Pickyouropinion: SWACCH “MANN” ABHIYAN

For the past few months the “movement” which has been reverberating in everyone’s ears is ‘Swacch Bharat Abhiyan’. Everyone is going gaga, right from the politicians to film stars.

But still we cannot see any such improvement. We walk down the streets and see that things have not changed much. People are still ignorant enough to throw waste on the roads.

One such incident was noticed by our Pickyouropinion team on a special visit to Udaipur. A person was having bath in a lake near the famous Chittorgarh fort. It was a disturbing sight because the lake was already filled with dirt. 

He was ignorant of this and also of the fact that bathing there would do no good to his body. When our team went and quizzed him about it, he got agitated and said that everyone bathes here and asked us to question them all. He went away.

We were left with only questions that are we really part of a country which cannot stop talking about cleanliness? We pledge to keep our surroundings clean but cannot even make the effort to throw the waste in the bin.

We are ignorant enough that when someone asks you to refrain from doing something wrong, we counter charge? In this kind of a scenario all one can think of is, how can things really change?

The government or any superior authority cannot bring change in this country and make it clean overnight. Until and unless we do not clean our souls, we really cannot keep our surroundings clean.

We are a part of this country and it is our duty to keep it clean. If we cannot do it then we have no one to blame apart from ourselves. We as a team visited more than 20 lakes and rivers in Gujarat and Rajasthan and there were none where complete cleanliness was maintained.

Sabarmati River, where the PM Narendra Modi’s ambitious project of riverfront is based on has the same situation. Even though there bins kept for throwing things like garlands and other ritualistic materials but people are adamant enough to throw it in the river. 

In this case, we cannot blame only the government. One might say that government can install cctv cameras and impose fine on the defaulters but then isn’t it our duty too to learn before they start imposing fines? 

We are humans and intelligent enough to understand that these activities are going to harm us and our children in the future.

It is high time we understand that it has been 67 years since Independence and there is a reason why India is still being denoted as a “progressive” country and not a developed country. There are many areas where India still needs to progress, one such area is “cleanliness”.

India is a democratic country and we form the government. So as a citizen who is powerful enough to make a government it is also a moral responsibility to keep our surroundings clean.

All we need right now is introspection, let us start with basics and the bigger issues will be solved right along, let us start with cleansing of our soul and run a “Swacch Mann Abhiyan” first and “Swacch Bharat Abhiyan” will be implemented right along. Jai Hind!

Posted By: Karan Bhatt, Misha Sata, Aastha Maheshwari, Shraddha Jha, Pratik Thakkar Campus brand ambassador Intern at: http://pickyouropinion.com

Swachh Bharat, Clean India Campaign 2014

“Cleanliness is not next to godliness. It isn't even in the same neighborhood. No one has ever gotten a religious experience out of removing burned-on cheese from the grill of the toaster oven"-Erma Bombeck

Highlighting the need to ensure cleanliness, beauty and progress in our surroundings and ultimately the whole nation, Prime Minister, Narendra Modi launched the county’s biggest cleanliness drive of the country.

Shudh Bharat or Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Campaign Clean India) is a national level campaign by the Government of India covering 4041 statutory towns to clean the streets, roads and infrastructure of the country. This campaign was officially launched on 2 October 2014 at Rajghat, New Delhi, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself wielded broom and cleaned a road.

The campaign is India's biggest ever cleanliness drive and 3 million government employees and schools and colleges students of India participated in this event. Also Indian President Pranab Mukherjee asked every Indian to spend 100 hours annually in this drive. This campaign is supported by Border Security Force, India and Indian Air Force.

This mass movement was initiated by the PM on account of Gandhi ji’s birth anniversary, in order to carry on his legacy and in some terms his dream of a clean and a green India. More than 3 million government and non-government employees took part in this movement and included many school and college students as well. This movement aims to accomplish the vision of a ‘clean India’ by 2nd October 2019, 150th birthday of Mahatma Gandhi and is expected to cost over 65000 crore rupees.

It was a big success and was defined as "beyond politics" and "inspired by patriotism". Modi selected some of the significant personalities of the society for this campaign which included Anil Ambani, Sachin Tendulkar, Salman Khan ,Priyanka Chopra, Ramdev, Kamal Hassan, Mary Kom, Nita Ambani, Sania Mirza, Mridula Sinha and many more.

As a society we value personal cleanliness above all else. We are taught as children not to play in the mud. We use tableware to keep our fingers clean. We bathe or shower once or twice daily. We wear freshly washed clothing daily. The sidewalks are paved - not to make it easier to walk, but to keep our boots and pants clean.

We wash our vegetables before cooking them. We wash our own hands before touching the same washed vegetables. Business men keep rigid, clean, tidy suits to wear. Police and Army men keep crisp, tidy uniforms. Shiny clean hair is preferable, and gone to great lengths to achieve. Our world remains filthy because no one wants to get dirty. We don't want to carry garbage around, so we throw it on the ground. We don't want to soil our clean shirts so we pass by the garbage on the ground without a second thought.

Our own personal hygiene is directly affected by the cleanliness of our surroundings; there is no way that one is independent of the other. Basic standards of hygiene are necessary for any society to life long and prosper, and it is vital that each individual plays their part in decreasing the chances and risks of spreading harmful germs and bacteria and so many diseases.

Posted By: Shreya Saraf, Campus brand ambassador Intern at: http://pickyouropinion.com