Of ‘Clean India’ and asking the right questions

‘Is Swachch Bharat working?’ asked Rahul Gandhi at a recent interaction with students in Bangalore. The media and social media commenters, as usual, went overboard on the reactions from the students. Many saw the response (especially on the other question on ‘Make in India’) as an example of how one must be prepared for unexpected responses in public life. Several others minutely dissected the cacophony of noise which followed the question and concluded it wasn’t as bad as what media made it out to be. To me, it was all about reacting to a wrong question in the first place.

“Ask the right questions if you’re going to find the right answers.”
- Vanessa Redgrave

After seeing the video clip of that interaction, the message I got was that Mr. Gandhi was actually questioning if the ‘Make India Clean’ movement was lofty enough to be a Government priority. He then went on to ask if the movement was working and got a response. In my view, ‘Is Swachch Bharat working?’ is the wrong question to ask at this stage, simply because it is not something that can happen in 14 months. Let’s pull back to see the need for such a movement:

In all these years, successive central & state governments have been unsuccessful in ensuring clean public spaces and basic sanitation for all. I am not even sure if they made an earnest effort. Sure, Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan was launched in 1999 (which I got to know in 2015) and government’s must have made efforts to end open defecation, build toilets, address garbage issues in our cities and so on. But we have collectively failed. Vast swathes of slums remain in our urban jungles, almost every city has garbage piled up and millions don’t have access to basic sanitation. I know it is a daunting task which calls for systemic and cultural changes. Hence it calls for an extraordinary effort involving the government and the people.

Making progress in this area has a far reaching impact on several facets of our lives. In this context, it is critical to galvanise every one of us (not just the Government’s health department) towards a movement…a common goal. That is the reason why the movement must be approached in such a way that it captures the imagination of the public and makes them conscious of cleanliness. That is just the first baby step. In that context, we have seen many individuals being spurred on to action and do their own small bit. Groups like the ‘Ugly Indian’ have been doing stellar work in this area silently for years. But that alone is never going to be enough. State governments must find ways to manage urban waste, educate people on the basics of sanitation, build toilets, bring in cultural changes and do much more. Businesses - small and big must do their bit in controlling waste emission and garbage. It is a long haul. So to ask ‘‘Is Swatch Bharat working?’ after 14 months of such a movement being launched is unfair and likely to get ’no’ as an answer. But has it motivated a handful of more common folk to rally behind the cause? Yes it has.