‘Be the change you want to see in the world’. - Gandhi
On the 146th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, one of India's most influential leader, we revisit his ideology on clean India
When I arrived at Bangalore’s airport, one thing that I noticed was a spot in a corner unofficially meant for spitting. It was an international terminal and I was amazed. This terminal was mainly used by international travellers who were supposed to be educated, had travelled the world and knew what differentiated India from the rest of the world.
Just when I was thinking of all this, my co-traveller threw a used tissue paper towards a dustbin. It was clear that this man was no Abhinav Bindra because he missed the trash can by a good meter or so. I kept asking myself, why. Why is it that the same man who wouldn’t think of messing around in his house, teaches his kids about cleanliness, would not litter or spit in other countries, would do this in India?
So what is holding Indians back from keeping their cities clean? Is it ego, lack of rule enforcement or is it simply the attitude of people to be blamed?
When one reads the autobiography of Mahatma Gandhi, one gets a clear idea as to how long this problem has existed in the Indian society. Gandhi mentions the unclean toilets in congress’ meets in early 1900s in his autobiography. He talks about how he himself had to clean toilets as none of the volunteers of the event would do it thinking it to be a job of lesser importance, meant to be done by people from lower classes of the society.
Cleaning of roads in public by political leaders with brooms in hand, a trend that we see today in India, is actually the idea taken from Gandhi. He and his followers, armed with brooms, went out to the streets plagued with epidemics and made it liveable. He once famously said, “Everyone should be his own scavenger”. His initiatives to get women (including his wife) from well-to-do families to reach out to slum dwellers to teach basic cleanliness were wonderful examples of how innovative his ideas were.
Today we see people expressing strong opinions about clean India and Swacch Bharat Abhiyaan but how many of them actually go out on roads to take on the pile of garbage? How many politicians and bureaucrats who pose for cameras with brooms actually mean good?
These steps were small but were visionary. What we can deduce from these is the fact that one can’t preach without being actually capable of doing it first. He taught us many things, but none he couldn’t do himself.
Today India is taking giant steps forward in the world, but we are leaving small things untouched. According to Gandhi, industrialisation without human prosperity is like a big tree with a termite-infested hollow trunk. Gandhigiri might be the only way out for us Indians towards a better life.
On the 146th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, one of India's most influential leader, we revisit his ideology on clean India
When I arrived at Bangalore’s airport, one thing that I noticed was a spot in a corner unofficially meant for spitting. It was an international terminal and I was...
On the 146th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, one of India's most influential leader, we revisit his ideology on clean India
When I arrived at Bangalore’s airport, one thing that I noticed was a spot in a corner unofficially meant for spitting. It was an international terminal and I was amazed. This terminal was mainly used by international travellers who were supposed to be educated, had travelled the world and knew what differentiated India from the rest of the world.
Just when I was thinking of all this, my co-traveller threw a used tissue paper towards a dustbin. It was clear that this man was no Abhinav Bindra because he missed the trash can by a good meter or so. I kept asking myself, why. Why is it that the same man who wouldn’t think of messing around in his house, teaches his kids about cleanliness, would not litter or spit in other countries, would do this in India?
So what is holding Indians back from keeping their cities clean? Is it ego, lack of rule enforcement or is it simply the attitude of people to be blamed?
When one reads the autobiography of Mahatma Gandhi, one gets a clear idea as to how long this problem has existed in the Indian society. Gandhi mentions the unclean toilets in congress’ meets in early 1900s in his autobiography. He talks about how he himself had to clean toilets as none of the volunteers of the event would do it thinking it to be a job of lesser importance, meant to be done by people from lower classes of the society.
Cleaning of roads in public by political leaders with brooms in hand, a trend that we see today in India, is actually the idea taken from Gandhi. He and his followers, armed with brooms, went out to the streets plagued with epidemics and made it liveable. He once famously said, “Everyone should be his own scavenger”. His initiatives to get women (including his wife) from well-to-do families to reach out to slum dwellers to teach basic cleanliness were wonderful examples of how innovative his ideas were.
Today we see people expressing strong opinions about clean India and Swacch Bharat Abhiyaan but how many of them actually go out on roads to take on the pile of garbage? How many politicians and bureaucrats who pose for cameras with brooms actually mean good?
These steps were small but were visionary. What we can deduce from these is the fact that one can’t preach without being actually capable of doing it first. He taught us many things, but none he couldn’t do himself.
Today India is taking giant steps forward in the world, but we are leaving small things untouched. According to Gandhi, industrialisation without human prosperity is like a big tree with a termite-infested hollow trunk. Gandhigiri might be the only way out for us Indians towards a better life.
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