In Thailand, just like in India, many cars have a little statuette of a god on the dashboard for good luck. But unlike in India, the idols in Thai cars mostly face not those inside the car, but outwards at the road. Our attitude is – “make sure I am safe." The Thai attitude is – “watch over the road, so that nobody gets hurt."
The Thais are a clean people. Even when their nation was relatively poor, in fact as poor as India, their public spaces were clean. Their public toilets today are almost inevitably spotless – as good as, often better than, those in European nations. Between Bangkok’s streets and the roads of Mumbai and Delhi, as also Dhaka, Lahore and Karachi, there is no contest.
We are a developing nation (where what is being developed is not just the economy but also civilisation and culture, which is still primitive). Thailand is developed, and one thing I attribute this to is the Hinayana school, also called Theravada, of Buddhism that they follow. There is a certain sameness to those nations – Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Burma and so on – that follow Theravada. However, that is going off on a different track.
Gandhian initiative
The point I was leading up to is that one of the best initiatives of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Mission).
Last week there was a controversy over a statement made by one of the daughters-in-law of Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh. She compared Modi’s attitude to cleaning up India to that of Gandhi’s. I agree with her and think that the prime minister is doing a Gandhian thing. In fact, Gandhi would have approved of Modi’s initiative.
Golwalkar's lesson
It is true that this idea is not new in Modi’s mind. When he wrote a biography of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s most influential leader, MS Golwalkar, Modi added this anecdote:
“Once Guruji [Golwalkar] was on a tour to Andhra Pradesh. His train was to arrive at about 4.30 AM. There was a halt there of about 45 minutes and swayamsevaks planned for Guruji to use the train latrine in that period. They would carry some tea in a thermos to prepare him for the 100 mile trip onward, and thus reach the scheduled meeting on time.
“At night, Guruji asked for the following day’s programme from a senior swayamsevak, Bapurao Moghe. He noticed the arrangements and said: ‘In train toilets have you ever seen a small notice?’ Bapurao said he had. Guruji said: ‘It reads “Don’t use the latrine when the train has halted at a station”. I always follow this rule.’”
Modi added: “Just imagine how many millions travel and read this notice. How many actually follow it?”
Keeping promises
Launching the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Modi made a pledge which he encouraged others to take:
“I take this pledge that I will remain committed towards cleanliness and devote time for this. I will devote 100 hours per year that is two hours per week to voluntary work for cleanliness. I will neither litter nor let others litter. I will initiate the quest for cleanliness with myself, my family, my locality, my village and my workplace.
I believe that the countries of the world that appear clean are so because their citizens don’t indulge in littering nor do they allow it to happen.
With this firm belief, I will propagate the message of Swachh Bharat Mission in villages and towns.
I will encourage 100 other persons to take this pledge which I am taking today.
I will endeavour to make them devote their 100 hours for cleanliness.
I am confident that every step I take towards cleanliness will help in making my country clean.”
The main activity here is to recruit other people to take the pledge (Modi has nominated several celebrities, including actors and industrialists) and then spend time cleaning a public space.
Stopping litterbugs
I have a small issue with Modi’s approach. He is right to get people to accept their culpability, but wrong to then focus on cleaning up the public space. The thrust should be on individual littering and making sure this does not happen, which is a cultural aspect.
The government has a long list of things that can be done to make India cleaner and the details are on the website of the Ministry of Urban Development. Most of these are aimed at other people. They include:
“Organising prabhat pheries in various societies/mohallas to create awareness”; “cleaning of bus stands/roads/streets/parks/markets/public places/pavements/backyards/front yards/areas surrounding railway stations”; and “organising a mohalla sabha where an address in this respect may be delivered by a well-known person”.
Cultural focus
This focus on what other people have done to pollute India is in my opinion a mistake. The message of those celebrities photographed with brooms in a public space is – “It is other people who dirty India” and, following from this belief, “I must therefore help clean up the public space”.
We must reverse this. The unrelenting focus of the campaign should be on the individual and the culture.
This time, the statue must rightly face us and not the road. We should make sure we do not litter, whatever else the others do. If that happens, Modi’s fine initiative will succeed better.
The Thais are a clean people. Even when their nation was relatively poor, in fact as poor as India, their public spaces were clean. Their public toilets today are almost inevitably spotless – as good as, often better than, those in European nations. Between Bangkok’s streets and the roads of Mumbai and Delhi, as also Dhaka, Lahore and Karachi, there is no contest.
We are a developing nation (where what is being developed is not just the economy but also civilisation and culture, which is still primitive). Thailand is developed, and one thing I attribute this to is the Hinayana school, also called Theravada, of Buddhism that they follow. There is a certain sameness to those nations – Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Burma and so on – that follow Theravada. However, that is going off on a different track.
Gandhian initiative
The point I was leading up to is that one of the best initiatives of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Mission).
Last week there was a controversy over a statement made by one of the daughters-in-law of Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh. She compared Modi’s attitude to cleaning up India to that of Gandhi’s. I agree with her and think that the prime minister is doing a Gandhian thing. In fact, Gandhi would have approved of Modi’s initiative.
Golwalkar's lesson
It is true that this idea is not new in Modi’s mind. When he wrote a biography of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s most influential leader, MS Golwalkar, Modi added this anecdote:
“Once Guruji [Golwalkar] was on a tour to Andhra Pradesh. His train was to arrive at about 4.30 AM. There was a halt there of about 45 minutes and swayamsevaks planned for Guruji to use the train latrine in that period. They would carry some tea in a thermos to prepare him for the 100 mile trip onward, and thus reach the scheduled meeting on time.
“At night, Guruji asked for the following day’s programme from a senior swayamsevak, Bapurao Moghe. He noticed the arrangements and said: ‘In train toilets have you ever seen a small notice?’ Bapurao said he had. Guruji said: ‘It reads “Don’t use the latrine when the train has halted at a station”. I always follow this rule.’”
Modi added: “Just imagine how many millions travel and read this notice. How many actually follow it?”
Keeping promises
Launching the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Modi made a pledge which he encouraged others to take:
“I take this pledge that I will remain committed towards cleanliness and devote time for this. I will devote 100 hours per year that is two hours per week to voluntary work for cleanliness. I will neither litter nor let others litter. I will initiate the quest for cleanliness with myself, my family, my locality, my village and my workplace.
I believe that the countries of the world that appear clean are so because their citizens don’t indulge in littering nor do they allow it to happen.
With this firm belief, I will propagate the message of Swachh Bharat Mission in villages and towns.
I will encourage 100 other persons to take this pledge which I am taking today.
I will endeavour to make them devote their 100 hours for cleanliness.
I am confident that every step I take towards cleanliness will help in making my country clean.”
The main activity here is to recruit other people to take the pledge (Modi has nominated several celebrities, including actors and industrialists) and then spend time cleaning a public space.
Stopping litterbugs
I have a small issue with Modi’s approach. He is right to get people to accept their culpability, but wrong to then focus on cleaning up the public space. The thrust should be on individual littering and making sure this does not happen, which is a cultural aspect.
The government has a long list of things that can be done to make India cleaner and the details are on the website of the Ministry of Urban Development. Most of these are aimed at other people. They include:
“Organising prabhat pheries in various societies/mohallas to create awareness”; “cleaning of bus stands/roads/streets/parks/markets/public places/pavements/backyards/front yards/areas surrounding railway stations”; and “organising a mohalla sabha where an address in this respect may be delivered by a well-known person”.
Cultural focus
This focus on what other people have done to pollute India is in my opinion a mistake. The message of those celebrities photographed with brooms in a public space is – “It is other people who dirty India” and, following from this belief, “I must therefore help clean up the public space”.
We must reverse this. The unrelenting focus of the campaign should be on the individual and the culture.
This time, the statue must rightly face us and not the road. We should make sure we do not litter, whatever else the others do. If that happens, Modi’s fine initiative will succeed better.
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