What is basically wrong with SWACH BHARAT MISSION which is resulting in low satisfaction with no visible outcomes?
Actually no attention has been paid to the people the human generators of energy who clean the country and on top of not giving them optimal and efficient tools of their trade.
Let’s take a critical view and evaluate the success and failure of SBM especially what are the basic areas which went out of focus.
Like they say, for success of any mission The Human Resource or the people taking part are most important factor and still more important tools,gadgets and machines they need to clean the country. Another additional factor is the training and ability of these people to run their machines/tools efficiently .
That is why while researching for this article I was very much concerned about the above three issues ; one is the people who work for making my country clean be it Rural or urban India clean ,secondly what machines they use or need ,what are their tools and their efficacy, their equipment’s , gadgets and overall their safety while doing their job and Thirdly to be adequately trained to run and service these machines effectively and safely .
Firstly let’s focus on the people as these people who are employed in this work of sanitation and cleanliness continue to suffer on four counts :one is their place in economic wages ladder is literally at the bottom , second is their health, third is their esteem or dignity in society and fourth is their work conditions. During the mission literally nothing has changed in reality on all the above four issues.
Now on the second issue of their tools ,gadgets and equipment there has been no real earth shattering change. While doing my research on the subject to see if any effort has been made to innovate or modernise the basic tools and equipment used of the million people involved in this trade or employment of keeping India clean . I am sorry to report not much research and development has been done in this field The basic tools of trade like a broom has not seen any better model since ages which should be lighter but efficient , longer lasting, lightweight shoulder mounted vacuum cleaners for picking dust and trash from difficult to reach places which cannot be by mechanical vehicle mounted sweepers. No major effort to provide safety equipment like overalls and masks to this work force suitable for both summer, winter and rainy season, no special masks to keep the air they breathe virus, micro dust and bacteria free. Thanks to corona pandemic at least their lungs have become a little safe due to wearing masks which should have been the norm for workers who work to sweep clean. I admit they don’t want to be seen wearing these because they don’t want to be seen to be associated with this profession during their travel to work and back because of social stigma we as a society have attached to this and not accorded the dignity of labour according to work difficulty performance index. But as all professions require their workers to wear safety gear and equipment including dresses as now famous personal protective equipment is called PPE kit. So they need to be made proud of their work by providing dignity of labour as per the degree of job difficulty .We have to improve their tools by carrying out focused research on how to make them more efficient, easy to operate and light in weight for both urban and rural settings. Much research has gone into indoor cleaning tools but very little has been done with hand tools for outdoor cleaning. No headway in collection of the foliage waste easy to operate , light in weight machines which operate by way of suction cum crushing machines for dry and wet leaves .No effort to design and use mechanisation to dry or wet clean large avenues. Our road medians and side avenues have not been mulched to stop the dust and it’s accumulation on the roads berms and side surfaces by wind, weathering, rain or vehicle after draft due to speed. We have made little effort to green the dusty patches everywhere and anywhere to reduce dust pollution at all.When tools will come the training will follow so we have to wait for the third factor to begin.
We need to focus on designing new tools of trade for sanitation and cleaning to make them efficient and less laborious. Let’s take the examples of rural and urban areas. Urban common use areas have large paved portions , roads and streets. Whereas rural areas have lesser such areas but more unpaved areas so the tools and equipment used will vary but sadly these remain the same. This being a not so glamorous area not many have ventured into the research , design and development of new or modifying the existing ones.
Where is sensitisation of the common citizen towards the clean India mission?
To my mind the SBM will succeed only when all Indian citizens will become responsible for making Bharat Clean from their own street to national highways. This responsibility inculcation cannot happen till we teach the importance, need and benefits of cleanliness to our would be citizens right from the school stage.
Cleanliness of a house, society, village or city or town and country as a whole will have to be first built in the attitude by education and its inculcation in the character of a person right from home ,to school or College/university and his or her work place .Therefore to have a lasting impact it needs to made a part of the school curriculum as a compulsory graded subject with practical and theory classes on the same level as English, Math or Social studies . A child will be taught personal hygiene for first four years in school , taught community hygiene for next for years up to eighth and country cleanliness from ninth to 12th class.
Now as we talk about education -What to talk of children we adults Indians need a behavioural and attitude change . Here I will give you an example to amplify this abhorrent attitude when I quoted an example of Japanese children cleaning their own school toilets in a WhatsApp group that Indian children should also be trained to do likewise, you will amazed that a very large percentage of people had serious reservations on their children participating in such an activity at school . Therefore I very sadly report that we as people are still very backward in thoughts about cleanliness despite we considering ourselves to be way forward in worldly matters.
Action for correction of social bias and cultural imbalance especially existing in and towards this Sector of cleanliness and sanitation has to begin post haste as a beginning. No amount of advertising and large hoardings on Swach Bharat can ameliorate the sufferings due to deliberate ignorance and their solutions of this profession’s accumulated demands. Leave aside any modernisation still hundreds of sewerage cleaners die due to suffocation due to lack of proper equipment and masks .
The awareness has to reach a level where the common mental perception of a citizen when he looks at a sweeper changes from “oh he is doing a dirty job “ to “ wow he is doing an honourable job of keeping my country clean “ then only India will become clean mentally and physically because this citizen will participate to reduce the burden of cleanliness by being disciplined to keep his surroundings clean and not littering.. The sector has to made safe, well paid and less hazardous like it is in any developed country by changing our own attitude from government to a common citizen about this profession its environment by providing real term changes foremost being the DIGNITY OF LABOUR they deserve and should have..
Given a chance one can contribute to this mission say on writing a curriculum for CBSE SCHOOLS FROM FIRST CLASS TO 12 th on the subject of cleanliness. Help in designing new tools and equipment of cleaners, modifying the old tools . I can make a model city or town or a village if given resources and control over the infrastructure and work force to produce results in a stipulated time span.
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