CLEANLINESS IS NEXT TO GODLINESS

This is the word most commonly used in our daily life. We all talk of cleanliness ,
Swatch Bharath Campaign etc. But the real challenge lies in implementing this in
our daily life. As the saying goes Charity begins at Home. We have to first kick
start this habit at a very micro level at our very own homes before taking it forward.
We must stretch that extra bit and ensure it is a part of a daily life. Just like any
other human habits this must also become a everday habit. As dutiful parents we
must drill these habits in our children from a very small age. There are ample
oppurtunities in our daily life from the time we get up till the time we go to bed.
Right from keeping our bedroom , our living rooms, bedrooms, premises ,
surroundings , place of work the potential for cleanliness is huge.
Cleanliness is a Fundamental Responsibility of an Indian Citizen".
If we want a system to work, we must have responsibilities/accountability be give to an entity/role,
here it would be city administration. In order to create a sustainable system to keep India clean we
need to look at these words very carefully. Responsibility, Accountability, Training, Penalty, Judicial
System, Infrastructure, system, individual, public property, private property. . Modern day politicians
make a mockery of the word cleanliness. They enact the cleaning drives, mock shows without
providing the required infrastructure, resources. These are cheap publicity stunts. A drive around our
cities and villages will give us the actual picture of cleanliness.
1. City is responsible to create, maintain a Realistic Infrastructure responsible for waste collection,
transportation, storage, tracking. (Infrastructure : Garbage bins, any waste coming out of
private/public properties, transporter trucks, contractor standards, disposal yards, tracking systems.
2. With changing life style each individual will be generating more and more waste with each coming
year. Each citizen must receive training about their obligations towards cleanliness in schools to how to
manage/dispose waste generated by them. The generation of waste can not be controlled but
collection is what city administration need to concentrate on. Easy way is to just study
methods/processes/standards/policies implemented by some of western nations and cut paste them
with some adaptation. In our own City waste disposal is a very big problem. The landfills are all
getting filled without systematic recycling.
3. If obligations are not met citizen/employee/private entity/public entity penalties / fines must be
levied for breach of obligation and corrective action must be ensured by judicial system, corrective
measures must be standardized. (corrective action: penalty/training
classes/suspensions/termination/removal).
4. Infrastructure: Each individual/public entity/private entity will be financially responsible for
managing the waste generated by it means, All the finances will be quarterly directly billed to the
residents of the city as per their share of waste. (this is implemented in western very successfully)
(just like a water bill) city will maintain a fleet of trucks, disposal yards, waste processing plants with
this money. Logic is simple whoever generate the waste will pay for it.
5. Private companies participation is waste management (collection/ transportation, dump site
management).
These are the few reasons why west is so clean. I can go on and on but this is just a summary of it.

India has made use of western methods/processes/wisdom/managing techniques without

acknowledging or being thankful. I hope this time we should not shy away to take their official help, it
will do lot of good. If western countries sell us there systems with which they create/maintain/sustain
such cleanliness rather than just selling us only arms.
Cleanliness is SELF SUSTAINING SYSTEM. The system is available and working successfully in some of
the western countries. Question is how successfully we can implement it in India.

Some of the Challenges.

1. To Implement city to own responsibility.
2. To make generator of the waste to pay for it. (this would be tough for any political party).
3. To make the generator pay for breach of individual/public entity/private entity's responsibilities.
4. To get the initial finances to create infrastructure needed (automated suction trucks, automated
sweeping trucks, automated waste collection trucks, big dumps, landfills (hundreds of acres) , tracking
system for waste dump).
5. Judicial system reforms to address the breach of responsibility.
6. Policing/inspectors system for making the checks on individual/public entities/private entities
responsibilities.
7. Dump sites/landfills/waster processing centers: where/how/finances to get such big chunks of land.
We can not create a successful system under the assumption that all the citizens are familiar with and
will execute their waster disposal responsibility. We must assume that 80 percent of citizens are not
familiar or are not willing to execute there waste disposal duties. We must use training to train and
familiarize the citizens about their duties.
If India want it to become a Sustainable System. Cleanliness must not be a CHOICE, it must become a
LAW, with proper definition of responsibilities/accountability/duties/breaches/penalties in lokpal.
I believe we do have a big system to ensure cleanliness. But the question is, where are we failing.
1. Are we generating too much of waste (average numbers are much less than western residents).
2. Do we have enough infrastructure where people can dispose waste. This is where we are lacking.
3. Do we have enough infrastructure to collect the disposed waste. This is again an area of concern.
4. Do we have enough managerial/policies/processes/systems/citizen duties awareness/willingness
related to it (failure).
5. Do we have enough dumps sites/processing plants/landfills. (failure)

6. Do we have knowledge base, how some of the western nations are successfully maintaining it
(failure).
Responsible roles (paid by taxpayers money) need to convert their failures to successes to create a
sustainable system.
If we can collectively work towards cleanliness we can provide a clean India for the next generation.
JAI HIND