Another swachhata drive: Why India will never become clean as long as it remains semi-feudal
The government of India has announced a fortnight-long Swachhata hi Seva drive all over the country from September 15 to October 2, following its mention in Prime Minister Modi's last Mann ki Baat.
High functionaries, including the President of India, Union ministers, governors of states, chief Ministers etc. are falling head over heels to extol this programme.
I am sorry to pour cold water over this elation, but I believe this announcement as well as this programme is just a stunt.
Rerun of the same gimmick
In fact, one Swachhata Abhiyan were announced in 2015, but it soon became evident that it was only a gimmick and shenanigan.
On television, one could see prominent people using brooms to sweep away garbage, which had a few moments earlier been brought and deposited there.
One lady MP (a former film actress) was seen walking with a broom on a Mathura street — the broom seeming to be taller than her, but not appearing to touch the ground.
What we must learn from the West
In my opinion, we will never have real cleanliness in public places until we create an industrial society in India, as in the Western countries.
Today we see mounds of garbage lying everywhere in Indian cities, people throwing litter everywhere without batting an eye — polluted rivers, polluted air, polluted foodstuffs.
In feudal societies, cleanliness was only to be maintained within one's house, but not outside it. There were no garbage bins outside the house, so one just chucked the garbage out of the house.
On the other hand, in Western countries like the US, there are garbage bins outside almost every house, and there are larger garbage bins for each colony.
Every child is taught by his/her parents that garbage is not to be dumped anywhere, but must be put in the garbage bin inside the house, from where one takes it usually at the end of the day to the bigger garbage can outside the house, and that is collected by the municipality regularly.
No one in the West throws litter on the road or public place, like parks etc. If one takes his dog for a walk, and the dog excretes on the road, one has to pick up the excreta (with plastic gloves, which everyone carries when taking out a dog for a walk ) and throw it in a garbage bin.
In India, on the other hand, no one would do that. If one is travelling in a car and has some litter, he just tosses it out of the car window onto the road.
In Western countries, the rivers are clean, in India they are polluted.
In Western countries, one can drink tap water as it is safe to drink. In India, almost everything is polluted, including water and air. So, one uses aquaguard or some such device to avoid falling sick.
Recently, the Supreme Court came down heavily on the Delhi authorities for the piles of garbage lying in several places in Delhi, but I doubt whether its directives will have any effect.
Much earlier, the Supreme Court had directed cleaning of the Ganga and the Jamuna rivers, but they remain as polluted as before, if not more.
Why swachhata will remain elusive
Swachhata is a feature of an industrial, not a feudal, society. India is still semi-feudal, and so Swacchata will remain an illusion until we create an industrial society.
Why is cleanliness of public places a feature of an industrial society, and not of the feudal societies?
To explain this, one must understand that in feudal societies, human groupings were small, and scattered over wide rural areas, and the main occupation of people was agriculture.
On the other hand, in industrial societies, human groupings are large, and are concentrated in cities, where most people work in factories, offices and other establishments, and are in close contact with one another.
So, in industrial societies, if a worker falls sick due to some disease, he may infect others in his factory or establishment, which might affect the function of the factory.
Also, since bacteria and viruses are not selective between employers and employees, the managers and proprietors of factories or establishments may also catch the infection.
Industrial societies are highly integrated, and there is a great deal of interaction among its members. So, if one person falls sick, he is likely to infect others with whom he interacts.
Hence, it is essential to have a high degree of hygiene and sanitation in industrial societies. Otherwise, the society may not be able to function at all.
It is not that the Western societies always had a high level of cleanliness.
In the early years of their industrialisation, there was little regard for cleanliness or hygiene, because industrialists were only interested in making money.
Hence, for a long period rivers like the Thames etc. were full of industrial filth and human excreta.
In America, though the basic industrialisation had been completed by the end of the 19th century, even till the early decades of the 20th century, there was little interest shown by the authorities and society to ensure a high level of cleanliness and food safety.
It was later that the realisation dawned among the authorities and society in general that without a high level of cleanliness and sanitation, industrial society could not function smoothly.
The publication of Upton Sinclair's famous novel The Jungle awakened the American authorities and the society to the urgent needs of imposing strict food security regulations. Also, there are now stricter rules in Western countries against air and water pollution.
In Western countries, there are laws against littering etc. But even without these laws, people would not throw litter on roads and other public places, because they have been taught since childhood by their parents that littering is something just not done.
So, it is a social, not a legal norm, which prohibits littering.
There is no such social norm in Indian society.
So, we can keep having as many Swachhata Abhiyans we may like, but these will be nothing but stunts, and Swachhata will keep eluding us until we create an industrial society. And that still seems decades away.
Also read: Why I have little faith in India's youth