Why success of “ Swachchha Bharat Abhiyan” needs support from everybody and each one of us?
India and Indians are regarded as one of the filthiest nation and filthiest people in the world. Don’t we feel ashamed on such tags? There is a famous saying in Hindi that “Kutta bhi jahan baithta hain, us jagah ko apni punch se saaph karke baithta hai…meaning“ a dog also cleans the space by its’ tail where it sits”; and we call ourselves human beings!!! Are we degraded ourselves to such low level?
Who is responsible for having acquired such a dirty tag? Are not each one of us? Answer would be a definite “Yes”. Leave aside illiterate & ignorant people, there are many instances of the so called educated people who keep their internal spaces of houses clean and throw the garbage outside from window, or near a neighbors’ house. Our civic authorities have become senselessly insensitive to filth and don’t do their duties dutifully. Instead, they have turned themselves into breeding grounds for corruption; found engaging fictitious people on pay roles. There are examples in the capital city where the cleanliness around a particular DDA road is supposed to be maintained by DDA and the cleanliness in the adjacent colony is to be maintained by MCD and it is considered a sin by these authorities to encroach in each other’s areas even for lifting the garbage lying adjacent. They just leave it rotting on the roads citing the division of territorial boundaries. There is no system of separating house wastes in degradable and non-degradable categories and disposing it accordingly. The garbage collection, transportation and dumping yards are maintained very badly. In big cities, a few waste to energy conversion plants are ill placed near to residential areas polluting even the air we breathe and in smaller places, public places become the dumping ground.
Is it a new fact that the filth any where creates breeding grounds for mosquitoes and other creatures which causes many life threatening diseases affecting civilization, causing huge losses to the families and the nation?
Never before in the past, any serious attempts have been made at national level on a sustainable basis to bring the awareness in the society about cleanliness and achieve a target of zero tolerance to filth around. The hon’ble Prime Minsiter, Shri Narendra Modi has taken the “Swachha Bharat Abhiyan” as a project to make India “filth free” by 2019, the 150th birth anniversary year of the father of nation, Mahatma Gandhi. This means, this is not going to a one day affair and is not merely an occasion for ministers and leaders to be photographed with a “Jhadoo”; the broom (Arvind Kejriwal must be feeling either threatened as his party symbol “Jhadoo” appears to be hijacked or must be delighted as the “Jhadoo” is getting free publicity) on 2nd Oct. 2014. Many political parties are averse and are criticizing this noble endeavor as they are obliged by their bad habits of criticizing for the sake of criticizing. The drive has to be sustained and it can be sustained only if it becomes a “Jan Andolan”, a peoples’ movement, which the PM is trying seriously. It is indeed needed to be sustained by each and every one of us to remove the dirty tag “the filthiest people” from the face of India and stand in the world arena with dignity holding our head high. Let us pledge to dedicate ourselves by actively getting involved in the cleaning operation wherever we are and devoting at least two hours weekly for the Abhiyan.
India and Indians are regarded as one of the filthiest nation and filthiest people in the world. Don’t we feel ashamed on such tags? There is a famous saying in Hindi that “Kutta bhi jahan baithta hain, us jagah ko apni punch se saaph karke baithta hai…meaning“ a dog also cleans the space by its’ tail where it sits”; and we call ourselves human beings!!! Are we degraded ourselves to such low level?
Who is responsible for having acquired such a dirty tag? Are not each one of us? Answer would be a definite “Yes”. Leave aside illiterate & ignorant people, there are many instances of the so called educated people who keep their internal spaces of houses clean and throw the garbage outside from window, or near a neighbors’ house. Our civic authorities have become senselessly insensitive to filth and don’t do their duties dutifully. Instead, they have turned themselves into breeding grounds for corruption; found engaging fictitious people on pay roles. There are examples in the capital city where the cleanliness around a particular DDA road is supposed to be maintained by DDA and the cleanliness in the adjacent colony is to be maintained by MCD and it is considered a sin by these authorities to encroach in each other’s areas even for lifting the garbage lying adjacent. They just leave it rotting on the roads citing the division of territorial boundaries. There is no system of separating house wastes in degradable and non-degradable categories and disposing it accordingly. The garbage collection, transportation and dumping yards are maintained very badly. In big cities, a few waste to energy conversion plants are ill placed near to residential areas polluting even the air we breathe and in smaller places, public places become the dumping ground.
Is it a new fact that the filth any where creates breeding grounds for mosquitoes and other creatures which causes many life threatening diseases affecting civilization, causing huge losses to the families and the nation?
Never before in the past, any serious attempts have been made at national level on a sustainable basis to bring the awareness in the society about cleanliness and achieve a target of zero tolerance to filth around. The hon’ble Prime Minsiter, Shri Narendra Modi has taken the “Swachha Bharat Abhiyan” as a project to make India “filth free” by 2019, the 150th birth anniversary year of the father of nation, Mahatma Gandhi. This means, this is not going to a one day affair and is not merely an occasion for ministers and leaders to be photographed with a “Jhadoo”; the broom (Arvind Kejriwal must be feeling either threatened as his party symbol “Jhadoo” appears to be hijacked or must be delighted as the “Jhadoo” is getting free publicity) on 2nd Oct. 2014. Many political parties are averse and are criticizing this noble endeavor as they are obliged by their bad habits of criticizing for the sake of criticizing. The drive has to be sustained and it can be sustained only if it becomes a “Jan Andolan”, a peoples’ movement, which the PM is trying seriously. It is indeed needed to be sustained by each and every one of us to remove the dirty tag “the filthiest people” from the face of India and stand in the world arena with dignity holding our head high. Let us pledge to dedicate ourselves by actively getting involved in the cleaning operation wherever we are and devoting at least two hours weekly for the Abhiyan.
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