Role of the govt. / Non Govt.

Agencies in the National Cleanliness Program

Name: Priya Verma

Abstract:

Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is a nationwide cleanliness campaign run by the govt. of India and
initiated by the Prime minister, Narendra Modi on 2nd of October in 2014 on the 145th birth
anniversary of the Mahatma Gandhi. Cleanliness reflects how developed we are socially. It is
good for general hygiene. Let us not put the responsibility on the govt. /non govt. alone. Let us
make ourselves equally responsible for the cleanliness and act positively and effectively in that
direction.

The answer to this question is undoubtedly “citizens”. A country or let us say “India” is us and
if we don’t understand that then that’s a huge mistake at our end. We keep our house clean and
never wait for the govt. to overtake that responsibility then why can’t each of us, every single one
of us, take an oath to do our bit? Let us make use of public trash-bins , which has been
responsibly placed by our govt. , let us not spit on roads and walls , let us not stupidly scribble
on the walls.

Most of us wait for govt. to clean up the entire country that has been polluted by us. We need to
clean our own shit and if we don’t want to get into that stage then we need to stop messing up
our environment in the first place. We clean our own houses or we hire domestic help. We are
not hiring anyone for the streets, monuments, footpath, beaches etc. we got to deal with it
together and begin with understanding that one of us will fetch magnificent results and that too,
very soon.

Let’s go with the assumption in your question that cleanliness is the responsibility of the
government! So how does this work? Citizen of neighborhoods band together to throw garbage
in every available public area. They then ask leaders of the oppositions in the government to
help.

If we go with the assumption in the original question that clean lines are just the responsibility of
the Indian government not its citizens, wouldn’t the cycle continue? It’s the responsibility of the
citizens. Crore’s of citizens are there and it is not possible to clean everything by the
government. Just an example in cricket all the 11 players should play to win not just the captain.

Citizens……

Society are making two types citizens of this country …one is no civic-sense other one having
civic sense due to outdated Indian constitution.

Introduction:

It is the responsibility of the Citizens as well as the Government. Irrespective of our status, we
keep our house clean. Outside our house, is the house of society we live in? We are equally
responsible to keep it clean to the best of our ability. The Local, State and Central Govt. have
enacted Laws in this regard. We are bound by these Laws. It is a fact that spitting and or littering
in Public place is an offence under Municipal and Police Act. But action is not being taken. The
practical difficulty is, every hour thousands of citizens are committing such acts. To act against
each and every citizen on the spot is practically difficult or impossible. Here, as per Law the Law
enforcing agency is responsible. And as a citizen it is equally our responsibility to not to act this
way. I wish to place here a quote from our beloved Late President Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam.

To quote from one of his recent writings, Dr Kalam said, “In America every dog owner has
to clean up after his pet has done the job same in Japan. Will the Indian citizen do that here?
He’s right. We go to the polls to choose a government and after that forfeit all responsibility. We
sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the government to do everything for us whilst our
contribution is totally negative.

We expect the government to clean up but we are not going to stop chucking garbage all over the
place nor are we going to stop to pick up a stray piece of paper and throw it in the bin. We expect
the railways to provide clean bathrooms but we are not going to learn the proper use of
bathrooms…

I wish to add one more truth. We Indians are highly impressed by the developed countries, their
citizens, how they are disciplined and responsible, how they respect the Law of the Land etc.
And we don’t fail to discuss it and praise them here with our friends and others. Why developed
countries, we Indians in Gulf, say Dubai won’t dare to spit or throw a cigarette but in public
place. But that very Indian starts doing it freely and happily the moment he lands on Indian soil.
Why can’t he stick up to that discipline he practiced there in Dubai? Is it so that we get
disciplined only if thrashed?

Cleanliness reflects how developed we are socially. It is good for general hygiene. Let us not put
the responsibility on the Govt. alone. Let us make ourselves equally responsible for the
cleanliness and act positively and effectively in that direction.

Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is started by the government to make India a completely clean India.
Clean India was a dream seen by Mahatma Gandhi regarding which he once said that,
“Sanitation is more important than Independence”. During his time he was well aware of the
poor and dirty condition of the country that’s why he made various efforts to complete his dream
however could not be successful.

As he dreamt of clean India one day, he said that both cleanliness and sanitation are integral parts
of healthy and peaceful living. Unfortunately, India is still lagging behind in cleanliness and
sanitation even after 71 years of independence. According to the statistics, it has seen that very
less percentage of total population has access to the toilets. It is a program run by the government
to seriously work to fulfill the vision of Father of Nation (Bapu) by calling people from all walks
of life to make it a successful campaign globally.

This mission has to be completed by 150th birth anniversary of Bapu (2nd October of 2019) in
next five years (from the launch date). It is urged by the government to the people to spend at
least 100 hours in a year towards cleanliness in their surrounding areas or other places of India to
make it a successful campaign. There are various implementation policies and mechanisms for
the program. Including three important phases such as planning phase, implementation phase
and sustainability phase.

What is Swachh Bharat Abhiyan:

Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is a national cleanliness campaign established by the Government of

India. This campaign is covering 4041 statutory towns in order to clean roads, streets, and
infrastructure of the India. It is a mass movement to create a Clean India by 2019. It is a step
ahead to the Mahatma Gandhi’s dream of swachh Bharat for healthy and prosperous life. This
mission was launched on 2nd of October 2014 (145th birth anniversary of Bapu) by targeting its
completeness in 2019 on 150th birth anniversary of Bapu. The mission has been implemented to
cover all the rural and urban areas of the India under the Ministry of Urban Development and the
Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation accordingly.

The first cleanliness drive (on 25th of September 2014) of this mission was started by the Indian
Prime Minister, Narendra Modi earlier to its launch. This mission has targeted to solve the
sanitation problems as well as better waste management all over the India by creating sanitation
facilities to all.

Need of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan:

Swachh Bharat mission is very necessary to run continuously in India until it gets its goal. It is
very essential for the people in India to really get the feeling of physical, mental, social and
intellectual well being. It is to advance the living status in India in real means which can be
started by bringing all over cleanliness. Below I have mentioned some points proving the urgent
need of ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ in India:

 It is really very essential to eliminate the open defecation in India as well as making
toilets facility available to everyone.

 It is needed in India to convert the insanitary toilets into flushing toilets.

 It is necessary in order to eradicate the manual scavenging system.

 It is to implement the proper waste management through the scientific processes,

hygienic disposal, reuse, and recycling of the municipal solid wastes.

 It is to bring behavioral changes among Indian people regarding maintenance of personal

hygiene and practice of healthy sanitation methods.

 It is to create global awareness among common masses living in rural areas and link it to
the public health.

 It is to support working bodies to design, execute and operate the waste disposal systems
locally.

 It is to bring private-sector participation to develop sanitary facilities throughout India.

  It is to make India a clean and green India.

 It is necessary to improve the quality of life of people in rural areas.

 It is to bring sustainable sanitation practices by motivating communities and Panchayati

Raj Institutions through the awareness program like health education.

 It is to bring the dream of Bapu to come true.

Swachh Bharat Mission in Urban Areas:

The Swachh Bharat Mission of urban areas aims to cover almost 1.04 crore households in order
to provide them 2.6 lakhs of public toilets, 2.5 lakhs of community toilets together with the solid
wastes management in every town. Community toilets have been planned to be built in the
residential areas where availability of individual household toilets is difficult and public toilets at
designated locations including bus stations, tourist places, railway stations, markets, etc.

Cleanliness program in the urban areas (around 4,401 towns) have been planned to be completed
over five years till 2019. The costs of program are set, like Rs. 7,366 crore on solid waste
management, Rs. 1,828 crore on public awareness, Rs. 655 crore on community toilets, Rs. 4,165
crore on individual household toilets etc.

Program which have been targeted to be completed are complete removal of open defecation,
converting unsanitary toilets into flush toilets, eradicating manual scavenging, bring behavioral
changes among public, and solid waste management.

Gramin Swachh Bharat Mission:

Gramin Swachh Bharat Mission is a mission implementing cleanliness programs in the rural
areas. Earlier the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (also called Total Sanitation campaign, TSC) was
established by the Government of India in 1999 to make rural areas clean however now it has
been restructured into the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin).

This campaign is aimed to make rural areas free from open defecation till 2019 for which the
cost has been estimated is one lakh thirty four thousand crore rupees for constructing
approximately 11 crore 11 lakh toilets in the country. There is a big plan of converting waste into
bio-fertilizer and useful energy forms. This mission involves the participation of gram panchayat,
panchayat samiti and Zila Parishad. Following are the objectives of Swachh Bharat Mission
(Gramin).

 To improve quality of life of people living in the rural areas.

 Motivate people to maintain sanitation in rural areas to complete the vision of Swachh
Bharat by 2019.

 To motivate local working bodies (such as communities, Panchayati Raj Institutions, etc)
to make available the required sustainable sanitation facilities.
  Develop advance environmental sanitation systems manageable by the community
especially to focus on solid and liquid waste management in the rural areas.

 To promote ecologically safe and sustainable sanitation in the rural areas.

Swachh Bharat-Swachh Vidyalaya Campaign:

The Swachh Bharat Swachh Vidyalaya campaign is run by the Union Ministry of Human
Resource Development having the objectives of cleanliness in the schools. A major program was
organized under it from 25th of September 2014 to 31st of October 2014 in the Kendriya
Vidyalayas and Navodaya Vidyalya Sansthan.

Lots of cleanliness activities were held such as discussions over various cleanliness aspects in the
school assembly by the students, teachings of Mahatma Gandhi related to cleanliness, cleanliness
and hygiene topics, cleaning activities (in the class rooms, libraries, laboratories, kitchen sheds
stores, playgrounds, gardens, toilets, pantry areas, etc).

The cleaning of statue in the school area, speech over the contribution of great people, essay
writing competitions, debates, art, painting, film, shows, role plays related to hygiene including
other many activities on cleanliness and hygiene were also conducted. It was also planned to
hold a half an hour cleaning campaign in the schools twice a week involving the cleanliness
activities by the teachers, students, parents and community members.

Swachh Bharat Cess:

Swachh Bharat Cess is an improvement in the service tax by 0.5% on all the services in India. It
was started by the Finance Ministry to collect some fund from each and every Indian citizen for
the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in order to make it a huge success. Everyone has to pay extra 50
paisa for each 100 rupees spent as service tax for this cleanliness campaign.

Another Cleanliness Initiative in Uttar Pradesh:

Yogi Adityanath (Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh), in March 2017, has banned chewing of paan,
paan masala, gutka and other tobacco products (especially in the duty hours) in the government
offices to ensure cleanliness. He started this initiative after his first visit to the secretariat annex
building when he saw betel-juice stained walls and corners in that building.

Sometime back Swatch Bharat mission announced ‘Things Govt. / NGO’s can do for Swatch
Bharat’.

We are determined to make a difference Vatavarn:

To make the 20 announced things appeared jumbled up, non-clear, non-serious and rough work.
I have divided the 20 points in four categories to make more sense of cleanliness exercise. Under
each category I have given my analysis and critique.
First Category (Solid Waste Management):

1. NGOs can take up the task of educating the people of India about keeping their
surroundings clean.

2. NGOs could adopt certain areas/colonies and take the responsibility of keeping them
clean.

3. NGOs can set up and monitor waste management systems.

4. NGOs can make house visits and ensure that people understand proper sanitation and
garbage disposal techniques.

5. They could also visit schools to teach the kids the importance of cleanliness in their daily
lives.

6. NGOs can also facilitate workshops on how to recycle and reuse non-biodegradable
wastes into livelihood programs.

7. NGO’s can be asked to put up small-scale units for collecting garbage and sorting it into
different components for processing.

8. NGO’s can be authorized to collect money from houses and use it to arrange for
segregation and separation of waste.

9. NGO’s can help societies, colonies setting up unit for decomposing wet waste, water
harvesting etc.

My comments-

According to NGO’s can primarily educate, who then is going to implement –

SBM/Municipalities/ Multinationals?

NGO’s can adopt an area (does it means legally)?

NGO’s can help decompose (let the waste decay/rot)?

I do not understand SBM! The use of the word ‘decomposing’ whom is dictionary meaning is
rotting, decaying. —–. Wet waste decomposes on its own causing stench and diseases. On the
other hand when wet waste is composted instead of stench and diseases we get cleanliness and
compost.

What SBM is aiming has already been done by NGO’s of the country in different pockets .As an
example Vatavaran, which started garbage management when it was not fashionable to be
talking about ‘cleanliness’. We have been doing it since early 90’s. Its tag lines for last 20 years
have been ‘Garbage dumps to flower beds’ and ‘Towards Zero garbage areas’. Its inspiration has
been Gandhi so in our work at grass root level manpower is supreme. This is quite unlike SBM
where Gandhi is being used on paper but his thinking /practices/ sayings are not followed.
Otherwise SBM would mention it in its philosophy. Vatavaran has practically created Zero
Garbage Areas without motorized vehicles or any plants. No waste ever went to any landfill
sites. We converted garbage dumping area to a green, attractive area where besides composting
trees, potted plants, organically grown vegetables and a earthy hut with seating area around made
it picturesque and pleasant. Where the knowledgeable and politically motivated wanted to come.

Has Swatch Bharat Mission ever recognized such efforts / best practices? No! Why?

Second Category (for Government Organized Non Government Organization’s):

1. NGO’s can ensure people’s participation in Swachh Bharat and put pressure on ULBs to
act.

2. Some NGOs could play a role in highlighting the importance of SBM to housewives,
shopkeepers and small business owners

3. NGOs can also do third party quality checks of infrastructure being created under SBM
and also do sample verification on a pre-determined checklist.

4. NGOs could work closely with the municipality to execute a daily cleaning plan in the
area.

5. NGO’s can submit survey reports on Swachh Bharat Mission; they may be allocated
areas to carry out surveys independently substantiated with videos and pictures on the
basis of MOUs between the NGO and the monitoring authority.

6. NGOs can also be given access to the Swachh Bharat city local circles to share
community initiatives with citizens and mobilize citizens to help where necessary.

My comment-

Is SBM trying to convert NGO’s to GONGO’s? Once again my example would be Vatavaran. It
never took any funds from the government. Its mission was to be self-reliant. It took bold steps,
exposed wrongs; helped communities received love and respect from them.

If SBM wants NGO’s to become their rubber stamp Vatavaran refuses to do that. We are not
Government Organized Non Government Organization.

Third Category (For Rural India):

1. NGOs could help in building toilets in rural areas.

2. NGOs can be assigned the task of building and maintaining public toilets.

3. NGOs dealing with heath care delivery could have a tremendous role in the area of
personal hygiene, optimum use of potable water, basic sanitation etc.

My Comment-
I do not have firsthand experience about toilets in rural areas but hope that local Ngo’s working
at grass root level are being recognized and given more responsibility and more GONGO’s are
not being created.

Fourth Category (Chosen Few):

1. Certain NGOs can also conduct research on specific areas to scientifically dispose
wastes, improved toilets, improved composting processes etc.

2. NGOs should be allowed funding for cleanliness drives and other Swachh Bharat related
activities.

My Comments-

These are special NGO’s who bail the government out of sticky situations and now are being
rewarded.

Final Words (Conclusion):

Is it not essential that Swatch Bharat Mission not become a vehicle to promote big businesses
and concentrate on Gandhi’s philosophy and Ghanaian way of working as Vatavaran has proven
to be the right path for India?

We can say Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, is a nice welcome step to make India clean and green till
2019. As we all heard about the most famous proverb that “Cleanliness is Next to Godliness”,
we can surely say that Clean India Campaign (Swachh Bharat Abhiyan) will really bring
godliness all over the country in few years if it is followed by the people of India in effective
manner.

So, the cleanliness activities to warm welcome the godliness have been started but it should not
need to be ended if we really want godliness in our lives forever. A healthy country and a healthy
society need its citizens to be healthy and clean in every walk of life.

Reference:

 http://www.who.int

 http://mdws.gov.in

 http://archive.india.gov.in

 www.swachhbharat.mygov.

M.Phil First year, Dept of Social Work, Dr. RML Awadh University, Ayodhya.