Question

How can we contribute to clean India

Answer 1

Participating in Swacch Bharat Abhiyaan doesn't mean just to take a broom and clean some dry waste and be happy that you cleaned India. No it's not just that, there is more to it. Swacch Bharat Abhiyaan is a pledge we need to take.

There are very few simple things that we need to do to clean India as a part of this mission.

1) Don't Litter, throw waste in dustbin only.
2) Don't encourage spitting, immediately condemn people if found doing so.
3) Avoid usage of Plastic covers, plastic disposables. Carry a bag with you when you go for shopping, teach the people around you the same.
4) Teach Children about Cleanliness and Sanitation.
5) Plant trees around your house.
6) Separate Dry waste and wet waste in your house, ease the work of municipality workers.
7) If possible join any of the NGOs working in your area towards cleaning of India. If not atleast contribute to it in someway.
8) Avoid personal transport whenever possible. Encourage Car Pooling if you can't avoid. Much better you can use Public transportation.
9) Pool money along with your area mates and install large sized dustbins in the places where littering is done on the road or open place.

Well there is still more to it.

Some of you might even be wondering, how cleaning will help apart from reducing diseases.
Please read on.

The cost that India incurs on cleanliness is as much as Rs 2180 /head annually. i.e more or less Rs 2.4 trillion or $ 53.9 billion and guess what,this calculation in from 2006.
In fact the cost of poor hygiene for India would be as much as 6.4% of the GDP. This was just a study, the costs are much higher in real terms; that is if we measure the costs on a purchasing power parity (PPP) basis which takes up the annual costs of poor hygiene to the economy to $ 161 billion or $ 46 per person.
There are other costs involved because of the Infant deaths, higher mortality rates among mothers which is caused by improper sanitation, lets not get into those numbers.
So Swacch Bharat Abhiyaan makes absolute economic sense as it can add 6% to the country’s GDP if we can pull it off. But the big question is whether we can maintain the initial momentum is in a big challenge. This is because cleaning up the country would cost a lot of resources and would require the govt to be involved at all levels. While as suggested above if you all take part in it and wouldn't mind to invest some peanuts of your income we can pull it off in a grand fashion.

Thereby I take this pledge that I will remain committed towards cleanliness and devote time for this. I shall devote 100 hours per year that is two hours per week to voluntary work for cleanliness. I will neither litter nor let other litter. I will initiate the quest for cleanliness with myself, my family, my locality, my village and my work place. I believe that countries of world that appear clean are so because their citizens do not indulge in littering nor do they allow it to happen. With this firm belief, I will propagate the message of Swacch Bharat Abhiyaan. I shall also encourage 100 other persons to take this pledge which I am taking today. I will endeavor 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