My Clean India
To honour the Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi’s vision a nationwide campaign ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ was launched on 2nd October 2014 by the honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The logo of the campaign is based on the very famous spectacles worn by Baapu (Gandhiji). Through this mission, the Modi government’s objective is to clean the urban as well as the rural areas of the country.
And so, the nation saw Mr. Modi picking up a broom and cleaning the streets. The aim is to make India an Open-Defecation free country by the time we celebrate the 150th anniversary of Gandhiji in 2019.
But why?
Well, surely it wasn’t just Gandhi but all citizens of India share the dream of a cleaner and greener Hindustan.
But why do we need such a HUGE movement for something as basic as cleanliness? At the face of it, the question seems absurd, because our houses are cleaned daily of course.
How come our country’s so dirty? We are a population of over 1.3 billion, hence there is more than enough manpower to clean the streets in the urban land and the fields in the villages.
The government can just hire people and get everything cleaned, there is absolutely no need to urge the office goers and students to clean the roads.
Well, it’s common for such thoughts to arise in our minds because the job of cleaning is considered a degrading job in India and hence no one’s happy to do it.
The cleaners are tagged as ‘low-castes’ and untouchables. Hence, it was not a surprise that the Prime Minister itself was made fun of after his video was shown on various news channels with a broom in his hand.
In schools, we make our children repeat the adage ‘cleanliness is next to godliness’ but never let them clean our own houses since that job is only for the servants.
If a mother sees his son cleaning the locality, you can imagine the horror.
Why won’t then even the servants educate their own offspring in the hopes that they won’t ever have to pick up a broom and face the sneers of the so-called ‘high class’ people?
We Indians pollute the soil and water on many levels, religions reason being one of them. Our Holy Ganga isn’t that holy anymore.
If you take a dip in it I’m not sure if you will be relieved of all your sins but you will need to bathe again definitely.
Don’t forget the different superstitions associated with having toilets at home? Also, there’s this belief of the rural people that toilets are only for the urban jungle and not where they dwell.
India is dirty and every one of us is responsible to make it so and that is the very reason it isn’t the sole duty of the government to clean it, it is every citizen’s duty.
It’s very easy to blame the governing body for everything; well that was formed because you voted for them in the first place.
The Virtual India
We are moved by movies like ‘Toilet- Ek Prem Katha’ but not when we see that dirty corner of our society because ‘woh rozz ki baat hai’ (it’s a common occurrence).
We give thumbs up to the posts on Social Media and our minds are filled with such great ideas that we showcase with our comments for someone else to implement.
All this takes place behind the screen while we sit on the comfort of our sofas and not move an inch.
Well, giving out good thoughts, writing bits of advice and pointing out whose fault it is, even though it is in perfect grammar it is sure as hell it won’t get the real job done. Be assured of that!
True Story
I have travelled to the major cities in India – Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore – and all of them have the same types of problems, traffic, pollution, too much crowd, too many beggars, etc. but the thing that repels me the most is layers and layers of garbage at almost every nook and corner.
Last month I visited Mumbai, the city of dreams for every Indian, and I was shocked to see the state of this famous city which is by the way currently the 10th wealthiest city in the world.
If you take the local train, all throughout the journey you will only and only see huge piles of trash on the sides of the railway tracks.
If the biggest urban city in India is in such a sorry state my imagination is running short of the state of the rural India, where people have no access to the proper sewage system and openly defecate.
You are sitting on a beach in Goa, relaxing and enjoying a cold breeze, hearing the waves slap the shore when suddenly you have this urge to take a dip in the water.
But when you get there and see the amount of crap in that water all your happy thoughts vanish and the holiday mood is spoiled.
Start Cleaning Today
During my college days, I was involved in various volunteering projects; one of them being ‘Clean Manipal campaign’, wherein every Sunday we would go in and around the town and collect garbage.
Initially, I used to be amazed at the amount of garbage we had collected by the end of the day. They were a lot.
What surprised me the most was that the garbage bins would be half empty because people have thrown the trash around them instead of taking a few steps and throwing it inside.
The bins that weren’t fixed to the ground would be toppled over by the time the sun went down, no matter how many times you pick it up.
I had joined the organization only to gain the maximum number of hours and be rewarded with a nice shiny certificate at the end of the year.
But the project became more than just about getting a mere certificate. It made me realize the seriousness of the issue which not only this small town is facing but the entire nation.
Even after college I always look out for such organizations and do volunteer work in my free time.
My dear countrymen, stop making fun of the people who do clean because at the end of the day your sneers and your remarks only indicates what a fool you are.
Pick up that broom and start cleaning today!
Feature Image Credit: Source
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