Clean India : A reality?

‘Cleanliness is next to God’ is India’s age-old chanting. But unfortunately, one of the essences of Indian culture, ‘Cleanliness’ has become a chanting nailed to the walls of government offices and hospitals. Apart from cleanliness being a concept important in modern lifestyle, fearing the rising pollution level, it was once the most imperative part of Indian habit. One of the inspirational habits of Indians was that cleanliness was synonymous to the identity “Indianess”

Still, most Indians love to believe so and cling on to the praiseworthy cultural history of India. But times have changed. We are living in the present where cleanliness in buildings, streets and even in households has become the very necessity to mould a well decorated ground to welcome the world to India. India will be able to completely open the doors to development, only if it meets the need for a Clean India. Clean India is no more a dream rather it has become the immediate necessity.

"Most homes will be reasonably neat and tidy, perhaps obsessively tidy. But behind this “godliness” lies another story- what you don’t want in your own home is nonchalantly flung out of the window into the neighbour’s compound." These are lines from Shobhaa De’s ‘Superstar India’. These lines explicitly show the selfish character that lies embedded in individuals. This issue arises when we think about ourselves as individuals rather than as a nation. India’s mistake is not with its policies taken. Flaws occurred when these policies trickled down to the grass-root level. On one side, it trembled when it came to the case of executing the policies. On the other side, people irrespective of educational qualifications and income, are not made aware of a clean surrounding. The profound significance of hygiene and personal care are imbibed by children at their lower grades, itself. But there is inequality propagated by letting them keep only their households and themselves clean. This indeed results in inculcating a selfish character in those children. And by inequality, the selfish character of an individual is reflected.

Cleanliness has been widely exhibited inequality in our mega polis. Chennai, Kolkata, Delhi, and why not the real villain Mumbai, have become hubs of ‘Clean India’ issue. All of them have the developed India on one side and straight across the city, where your eyes can clearly see from the balconies of those sky scrappers, residents of the slums locate themselves very carefully in fields and chat companionably as they perform their morning ablutions. No self consciousness. No Shame. Only men. When and where do women go? Again inequality.

Let’s revise. Clean India is a matter we need to keep in mind while we look at ourselves, our house, our neighbourhood, our roads, our streets, our government offices, our trains, our bus and railway stations, our trains and buses, our public toilets. And let me give you a piece of information. This “public” doesn’t mean government, it means we people. All these “public” items run on our money i.e. tax. So, it really has value in all terms i.e. economic, social and moral. Actually, our moral policing should be channelized to this side of our society. Keeping a check whether we people are giving good care to public properties and in our case keeping all public places clean. Indeed, Clean India is a collective responsibility of Indians everywhere every time. And soon, Clean India should become a habit. Not a policy. Not a responsibility anymore. But a habit.