Children to spend weekly 1 period in some public cleaning .This will stimulate even private schools to join in the same .
Last but not the least - Cleanliness campain must go hand in hand with efficient garbage disposal .It is no use cleaning the road and dumping the waste in one bin and goingaway . What happens to that bin and how quickly it is disposed is equally imporant .

 

[sarang]

I think garbage collection and disposal was assigned to a singapore company some years back. There were some problems and the scheme fell through. Earlier, the 'nirmal' group organized garbage collection from individual homes on a payment basis. This too worked fine as the streets were clean and the discipline of garbage disposal at specific times of the day was followed. Bulk disposal and treatment is still to be tackled in all cities.

All one has to do is outsource the work to a set of private companies like it was done for Telcom based on circles.

These companies will keep the country clean for some 1000 to 2000 crores. Similarly for the rivers, all one has to do is ask the private companies to clean the river & maintain it on a ongoing basis.

No need for this maha drama, so much of show off, discussions etc…

 

[sarang]

I have experienced this bad smell from farms (making manure) and garbage dumps while driving through country side in most european countries - germany, italy included. As bad as mumbai.

As far as emitting bad smell and odour,even in advanced countries ,you can feel this.
I visit Shirdi Sai Mandir in Milipitus,California every Thursday.
There is a Garbage dumping place very close to the temple and some days one is required to close the nose from the bad smell.

 

[prasad1]

Everyone of us is naked behind our cloths. It does not mean we go in public Naked. Garbage dumps are smelly everywhere, city centers are not supposed to smell like garbage dumps.

 

[krish44]

All one has to do is outsource the work to a set of private companies like it was done for Telcom based on circles.

These companies will keep the country clean for some 1000 to 2000 crores. Similarly for the rivers, all one has to do is ask the private companies to clean the river & maintain it on a ongoing basis.
No need for this maha drama, so much of show off, discussions etc…

Of course in a country with 800 M below poverty, is it the most important priority?, not that we should not keep the country clean…

If the new govt had come with some kind of basic social security plan, basic health care plan like the west (apart from this country cleaning act - LOL), it would be laudable.. otherwise 5 yrs will go in time pass dramas & show offs… Most importantly to fund such initiatives, kick off another wave of massive reforms…

These are the big ideas we need to transform the 800 millions under poverty, not just focus on time pass slogans like 600 million toilets,cleaning country, cleaning rivers, etc…

top 10 percent of india corner 40 percent of national income . if they are taxed 1.5 percent of their wealth , it is enough to get 23 percent of extreme poor out of

poverty line.Govt needs commitment and will.

we should not waste time with swachha bharat and hindutva.you are right

 

[biswa]

OTOH, have you noticed that the malls are quite clean? Everything is possible in India if we just try.

 

[Jaykay767]

Private Sector (read malls) = Cleanliness; Govt = Stinkiness… This has nothing to do with - it is possible if we try etc…

Even when it is obvious that Govt is the biggest issue,they are instrumental in keeping 800 M under poverty, & privatizing most if not all of the Govt will solve the problems, there is a huge fan following for retaining the Govt. despite the failures of the last 68+ yrs & continuing…

And interestingly most of these fan followers are beneficiary of private sector & many are settled abroad which are meritorious societies ...

 

[kannanpadmanabhan]

The news item in the link below is clear evidence of the seriousness about all the Swachch Bharat initiative. See the BJP Delhi president taking symbolism to its lowest level
For This Clean-Up Drive, Trash Was Dumped, Moments Before