In an amazing move, PM Modi announced a national ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ campaign ion October 2014…
While leading the mass movement for cleanliness, the Prime Minister exhorted people to fulfil Mahatma Gandhi’s dream of a clean and hygienic India. A shocked India watched as the PM himself initiated the cleanliness drive at Mandir Marg Police Station. Picking up the broom to clean the dirt, making Swachh Bharat Abhiyan a mass movement across the nation, the Prime Minister said people should neither litter, nor let others litter. He gave the mantra of ‘Na gandagi karenge, Na karne denge.’ His program involved creating a chain of 9 people who would additionally influence another 9 people.
The Swachh! Bharat Abhiyan is now a mass cleansing movement. Citizens have turned out in large numbers and pledged for a neat and cleaner India. Taking the broom to sweep the streets, cleaning up the garbage, focusing on sanitation and maintaining a hygienic environment have become a practice after the launch of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. People have started to take part and are helping spread the message of ‘Cleanliness is next to Godliness.’
The campaign may have only moved the needle marginally – but it is laudable for its challenging the status quo and initiating a change. Change itself is a gradual process for a human being – for a community it is even slower. However slow, the ‘Swachh Bharat Campaign” is a game changer – and a social revolution that should not be snuffed by critique.
As a convert, I felt ‘swachh’ when I plogged and collected the street and park garbage – and put it in appropriate trash boxes. We just need to challenge the status quo- it is not a bottomless pit!
