- www.thehindu.com October 27th, 2014
The
Hindu Led by the Union government, the the Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan
envisages cleaning every street and corner of the country and in doing
so, putting India on the road map to better health and living
conditions. Photo by: The Hindu
Cleanliness is ‘very big
work’ for the Prime Minister and hence the emphasis on the Swachh
Bharat Abhiyan. The effects of the campaign will primarily be improved
hygiene and health, but will go beyond to give a fillip to various
sectors of the economy.
Within days of coming
to power, Prime Minister Narendra Modi left many stumped when he chose
to address the issue of cleanliness in the country. Even as he spoke of
nursing the economy back to health and putting the country on the
trajectory of growth, he set a task of “cleaning” India by 2019.
That the issues of
cleanliness and sanitation were not perfunctory for him was evident
when, in his Independence Day address from the ramparts of the Red Fort,
he questioned whether Indians still wanted to live in filthiness.
Pre-empting questions
about why a Prime Minister should focus on “cleanliness” when he had
pressing issues posed by the economy, national security and electoral
politics to attend to, he had a ready reply. “People may feel that it is
a trivial work for a Prime Minister, but for me, this is big work.
Cleanliness is very big work ... If 125 crore countrymen decide that
they will never spread filth, which power in the world has the ability
to spread filth in our cities and villages? Can’t we resolve this much?”
That was the cue for the rolling out of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (SBA), which envisages a “Clean India” by 2019.
Led by the Union
government, the SBA envisages cleaning every street and corner of the
country and in doing so, putting India on the road map to better health
and living conditions.
From the time the SBA
was flagged off — with Mr. Modi himself wielding the broom — the
campaign has not only been a diktat for the Babus to follow or
schoolchildren to engage in, but has also drawn the attention of big
businesses, IT giants, non-governmental organisations and the private
sector, all rolling up their sleeves to be part of this humongous
campaign.
If there is a section
that says the SBA is mere symbolism, pointing out that sweeping alone
cannot address the issue of mounting waste and debris, there is
jubilation across the Health and Family Welfare Ministry, the tourism
sector and the Urban and Rural Development Ministries for the benefits
which the Clean India campaign brings to their respective areas.
“The Prime Minister’s
‘Clean India’ campaign is a big boost for us. Cleanliness brings down
the disease burden. If we clean our hospitals and the areas around them,
we will automatically bring down the spending on diseases as well. It
is a win-win for everyone,” Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare
Harsh Vardhan said.
A senior official of
the Tourism Ministry said the SBA would give a fillip to India’s
campaign to attract tourists. “Even our best promoted tourist
destinations are not clean. Look at the Taj Mahal, the roads leading up
to the world famous monument are an eyesore. Our holy cities are swathed
in waste. Take Varanasi, for example; it draws crowds in millions from
every part of the world, but is considered one of the most unclean
cities with no waste management. This campaign is a lifeline for the
tourism sector, a sunrise sector in India,” the official said.
Blueprints have been
drawn up by all government departments to converge with the larger
Mission. And to ensure that the SBA goes beyond mere planning and
photo-ops, there is intensive monitoring of the work being undertaken.
Urban Development
Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu recently chaired a meeting to take stock of
the implementation of the SBA, days after it was flagged off. “The SBA
has been launched with good initial impact, but the issue is how to
sustain this, how to plan for identified outcomes, how to monitor and
coordinate with the States on a regular basis,” he said.
The Minister now
calls a meeting daily to monitor the progress of, and to plan for, the
SBA. The Ministry has enabled an online platform to allow citizens to
network with each other locally and at the national level to follow up
on the cleanliness initiative. A national circle, “Swachh Bharat,” has
been launched, which already has 1.7 lakh members to exchange ideas on
cleanliness, take up appropriate cleanliness activities in their neighborhoods, share pictures of collective efforts, engage with
elected representatives and take the cleanliness campaign forward.
The non-governmental
sector, which has been pursuing governments to take up the issues of
sanitation, has been eager to partner in the endeavor. Offering
suggestions to take the SBA forward, Bharati Chaturvedi, director of
Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group, says: “There can be no
real solution to waste without waste reduction. We need extended
producer responsibility, or making the manufacturer responsible.
Existing rules (Plastic Waste [Management and Handling] Rules, 2011)
already prescribe EPR for plastic bags and multi-layered packaging, such
as chips. This has not been done. It must be started today.”
The Prime Minister’s wish for the Mission to become the agenda of the entire country, it seems, is already under way.
Reuters
On October 2, Modi launched the ambitious Swachh Bharat campaign that
was joined by Chief Ministers, lawmakers and prominent personalities
from various fields. 
