Monday 15 June 2015

Has Swatch Bharath Turned into Simple Public Relation Exercise?

Introduction

Almost a year back, the incumbent Indian Prime Minister launched the cleanliness drive to make the country clean. It was done with a lot of fanfare with many celebrities joining the noble cause. Looking at the frenzy, many believed that it clicked in the minds of the general public and there would be some positive change towards cleanliness. The government has spent a lot of money on marketing this scheme so that it could reach the ground. Despite all these efforts, have we been able to see the change that we tried hard to see in our lifetime? It is a hundred dollar question. If we are able to find answers to this question, we have won half of the war against the accumulation of filth that we see in all cities across the country.

swatch bharath

Movement Becomes Public Relation Exercise

In our country, people do everything to gain publicity. This is mainly due to the extensive coverage of various events by the media. In order to get cheap publicity, our political leaders indulge in noise making.  The moment the media’s eyes blink the headcount at the event venue drops drastically. This is the crowd mentality. That is the reason why our leaders have also become like that. The same has happened with the Swatch Bharath movement as well. After the initial euphoria, the movement lost steam and started its slow and inevitable death. When again the issue got raked up by the media due to the adverse comment by the honourable high court, again so called patrons of people appeared in the scene and made appear that they are doing something before the general public.

media publicity

Change in Mindset Required

Despite the much media glare, the movement lost steam as people become less sensitive towards the environment hazards this filth accumulation brings. People wanted others to do for them. The fact of the matter is that the cleanliness should begin at home. We should be able to keep clean our house premises and our surroundings. Houses make villages and many villages make town, city, society and the country. If the cleaning habit is reared at home, it would take us a long way ahead in the direction of clean environment. The fact of the matter is that we clean our house at the cost of our surroundings. The garbage picked up after cleaning is dumped in the surrounding where others also throw. The civic authorities should make sure that the accumulated wastes are removed in time. If this waste movement is lost, the days are not far off when the filth in our neighbourhood starts stinking, leading to the onset of various contagious diseases.


individual efforts