Swacch is the key

Independent India turns sixty-eight years, and we are proud to be us, its democratic people! In keeping with the tradition set with “India’s tryst with destiny” so many decades ago, today is the Prime Minister’s day. To the strains of the national anthem he unfurls the national tricolour, he takes the inter-services guard of honour, and he gives the speech to set the tone of things to come in governance. 

We witness Narendra Modi, resplendent in a pagri (turban), take the stand for his first shout out to the nation from the historic rampart of the Red Fort. This Union administration has been at work for a couple of months and it is about time they have a handle on things. We hope that they will now begin to deliver results that are actually good for the country.

I’m sure there is an army of speechwriters to help with the message, but on this day he decides to speak extempore. It is a brave move, and I hope he will not ruin it with political rhetoric. We are tired of politicians devaluing occasions by sniping at one another, blaming previous administrations for failures that continue, and wooing vote blocks with an eye on the next elections.

As he speaks, his grasp of matters is compelling. We are reminded that, although he is often derogated as a chaiwala (tea-seller), Narendra Modi is an educated man. Before this, he has been the Chief Minister of Gujarat for four terms. Part of this state of western India, was devastated by a massive earthquake.  Visitors to the regions since that decimation are impressed with the recovery he led. With the Hindu-Muslim riots however, Modi was tainted with the communal tag. The USA went so far as to cancel his visa to that country.

I wonder if that was the result of the “vilification campaign”, many at its receiving end are accusing Western media of conducting! The point is, Narendra Modi was cleared of culpability by the Supreme Court, the highest judiciary body of India, and hence was able to contest national elections successfully. Today, the US Administration is forced to back-pedal fast to establish diplomatic ties with the new Head of the Union Government of India!

I had the impression that he was a force to be reckoned within the Gujarati community, an icon within a certain religion and caste. When election results were announced, and the party projecting Modi as the Prime Ministerial candidate won a landslide victory, I texted “The Guju has landed!” to my non-resident extended family that had been rooting for him, while thinking to myself “God help us now!” My point is that when India is secular according to its Constitution, there should be no place for sectarianism in the Union Administration.

It is perhaps a discourteous thing to do, but when unimpressive politicians deliver uninspiring speeches, I tend to switch off the set or change channels. I am probably not the only one in this country to do so. I tuned into the live telecast of his acceptance speech with some trepidation. Although the trappings of the victory celebrations were distinctly Hindu rituals, it was a relief to hear the speech devoid of religious overtones. It was surprisingly sensible speaking without a written script to keep message on track. The man is gracious to the opponents he has drubbed at the hustings. It is his duty, he said, as the prime servant of the country, to also carry along with him the hundreds of thousands that did not vote for him.

Modi strikes a chord when he points out that despite the traditional reverence, the Ganges is dreadfully polluted. The River Ganges, one of the most prominent in the country, has sustained civilizations on her banks over several millennia. Hindus especially, worship her as Mother Ganga. Why then, he asks, do we tolerate our mother remaining unclean?  He pledges to prioritize the cleanup of rivers. The environmental consciousness is unexpected, since Indian politicians allegedly kowtow to the creators of much of the pollutants, the big business houses. 

In his first Independence Day address to the nation, Modi harps on the same swacch (clean) theme as in his acceptance speech. He calls on industry to utilize India's vast human and knowledge resources, to make in India various good with zero defect and zero effect (on the environment). He draws attention to unsanitary living conditions that have become characteristic of rural and slum areas. People still continue the habit of using the great outdoors, in the absence of toilets.  In growing populations, women have to wait for the cover of darkness before they may do the same. Modi questions – why this disrespectful disregard for our mothers and sisters? He exhorted corporate social responsibility in corporate houses and NGOs to prioritize toilet construction.

But to my mind, this would address only half the issue. Amongst the majority of Indians, the attitude to swacch (clean) must change. At present, it is a contradiction. People are very particular about personal hygiene and will bathe several times a day to emphasize it. However, there is a cavalier disregard for environmental cleanliness. Boys and men relieving themselves at any convenient street corner is a common sight even within the city. And it is not just the poor that do so; the habit is rife amongst those more privileged. Women, with nowhere to go, tend to avoid fluid intake to 'control' bodily functions, which leads to eventual health complications.

Most definitely, public toilets for men and women and garbage vats are urgently required at every street corner. But those that are there are so badly maintained, they are unhygienic, unsanitary, and the sources of disease. Government installations - offices, schools, colleges, universities, hospitals, trains, are the worst imaginable. They are improperly used as well, as if the people are still in the great outdoors! The plumbing is blocked, choking and often overflowing. Nobody seems to complain or even notice. Garbage disposal is simple too; just toss them out on to the street, as though to a kitchen garden compost heap! These habits persist even in the foreign returned, those that should know better. 

If cleanliness is next to godliness, we have fallen far indeed! We hear Modi is a man of action, and he likes getting things done. He has begun a new trend of issuing “report cards” to parliamentarians on the work they do for their constituents. He has called upon them to create model villages. So far he has sounded no-nonsense. And if India’s new Prime Minister is able to unfreeze the mindset of the country’s teeming populations, to make swacch the key to change, he will have done the world a great service.