In Thailand, just like in India, many cars have a little statue of a god on the dashboard for good luck. Unlike the ones in India, the idol in Thai cars most often faces not those inside the car but is turned around to face the road. The attitude Indians have is ‘make sure I am safe’. The attitude of the Thai is ‘watch over the road so that nobody gets hurt’.
The Thai are a clean nation. Even when their nation was relatively poor, and in fact as poor as India, the public space was clean. Their public toilets today are almost inevitably spotless and as good, and often better, than those in European nations. Between Bangkok's streets and those of Mumbai and Delhi, and also Dhaka and Lahore and Karachi, there is no contest. India is a developing nation (where what is being 'developed' is not just the economy, but also the civilisation and culture, which is still primitive). Thailand is developed, and one thing I attribute this to is the Hinayana school, also called Theravada, of Buddhism that they follow. There is a certain sameness to these nations — Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Burma and so on — that follow Theravada. However, that is going off on a different track.
The point I was leading up to is that one of the best initiatives of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the Swachh Bharat Mission (Clean India Mission). This week, there has been a controversy over a statement made by one of Mulayam Singh’s daughters-in-law. She compared Modi’s attitude to cleaning up India with that of Gandhi. I agree with her and think that the prime minister is doing a Gandhian thing. In fact, Gandhi would have approved of Modi's initiative. It is true that this idea is not new in Modi’s mind. When he wrote a biography of the RSS’s most influential leader, MS Golwalkar, Modi added this anecdote: “Once Guruji (Golwalkar) was on a tour to Andhra Pradesh. His train was to arrive at about 4.30am. There was a halt there of about 45 minutes and swayamsevaks planned for Guruji to use the train latrine in that period. They would carry some tea in a thermos to prepare him for the 100-mile trip onwards, and thus reach the scheduled meeting on time. At night, Guruji asked for the following day's programme from a senior swayamsevak, Bapurao Moghe. He noticed the arrangements and said, ‘In train toilets, have you ever seen a small notice?’ Bapurao said he had. Guruji said: ‘It reads ‘Don't use the latrine when the train has halted at a station. I always follow this rule.’”
Modi added: “Just imagine how many millions travel and read this notice. How many actually follow it?”
Launching the Swachh Bharat Mission, Modi made a pledge, which he encouraged others to take: “I take this pledge that I will remain committed towards cleanliness and devote time for this. I will devote 100 hours per year, that is two hours per week, to voluntary work for cleanliness. I will neither litter nor let others litter. I will initiate the quest for cleanliness with myself, my family, my locality, my village and my work place. I believe that the countries of the world that appear clean are so because their citizens don’t indulge in littering nor do they allow it to happen. With this firms belief, I will propagate the message of Swachh Bharat Mission in villages and towns. I will encourage 100 other persons to take this pledge, which I am taking today. I will endeavour to make them devote their 100 hours for cleanliness. I am confident that every step I take towards cleanliness will help in making my country clean.”
The main activity here is to recruit other people to take the pledge (Modi has nominated several celebrities) and then spend time cleaning some public space. The government also has a long list of things that can be done to make India cleaner and the details are on the website of the ministry of urban development.
I have a small issue with the approach Modi has taken. He is quite right to get people to accept their culpability, but wrong to then focus on cleaning up the public space. The thrust should be on individual littering and making sure that does not happen, which is a cultural aspect. The message of those photographed with brooms in a public space is: ‘It is other people who dirty India’ and, following from this belief, ‘I must, therefore, help clean up the public space’.
We must reverse this. This time, the statue must rightly face us, and not the road. We should make sure we do not litter, whatever else the others do. If that happens, Modi’s fine initiative will succeed better.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 16th, 2014.
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COMMENTS (26)
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I agree with N. Siddiqui. The services have to be there, it is not enough to exhort people to be clean. Government has to do its part.
Since waste disposal and treatment falls under local (municipal) government responsibility, and I don't see a big push from the central government to actually help municipalities to improve in this regard, I am skeptical of the ultimate success of this cleanliness drive, despite good intentions.
What I find strange is that even literate persons are agents of uncleanliness . ' Literate ',as opposed to " truly educate "
@Milind:
I agree ,Sir>>>>>> but the idea of " banning " is undemocratic. The Gulf states can ban things easily, we can not .
Also, look at the medical side-effects to the mouth among paan-eaters
@A. Khan: The world over there is a class of people that are devoted to cleaning and keeping things clean. You elude to the "caste system". The truth is that this is the division of labour based on your nature not birth. Like most things on the sub-continent we like to twist things, because we are so selfish. It is not your birth that determines your place in the division of labour but your nature. Having read the Gita, it is written ... "born of your nature you shall be compelled". If it is by birth, then in nature we will see anyone born in a doctors family will be a doctor, this is not so. The division of labour exists everywhere and is the same, no one is better or lesser then the other, we all need each other. Why do we have filthy exploitive minds and hearts too? There is an awful lot of cleaning we all have to do. We al seem to find reasons to exploit one another. Has it helped us in anyway to better the countries or ourselves?
In the sub-continent, cleanliness of the environment, or lack of it rather, is a cultural thing, most likely coming out of the fact there was/is a class of people devoted to doing the cleaning up. This has resulted in people never really bothering to improve their habits as someone was always present to step in and clean up after them.
This mindset, and it applies to both India and Pakistan, is an anachronism and needs to rooted out. Only then will people make it their responsibility to keep their environment clean.
@Sunil: I hear you brother. Even though I agree and sympathize with what you are saying about our habits and cleanliness NOT being a matter of religion or culture. I agree with you there completely. Additionally, I think it is education... even as a toddler or child about picking up the toys children scatter in the house, cleaning rooms by teenagers in the house, cleanliness in schools. It is going to take a generation or two to become a clean country. It is not going to happen through some 3 year or 5 year government scheme.
Harpreet Singh:: Like you, I was married to a Caucasian Anglo-Saxon lady as soon as I got out of the university after finishing my studies in Texas 32 years ago. Everything you said about the filth, on the wall, open littering and defecating is true and correct, It is shameful as you described. But that is no reason not to take your wife or children to India no matter how shameful it is. I took my bride-to-marry six months prior to our wedding in Texas and every three years after we got married. She knew what was reality in India as far as filth, mess, littering, public restrooms. She also knew I came from a clean, cultured, and well-mannered family and how inside our house everything was organized and tastefully kept. You do not need to hide what reality is no matter how shameful or painful. I disagree that it is the Indian culture. It is a matter of EDUCATION. No one teaches in India about cleanliness from childhood - in the homes, schools, or workplace. Cleanliness is an acquired learning not that we are born with the hereditary trait or through culture of cleanliness. It is EDUCATION, REMINDER, and HABIT of cleanliness and BENEFITS of cleanliness at home and in public.
One of the first steps to clean up the mess...ban plastic bags.it was never so dirty till plastic bags came on the scence and now poeple simply throw their garbage everyhwere and it is unbearbale and stikns.wiil governments have the guts to ban plastic bags.After all we have lvied without them for thousands of year and certianly can do so for the next few thosuand years.
It is not that people like filth or are uneducated, same people who throws orange peels and spits in the pubic places keeps their homes very clean, and throws out the waste outside his home. One reason is the lack of waste disposal system, then there is the real problem of ownership, they don't want to take the ownership, don't ant to take pride, in owning the country. They want it in piecemeal. This is my state, this is my locality, and other places don't belong to me. This is very common in the country.
Important to note that not one Indian is on denial mode and that is what is our hope for future of India.
Good habits are required, to clean the heart, mind and the surrounds, taking personal responsibility for it. What is happening is an attitude issue, the "chalta ha" and do not worry I am okay and who cares. It has nothing to do with religion or ancient culture, but more to do with abandoning it. We on the sub-contientent are filthy and do not care. Even going overseas to countries like UK, Canada, USA, Australia and others, I see paan spit and rubbish being thrown around. Not only by Indian, Bangladeshi and Pakistani communities but by other nationals. Why can we not change from being selfish to actually caring for one another? What is the point to selfishness? We need a change of attitude, have pride and stop being so low thinking and aspire to high ideals. Things change one person at a time, make the change you want to see in you first. Stop being filthy, giving or taking bribes, obey the laws, respect yourself and others is a good start.
@Toticalling: The number of death relates to mothers who die, not the children.I did not make it clear in my first post.
A somewhat ' off the beaten road ' subject..........but when talking on this its necessary to mention the demographics involved.......1.3 BILLION people ( a staggering figure ).
@ahmed41 - "May one , very humbly , urge the people of the sub-continent that perhaps we should start this cleanliness drive by taking steps to stop the eating of Paan and beetle leaves."
I think that's never going to happen. Best option would be to ban it.. A cousin of mine in the Gulf told me, that each item and foodstuff from the subcontinent is available there, except for pan - given our propensity to spit it and take pride in it.
The idea of having clean environment is worth the effort. The difference is that whereas we keep 'our' house clean, do not care much when it involves public streets and other areas. But what Modi is doing is doing lip service and will not change much unless the public rises to the occasion themselves. Part of this results in bad health and deaths. A survey tells us that whereas in China, the death of delivery of children is 32 out of 100000 births, in India it is 170. I may have reservations about Modi's narrow minded attitudes, it is obvious that he wants India to improve economically. Good luck to him
@javed Iqbal: If I compare Pakistan of today with that of eighties in term of cleanliness there is a marked difference in positive direction may it be toilets in public places;buildings or roads in general.There are better roads with landscape development almost in every city and town than before.Cities are getting cleaner with the help of modern machinery.One hardly sees someone urinating on open places what it used to be in past.Let us not always criticize let us also appreciate what good is around.I for once appreciate NM for taking this noble cause as his priority number one.I hope his efforts will not reduced up to appeals to public but transform into established mechanism that works on its own.Wish every Indian household gets toilet in next five years.Hundred millions toilets in five years would be a gigantic task though.
May one , very humbly , urge the people of the sub-continent that perhaps we should start this cleanliness drive by taking steps to stop the eating of Paan and beetle leaves. Lets stop painting the town RED.
At least people started thinking of cleanliness. Therefore we must give credit to Modi. But more than credit, we must feel that it is our duty to keep the surrounding clean. Let us hope, things will improve now..
It is high time. Instead of focussing on other paraphernalia, let us get the basics right. Nobody will respect you if you are unhygienic. Surprisingly, this issue is getting attention so many years after independence. Guess better late then never.
@Vijay K: I agree. I am married to a Caucasian and I did not take my wife or my 2 children to India because I was ashamed of my culture which can tolerate such filth in their surroundings. I did not want to be degraded in the eyes of my wife that I belonged to such a filthy country. Till then I had only talked of our rich heritage and ancient civilization. They eventually came to India 8 years after we got married. Even Liberia was not as filthy (I worked with UNO there). The stench of urine and the sight of people urinating on walls was very painful. My wife could not find a public restroom in the heart of New Delhi. Even the posh show-rooms had extremely filthy toilets. The beggars were everywhere, but we have seen them in spain, romania and even in UK, so that didnt bother me. God makes people rich or poor, but humans decide how filthy they want to be. Watching the filth everywhere, people spitting and urinating on the road in connaught place was extremely degrading to me. I have never taken my family to India since. I am ashamed of my civilization, of my culture, where even the well off educated go about urinating on walls and throwing their trash on the sidewalks (even in the AC compartment during a train trip I saw how the very rich people threw orange peelings on the floor and even spat out the seeds on the floor, so dont say it is a problem of poverty. It is a cultural thing). If Modi can help clean India, I will for ever vote BJP and will contribute my time and money to his efforts. It is that important to me.
The movement towards cleanliness is fairly recent even in the western world. Soap, toilets, running water etc. were all invented in the last 200 years. I have seen pictures of sewage in New York and Chicago and they aren't pretty. It takes time, effort and resolve but we will get there. Kudos to Modi for making it a national priority. Most Indians accept that it is about time.
The question that come to the minds of the people of India first is ... why did India have to wait 68 years for a leader to take up this issue of cleaning up filth from the public places ... ??!!
The distinguished author mentioned the clean toilets in Thailand. Far better than in the West. So, a comparison with Bharat's toilets? According to every statistic, it should be pointed out that toilets in Hindustan are literally non existent. There is a severe shortage. According to the latest BBC survey half the homes have no toilets! And more than 60% of the population uses the outdoors. So the policy of Less Litter Starts With Me is simply moot. When nearest toilet.....! The Hindustani Superstar PM should be devoting more time to this pressing problem. Rather than antique refurbished aircraft carriers
The author has always found ways to better the World's understanding of the inner political workings of Bharat. Kudos to him in this respect. He very astutely points out the cleanliness of the toilets in Thailand. And his theory of Hinayana or Theravada no doubts plays an iconic part. [Perhaps the binding thread is Bhuddism]. In India it fails abjectly. There is no common thread to bind the people. The current Hindutva Harmony stipulates that you prove your allegiance to Hindustan 3 times a day. Or leave. Hindustan is for Hindus only is a common slogan. The spirit of WE or US simply does not exist. Talk about clean toilet ! Cleanliness, not a priority. Hindu-ness, is a priority.
I have never felt ashamed of India being poor, but I feel ashamed of India being filthy. It is a reflection of our civilization, which though ancient, is in an advanced stage of putrefaction.
Irrespective of religion, nationality & caste etc, we, people of Sub-Continent are unclean by the heredity. Thanks to the West who invented accessories of toilet facilitating our generation (our forefathers are not lucky enough) but despite that our toilets at public places particularly at bus stands, railway stations/ trains, hospitals, schools are most dirty in the world. Our roads & streets are filthy & no one take notice of it. Credit should be given to Indian PM for taking this issue seriously. Pakistani ruling class does not take interest such a negligible issue.