Culture of cleanliness

The Swachh Bharat drive is a welcome initiative. But when it is thrust on schoolchildren and government employees to boost a leader’s image and create an illusion of a ‘resurgent’ India, it becomes an induced exercise. Keeping our homes, workplaces and surroundings clean is vital for good health. But doing the cleaning symbolically for one day achieves little. A culture of cleanliness must be developed.

Also, there is a limit to what schoolchildren and government staff can do with bare hands or with just the broom. The disposal of garbage heaps, open sewers and mounds of human excreta in agricultural fields, near ponds, river banks and beaches involves huge logistics.

In some parts of the country, students from humble backgrounds are made to clean school premises, including toilets.

Meena Rani, Zirakpur

Penalise for dirt

It should be ensured that the clean India movement does not become just a photo-opportunity for VVIPs. There are reports that at many places, roads and offices were first cleaned by the cleaning staff, then some paper was scattered to broom artificially created non-cleanliness for a photo-opportunity! Even at the Rajpath in New Delhi, the invited VVIPs left empty water bottles and pamphlets distributed on the occasion, thus creating more filth than that waws removed. A collective fine should be imposed on them.

The Prime Minister has desired that every citizen devotes 100 hours a year towards cleanliness. It can be done by doing away with cleaning staff in government offices. The other employees as well as ministers can spend the first half an hour to clean their offices. Common premises and toilets can be cleaned by turns.

People leaving garbage after any function should be penalised.

Madhu Agrawal, Delhi

Few toilets

Without basic necessities, the ‘Swachch Bharat Abhiyan’ will not yield any fruitful results. Today, television and telephone sets exceed the percentage of households with access to toilet facilities. An alarming 45% of India’s population still defecates in the open. There are hardly any guidelines for the disposal of dead animals. In rural areas, they are thrown into nullahs, khuds and the rivers, causing microbial contamination. The government should construct sanitation points and recruit personnel to look after these spots, improve the eco-cultural environment, protect vultures' species that feed on dead animals and guide people to start such practices from their homes. Toilets are not just needed in every school but also in all homes.

Balak Ram Dhiman, Nadaun

Clean toilets

Building toilets is not enough. One also needs running water and the will to keep the toilets clean after use. This is true of toilets in five-star hotels also. In temples, toilets are a rarity and are not kept clean. A vendor running a foodstall single-handedly serves food and collects money. Can we expect him to wash his hands at regular intervals? In small restaurants, the same waiter serves food and picks up utensils after the customer has finished eating. People celebrate festivals on roads and do not bother to clean them after the celebrations are over. In housing societies, people throw garbage into compounds from their balconies and windows. And what about people who smoke in public places? They litter the road with cigarette ash and stubs.

SC Dhall, Zirakpur

Lesson from childhood

It is after ages that we have remembered Mahatma Gandhi in the true spirit by converting the ‘Swachh’ India movement into a mass movement. The movement can't succeed without the involvement of everyone. To achieve that, we should be motivated from childhood to keep the environment around us clean. The idea has to be imbibed from home and school. This will reflect in our daily life and will be automatically carried over to public places. Let this effort not go waste.

Neelam, Chandigarh

Sweep away graft

Parents and teachers should teach children to keep themselves and their surroundings tidy. There are various types of dirt. The worst is corruption. If India has to progress, this evil must be tackled.

Balwinder Singh, via email

 

Clean mind vital The article “Feudal attitudes persist” by Justice Nirmal Singh (retd) (October 3) highlighted the practice of untouchability. Though we have scaled outer space, with the Mars Orbiter Mission being the recent achievement, our society remains gripped with caste discrimination. Dalits are treated no better than animals. How can one dream of a clean India without sweeping the mind of the masses clean? Er Diwan Chand, Ravi Nagar (Mandi)

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