Now days there is a huge
cry in our nation about staying swachh or clean! And why not...
Staying clean is one step
closer to being healthy. I am actually very happy that the government has
started this program. I’m not sure whether the government could fulfil its
promise of handing over a clean India to the Indians on 2nd October
2019, which would mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma
Gandhi. Gandhi ji always propagated the idea of keeping our surroundings as
well as our mind & soul clean.
Even though government may fail in its project
( I sincerely hope they don’t), a good thing which has come out of this program
is that everyone is talking about it. The media is airing about this mission
almost every day. Many people have conducted cleanliness drive in a hope to get
30 second of fame in the Indian media. I think people who conduct such drives
should definitely get this appreciation as it would encourage them to continue
doing this work as well as ignite passion in mind of other people.
Now conducting these
cleanliness programs are obviously necessary, but I think along with that we
have to also educate people about its benefits. India is a country where
majority of people suffer from NIMBY syndrome. NIMBY stands for “Not In My Back
Yard” syndrome. It means that the citizen don’t care about the disposal of
garbage until and unless it is not dumped in their own backyard. They will keep
their own home clean but wouldn’t care about the cleanliness of the streets or
neighbourhood. Now, how to combat with this syndrome? Well, we have to wake up
our inner conscience. We need to realize that the society where we live is also
part of our home. So next time, when we go through the cleaning spree of Diwali
or any other major festival, please make sure to clean the path outside your
doorsteps along with your home!
One of my major arguments
of today would be the availability (or rather unavailability) of toilets. Unfortunately, 53% of population still
used to defecate in open in 2014. This unavailability of toilets not only
spread disease but also plays a major social role in rural India. Girls refuse
to attend school because they don’t prefer to urinate in open during school
hours. 30% percentage of Rape crime against women could have been avoided if
they were not forced to defecate in open. So construction of toilet is a must in
many areas.
Answer me this please.
How many times where you forced to urinate in woods while travelling on road,
because the next closest toilet was at least 50km far and that too was in an old
and dilapidated petrol pump??!! I’m not only accusing lack of facility. We Indian men are notorious enough to pee in almost every public place. Construction of
the toilet is not the only solution. Report says that even after toilets where
made in their home, some people still prefer to defecate in open because it
provides them an opportunity to take a morning walk, see their fields, and take
in the fresh air. They obviously have no idea that it would in turn affect
their health. We need to educate them about its pros and cons before mindlessly
conducting these “safai abhiyaans”.
Swacch Bharat program is
hands down the best initiative taken by the Modi government and we, the citizen
of India should make sure we contribute to this program by keeping us and our
neighbourhood clean. Because the sweepers can’t clean every paan stains from
the walls or collect those plastic bags which we throw away in streets without
giving a second thought.
A big salute to those
hardworking sweepers, who strive hard to keep our country clean.
With warm wishes of
Gandhi and Shastri jayanti , I hope we will definitely succed in our mission of
Clean India.
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