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This article is written by one of our panelists Mr. K S Shreesha, student at National Law University, Gujarat. This is his first article on this blog.
Revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall. – Ernesto Che Guevara
Not very long back, Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off one of his most ambitious abhiyaans, the “Swach Bharat Abhiyaan”.[Read: Swachh Bharat Kosh operational guidelines | Another Corporate Social Responsibility Fund CSR] PM Modi urged the citizens to take up a non-tolerant attitude towards dirty and unhygienic streets, and urged us to come out every week and dedicate a few hours towards cleaning up our streets. It is very interesting to note that even before PM Modi asked the citizens to themselves clean up the streets, an anonymous and silent revolution in the field of public hygiene had already started in the streets of Bengaluru. It is “The Ugly Indian”.
Kaamchalu, mooh bandh
“The Ugly Indian” is an anonymous group of motivated volunteers who clean up the streets of India. Initially started in Bengaluru, the movement garnered pace and importance, and now, 42 Indian cities also have umbrella groups which work in the same manner, inspired by The Ugly Indian. The revolution started as a small spark in 2010 – motivated by a simple question – “Why do we tolerate so much filth on our streets? Would we do the same if it was our property?” Interested people of all age groups came together, and started this campaign. It has been hugely successful ever since.
The concept is simple – Ear mark a dirty spot in your locality, and enroll yourself for a ‘spotfix’. Interested people always turn up, and it happens so that most of the people who turn up do not even know each other’s names. They simply choose to be anonymous, as they don’t want the work to be attributed to specific people. That spoils the purpose. People believe in “Kaamchalu, mooh bandh” (Do your work with mouth shut).Spotfixes are always funded by the volunteers who pool in money (for paint, equipments etc) with individual contributions coming up to 200-300 rupees per spotfix.A reasonable amount for anybody who wants to see a clean India.
The work doesn’t end there – the real challenge lies in ensuring that the spot remains ‘fixed’. If the spot remains fixed for 90 days, The Ugly Indian considers that the spot is fixed. So here comes a greater responsibility – but the Ugly Indians have remained steadfast, and have worked together to ensure that maximum number of spots remain fixed. So far, the percentage of fixed spots is about 90%, quite high and promising, indeed.
A typical Indian problem is blaming the Government. But the Ugly Indian has proved that, with right support from the citizen circle, Government does indeed do good work. A lot of spotfixes have been maintained with the help of BBMP. There is a collaboration with the government, which makes this movement even more beautiful.
So, what can we do?
There is a lot that we, as citizens of this country, can do. So let us all be a part of this wonderful movement by enrolling ourselves for spotfixes. People can enroll themselves for spotfixes by mailing to theuglyindian@gmail.com. Spotfixes happen on weekends when people are free. Moreover, the contributions asked would not be more, something which we can afford. But the output is brilliant – you do not get to see that chronic garbage dump in your locality, a sight which you had to endure every day while going to your office. Moreover, it is a positive step towards a cleaner India. Let us hope that the developed India of the future will not be like the filthy India that it is now.
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References
For detailed information, please do visit these sites.
http://www.theuglyindian.com/ – The information site of “The Ugly Indian”
https://www.facebook.com/theugl.yindian?fref=ts – The facebook page of “The Ugly Indian”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tf1VA5jqmRo – YouTube link to “The Ugly Indian” talking at a TEDX event
