Most families in India meticulously indulge in cleaning their houses keeping it cleaned and spotless but they usually ignore filthy streets with tons of garbage right outside the window. The Indian society has never been actively involved with the concept of public sphere. People in India live under a disjointed society which never learned the idea of shared public space, which can be used by everyone and which has to be kept clean by everyone. The people are trapped within their community and caste group, creating hindrances. Because of the existence of a segment society with no public sphere, Indians have a remarkably different attitude towards cleaning labor.
The traditional mindset has intertwined the concept of cleaning and physical work with lower classes and castes leading to no incentive for anyone to actually indulge in cleanliness. But Indians are indulging in a discriminatory, judgmental and somewhat inhuman behavior. There are instances of denial of materials like water to the cleaners themselves because they are assumed as unclean anyways. Many parts in the countries consider handling trash somehow makes certain people untouchable. Ironically, well-bred and posh individuals are the one refusing to clean.
It would not be fair to say Indians are lethargic and lack work ethics. Being one of the largest democracies with sheltering numerous religions and beliefs, almost every citizen has a religion and usually the citizens follow their religious beliefs in a heavy handed fashion. Most of the religions themselves endorse work ethics. Islam encourages manual work and respect to all the hard work while Hinduism focuses on the fact that individuals must try their hardest at doing whatever it is they’re doing. The sheer discrimination against people indulging in manual labor is ingrained in the society for numerous socio-cultural reasons. Thus, Indians not only need to clean their homes but also their hearts.
Anyone who has been to India or has been living in it long enough can easily observe and apprehend the pollution engulfing the country. India’s deterioration into contamination cannot be confounded solely on its poverty, because of the existence of other poor societies that are cleaner than India. Considering everything that is been going on, the government launched the Swacch Bharat Abhiyaan Campaign, which is very significant considering its not only attempting to clean the streets but also to change Indian attitudes toward cleaning and manual labor because this attitude is the cause of India’s dirtiness, not poverty.
The lack of funding does not explain the dirtiness of Indian’s public spaces. This campaign has to be active for a long time to be effective at the core level of the society otherwise the people will turn back to the olden ways.
In the last decade, India has inferred the grave discrepancies at its doorsteps. Indian cities have taken up significant work to clean up their streets. Recently, Indore beat 433 other cities in a survey on cleanliness focusing upon sanitation parameters, waste collection and open defecation free (ODF) status. The city achieved the status of the cleanest city in the country by mainly focusing on sanitation and open defecation, asserting the impact it causes upon on the environment, and on the health of the citizens. The country is slowly marching on the path of progress, freeing cities and villages from open defecation.
The Swachh Bharat Campaign has introduced a well-defined process, for sustaining the sanitation value chain build, use, maintain and treat (BUMT) and achieve safe sanitation for all by 2019. The country generates nearly 1.5 million ton of fecal waste every day without any system to safely dispose the bulk of this waste. This sludge of human excreta and water mixture carrying pathogens and bacteria is dumped into drains, lakes or rivers, attacking the water resources and spread out, undetected.
To achieve cleanliness at a preliminary level, India needs to take ideas from other countries like is a Japan, where everyone regardless of their social status, clean shared spaces, starting in elementary school. Most Indian schools assign the task of cleaning a certain worker or student. Usually, no one does the necessary cleaning once this person fails to perform this task. Slowly the filth accumulates causing contamination and dirtiness. It is important that social figures lead by example and openly engage in cleaning activities, killing the stereotype that people will lose their dignity if they perform such tasks.
Apart from the general public changing their habits, the government has also a herculean task ahead of them. The authoritative figures must ensure that the public gets the right incentive to proceed towards a cleaner India, and that the regulations put in check are effective enough.
India is not only just a sheltering country but it is home to billions. Traditionally depicted as a motherly-figure, it is the responsibility of each and every citizen respect the country’s vigor and to keep his or her home, tidy and clean. It is the moral duty of every person sheltered by this great country to make sure that the over-excess contamination of the environment, streets, houses, monuments is reduced to a minimum. The environment surrounding a person’s habitat depicts the way of life in that place, thus creating such impression on outsiders. In many ways, the lack of cleanliness is what repels foreign tourists and investors from visiting the country. This lethargic attitude has to change, every Indian has to come forward to help carry the country to a new frontier, and every Indian needs to be the other one’s guide and together help keep this country clean.
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