Can we have a 'Cleaner India'?

[Sabir]

"Are you on the side of those who make India hang her head in shame or those who raise her head in pride," asks Aamir Khan in an 'Incredible India' advertisement. I am as big a patriot as is the next person, but sometimes, queries buzz about inside my head querulously. Is there any harm in talking about those aspects of our country that could be wished away!

Do you need that big gob of spit that just misses your big toe on your way to an important appointment? Or that red-flecked liquid spewed out so casually in a traffic snarl? What could be worse than that giant phlegm-filled hawk that begins from deep inside a champion 'spitter', making you wince and shut your eyes and ears in anticipation of the actual event? And those artistic red squiggles on pristine walls, winding staircases, and ironically, below signs which scream "Please do not spit here!"

What about the male members of the human species with undoubtedly canine habits, when they sight a vacant wall, and proceed to let loose in public? The movie Three Idiots has a funny yet effective way of dealing with this, where the culprit receives a gentle jolt, just enough to bring him to his senses, yet does no permanent harm! Pedestrians are often caught between the devil and the deep blue sea; is it safer to sink into excreta, or step off the pavement and be hit by a bus! Tread on mush or turn into mush, as it were!

The tagline of Lays Chips (no one can eat just one!) rings true as one perceives bright wrappers forming part of the vast garbage dump that our roads have turned into. Plastic bottles, cans, fruit peels and groundnut shells turn the picture murkier! On one memorable suburban train ride from Guindy to Chetpet in Chennai, I walked in confidently to a deserted corner in the ladies' compartment, only to be assailed by a stench that made my insides churn. Someone had let her child squat on the floor and left the evidence behind! 'Incredible India', anyone?

On occasion, people do clean up the beaches, a laudable task indeed! But more important is to drill the idea into heads that littering is damnable! If there were no litter, there would be no need to clean up either! And no bubble gum under bus seats or used sanitary pads clogging up public toilets! Keeping one's home clean is all very good, but throwing one's trash into the neighbour's compound is unforgiveable!

Historians, filmmakers and teachers turn blue in the face, trying to inculcate in people respect for 'India's vast cultural heritage'! Yet modern Lotharios go down in history, using sharp implements to etch their names on age-old structures. Thus 'Rahul loves Sunita' hits the eye, as you walk in with reverence, and are forced to imbibe history with modern romance. I say, increase the entrance fees to our valuable monuments! Art is meant for the common man, not for the man who is 'common' in behaviour! The money earned could help maintain the monument to ensure that history does not become the dead past!

The arterial Anna Salai in Chennai came alive when the walls along the sidewalks were adorned with paintings — from Ravi Varmas and pastoral scenes to flora and fauna. Unfortunately, down came the rain, and washed everything clean! The mammoth effort went down the drain literally, along with loads of money and artistic labour. Now more paint is being brought in, and hopefully the masterpieces will be made waterproof! The concept of turning Mount Road into a Manhattan, or linking the various canals to create a Venice in Chennai will be appreciable if only concrete foundations are laid down to crystallise the same!

For the crimes mentioned earlier (for they are no less), stringent fines should be levied, and a talking-to by a stern policeman or a night behind bars, for those who cannot afford to pay.

Couldn't we make a start in our own backyard? The earlier our minds turn clean, the faster our habits will follow suit! Which brings to mind a quote that went something like this; I saw a stone on the road and wondered why someone did not shift it, till I realised that I was also someone!

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[ajtr]

Habits die hard.Its all depend on individuals.

 

[Daredevil]

The root cause of all the ills that are plaguing India is due to lack of 3 factors -

"Education", "Education" and "Education".

Take care of education in India, you can take care of everything. As long as the Govt. and people neglect education, we are going to see these kinds of problems in perpetuity.

 

[prototype]

two of the states i found pretty much clean in India r Kerala and Goa

 

[ajtr]

The root cause of all the ills that are plaguing India is due to lack of 3 factors -

"Education", "Education" and "Education".

Take care of education in India, you can take care of everything. As long as the Govt. and people neglect education, we are going to see these kinds of problems in perpetuity.

Even educated in india relieve themselves in open.its the educated babu of the who mostly spit paan around govt. buildings.Problem is one of habit.

 

[ajtr]

two of the states i found pretty much clean in India r Kerala and Goa

Come see the DCF's office right in the middle of Panjim at 18th June road,i'll bet that you'll change your mind.

 

[Sabir]

The British Authority put the notice in Kolkata ," Urinating on streets -strictly prohibited"

Some Babus were heard whispering , " Should people go to bedroom to piss, then???" :happy_2:

 

[Daredevil]

Even educated in india relieve themselves in open.its the educated babu of the who mostly spit paan around govt. buildings.Problem is one of habit.

I mean Education of Society as a whole. If we have educated people at all levels be it politicians, bureaucrats or masses, they will question one another and fear one another and thus we will have a better society. Right now we have uneducated politicians and uneducated masses, and without them questioning the bureaucrats we have the worst implementation of rules and regulations at all levels and hence the dysfunctional society.

 

[Pintu]

First thanks to Sabir, for starting a thread with a Very Relevant Question and with respect to all I am to say that it is the Consciousness of a Race which needs to be awakened up.

Even educated in india relieve themselves in open.its the educated babu of the who mostly spit paan around govt. buildings.Problem is one of habit.

Yes, there are educated Babus also who tries to co operate with Civic sense , but I admit they are minority.

I mean Education of Society as a whole. If we have educated people at all levels be it politicians, bureaucrats or masses, they will question one another and fear one another and thus we will have a better society. Right now we have uneducated politicians and uneducated masses, and without them questioning the bureaucrats we have the worst implementation of rules and regulations at all levels and hence the dysfunctional society.

This is nothing but Civic Sense and which is co related with Morality as well as Conscious, I am the same person who simply used to come office well beyond the scheduled time and preach moral lesson to my maid servant if she tends to late for a single day, if the conscious simply does not arise nothing can be done, it depends to the will power , it has been seen in many times that so called 'uneducated person' upholds moral value as well as Conscious high rather than the educated lot.

Regards

 

[Singh]

I mean Education of Society as a whole. If we have educated people at all levels be it politicians, bureaucrats or masses, they will question one another and fear one another and thus we will have a better society. Right now we have uneducated politicians and uneducated masses, and without them questioning the bureaucrats we have the worst implementation of rules and regulations at all levels and hence the dysfunctional society.

Even the uneducated Indians abroad follow the rules, and even the educated Indians in India don't follow the rules.

 

[Yusuf]

Education as in degrees or even high school education will not make any difference. Sanitation is major national issue the lack of it that is.
Pan stains are common all over. I guess banning it would be ideal as it is not good for health too, but people spit just to spoil or deface a wall on purpose. To leave their mark behind so to speak. Pan stains are there in Mysore palace too. Its pure lack of appreciation on the part of indians as to what historical places mean. In other places, well they think the world is theirs.
I had read an article about this quite a few years back about how clean indians like to be but how unclean they are. Indians love to keep their houses clean. Mop the floors etc everyday. They have a bath atleast once a day and will have it when they feel that their cleanliness is gone by touching things they should not be. people in old days use to do ganga snan for any dharm bhrast. But all this ends at a personal level. They don't mind cleaning their house and throwing it all on the road. And we are talking educated people in big cities. Just near my house people keep dumping their garbage. Our repeated pleas, calling the corporation guys etc has made no difference. nothing but indifference I would say. In bangalore we have the corporation door to door garbage pick up, but still people throw it out. Basically we may be advancing with our economy etc, but deep down indians remain quite uncivilized at least by western standards.

 

[hit&run]

Enforce fines and law, very simple. Also tell others to stop this with nice and cunning way every time possible.

I remember just after 3 day in Sydney i littered plastic cover of my ice cream. A girl behind me told that i have dropped something from my pocket. I went back and garbed the cover and was just to tell her that oh no.. its just a waste, Then i thought wait a sec. she already knows its not from my pocket and i have littered it intentionally cause she was walking behind me. I learnt my lesson, now i am the cleanest Indian ever.
There were many other things i learnt in Sydney like waiting for your turn and standing in queue, steeping out from way for someone alighting from train etc. (trust me people react very very badly and makes you learn fast, sound and forever lol).
Today on Live NDTV i saw a nice add by aamir Khan about this same issue, something like Apni Izzat apne haath.

 

[pankaj nema]

In India , a thing like clean liness drive will last for some time .But then things return back soon to normal.

Just as pot holed roads ,garbage is something we have accepted.

The out sourcing of garbage collection to private contractors does help. But it is not perfect because people will litter

pan stains are not even considered a problem and they will remain because THEY BLEND with the roads, foot paths and walls of rail way stations.

 

[thakur_ritesh]

The root cause of all the ills that are plaguing India is due to lack of 3 factors -

"Education", "Education" and "Education".

Take care of education in India, you can take care of everything. As long as the Govt. and people neglect education, we are going to see these kinds of problems in perpetuity.

education DD!

you must be kidding, most people who flout the rules, be they of any type, are the ones who are well educated. pee on road sides, spitting, litter around all the dirt and much more come so naturally to us and only real way of getting people to follow the rules is fine them there and then, and who cant pay up the fine they be prosecuted, and for people who keep doing it over and over again then soon we are going to have UID, put up all the details there and anyone found doing it more than once be given a severe punishment.

ever wondered why the delhi metro is so neat and clean? it is ofcourse still in india, absolutely swanky looking, you have all sort of people from all sort of economic strata, all educated and uneducated travelling in it. i once took this train and there was this family sitting and as happens in india they were busy eat peanuts and were throwing the stuff in a small handbag, guess what, they were asked to stop when they did not they were asked to step off the train at the next station, again made to buy a ticket and then travel along with a fine.

dont forget, in india motorists cross red lights, two wheel riders dont wear helmets even though all these acts could cost them with their lives something that is done by all educated and uneducated and in delhi most of them wear a helmet because there is a challan otherwise.

 

[Daredevil]

What you guys are talking about is educated individuals and what I'm talking about is societal education, education of society as a whole. Much of the ills that plague this country is because of lack of education. You will see this and understand this when you have a society which is 100% educated. Many of the developed countries with education levels of India previously behaved the same way but with increased education levels, societies improved and so is implementation of rules and regulations. Even US was like this 60-70 years ago.

Just correlate the literacy levels of a nation and cleanliness of public places. You will understand what I mean.

 

[thakur_ritesh]

What you guys are talking about is educated individuals and what I'm talking about is societal education, education of society as a whole. Much of the ills that plague this country is because of lack of education. You will see this and understand this when you have a society which is 100% educated. Many of the developed countries with education levels of India previously behaved the same way but with increased education levels, societies improved and so is implementation of rules and regulations. Even US was like this 60-70 years ago.

Just correlate the literacy levels of a nation and cleanliness of public places. You will understand what I mean.

i suspect what might be happening is that first the rule is enforced in letter and spirit, then people get used to living by such rules and then there comes a time when people morally do not by-pass the rules. take the case of seat belts in india, way back when they were introduced i never used to wear them, moved to delhi where if i was not wearing i would be challaned so i started wearing it and soon enough it became a habit and today irrespective of where i am driving the very first thing i do the moment i sit in the car is put on the seat belt else i feel very uncomfortable but still i came to that point only when initially i was forced to do it.

 

[Pintu]

What you guys are talking about is educated individuals and what I'm talking about is societal education, education of society as a whole. Much of the ills that plague this country is because of lack of education. You will see this and understand this when you have a society which is 100% educated. Many of the developed countries with education levels of India previously behaved the same way but with increased education levels, societies improved and so is implementation of rules and regulations. Even US was like this 60-70 years ago.

Just correlate the literacy levels of a nation and cleanliness of public places. You will understand what I mean.

There is no use of having 'societal education' as a 'whole' until and unless 'Moral Character' and 'Civic Sense' be awakened. I am giving an example, I am the same person who spit paan on the wall of a 'Public place' and I am the same individual who teaches others about 'Civic Sense' when they spit on my wall. I am an 'Educated Person' that's why I know what 'Civic Sense' is but why I'm not following it myself , because I am 'Morally Characterless' , if the 'Moral Character' of a race can n't be uplifted , we can not expect them to be 'Clean' in all respect.

Regards

 

[Sabir]

Some simple measure that can keep our cities clean


Dustbins

You do not want to make your city dirty. But you often find yourself in awkward situation while searching for a dustbin to throw empty packet of chips or chocolate or cigarette. Simply speaking there are not enough dustbins in the cities. The authorities must take it seriously.

Dustbins should be distributed to the shopkeepers and vendors on the streets. The penalty of making city dirty should be written in bold letters on them. Every shopkeepers and vendors should be held responsible if their customers throw empty cups or paper plates here and there. It is their duty to remind the customers and point to them where the dustbin is.

Plastic cups, pouch packs of Paan Masal, Gutkha etc are the curse of the cities. They not only make cities look dirty but create problems for sanitation system. You can find some areas where heaps of these things have created separate layer on earth and prevent rain water to permeate. Ban them completely.

In Bhubaneshwar I saw a tea stall using paper cup with advertisement on it. This can be followed everywhere. If vendors find paper cups and plates are costly, these can be supplied in subsidized price. The short fall can be covered from the advertisements on them. Same thing can be done with the dustbins dristibuted by the municipalties.

Build more public toilets. Ensure cleanliness there.

In urban areas, the system of collecting garbage from door steps (at least from every corner of streets) should be introduced.

The authority must keep record of Bazars etc in cities. There should be a certain time limit say ( 6 a.m to 9 a.m in morning) after which these places must be cleaned and washed.

Sanitation systems in the cities (especially the older ones) needed to be evaluated.

A specialized body under local municipality should monitor and coordinate everything mentioned above. Policemen patrolling the street should be given the added responsibility to monitor whether people are obeying their civic duty.

Pick up the stray dogs and cows and keep them in certain place.

More Private investment should be brought in for beautification of cities (Like PC Chandra group in Kolkata who supports many beautification efforts in the city). They must be given exclusive right To put hoardings , advertisement boards etc in return.

Last but not least: Penalty

Every person found guilty of violating civic rules (and offenders in cases like eve teasing, traveling in government transportation without tickets etc) should have to do social work for 7 days under supervision of Municipality workers. If you were wondering about manpower to maintain above mentioned effort, here is the cost-effective solution. :happy_2:

 

[Yusuf]

I have seen people litter in spite of having dustbins around. Check out any railway platforms which have ample distribution of dustbins.

Problem in India is the laws are made to be broken. No one takes them seriously. See how traffic rules are violated. Law enforcement is horrible to put it mildly.
All in all whats really lacking is some COMMON SENSE!!!

 

[neo29]

Firstly ban Gutka. People who eat it are the ones who spit the most.

Slap fines on littering in public.

Urinate only in public toilets or at home.

And please some tell the municipality to make sure their garbage truck dont spill out half their garbage on the road. Even the dumpster placed on has more garbage lying outside than inside.