Nov 24 2014 : The Times of India (Delhi)

CITY CITY BANG BANG - Swachh: The Symbolism Of Symbolism?

SANTOSH DESAI





Every day brings a new photograph, with newer and increasingly minor celebrities finding a street that has enough dirt that can be picked up on a camera, and swishing away at it with a broom. The act of affirming one’s belief in the PM’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan now comes with a prescribed protocol, which is why the alleged cleaning takes place in exactly one way. The same kind of broom coming in fleeting contact with the same kind of dirt, with one main protagonist accompanied by the same kind of hangers-on.It is tempting to conclude that the entire programme is a giant PR exercise awash in empty symbolism but that might not be warranted. The seriousness of the programme has little to do with celebrities using it as a photo-op, and it would be unfair to connect the two directly. But it raises some interesting questions about the uses of symbolism in today’s times. Given that the Modi government has a sophisticated understanding of symbolism and an ability to use it powerfully, the launch of an ambitious programme like Swachh Bharat Abhiyan becomes an interesting site to examine the uses and limitations of the symbolic.
When Narendra Modi wielded a broom and signalled the launch of the movement, it was without question, an act of symbolism. To ask if he was in fact cleaning ‘real’ dirt is meaningless, for his role was to send a message, something that his actions communicated quite effectively. But the purpose of symbolism cannot be to breed more symbolism but for it to lead to action. Symbols become powerful only when they point to something outside of themselves that is real, and not towards more symbols.
When celebrities across the country start replicating the symbolic rather than act upon it, there is a danger of the entire effort becoming farcical. In a world where representation is increasingly becoming a substitute of reality, where tweeting an opinion gets mistaken for actually doing something in the real world, the danger of noble intentions becoming confused with effective action is a real one. Symbols literally read and dutifully replicated multiply emptiness, rather than deliver change.
Some would argue that the very idea of locating the movement of this kind in the discretionary actions of individuals is by itself nothing but tokenism. A problem like cleanliness is not about individual intent but systemic overhaul. For this effort to work, a massive task of building infrastructure across a wide number of sectors, creating enabling administrative mechanisms and creating demand for public sanitation are some of the many complex problems that will need to be solved. The anecdotal efforts of a few individuals making occasional efforts might appear noble, but it does nothing for a problem as fundamental as this one.
These arguments carry weight but might be a trifle premature for it is early days yet. Given that the government has set 2019 as its deadline, it should be easy to evaluate whether or not any real change was brought about. Simply because some of the symbolism around the programme seems to be a form of tokenism does not mean that the programme itself is only symbolic.Besides, even the kind of symbolism that we have seen might have more value than is immediately apparent.
For one, it creates an expectation of collaboration between the state and its citizens by connecting a government programme with individual action. Even if the sporadic attempts made by citizens yield little by way of solving the problem, it marks a shift in the relationship between the state and the citizen, even if of a modest kind. There is another way in which a programme like this changes things at a fundamental level.
The act of self-conscious cleanliness is rooted in becoming aware of the self and its interaction with the environment. The transition to an identity rooted in the civic rather than the social, needs individuals to become more aware of their own actions and the footprint that they leave behind. The dominant reality in India is one where individuals live in a state of dream--like naturalness, marked by an inability to see themselves and their actions from any other lens except their own.Littering or urinating in public, for that matter, is really about spreading oneself generously over one's environment without thinking of the consequences of these actions. The outer world is seen as being somebody else's responsibility, and we plough on through our lives discharging our refuse around us, blissfully indifferent to the effect it has on the outside world. The deep immersion in one's own self can be seen most graphically in the way we drive and behave on the road--every minor gap on the road must be conquered, anyone who gets in our way must be honked out of existence, every level crossing means that we jam up the wrong side of the road so that we get out first, no matter how long it takes or badly it messes up traffic--what matters is our personal convenience, nothing else.
The idea of civic responsibility is founded on an acknowledgement of the reciprocity involved in the act of being citizens. Urban spaces, in particular, create unlikely neighbours who have to use the same resources. Without consciousness about the effect that individual actions have on public order, no civic responsibility of any kind can get undertaken. Successful governance needs enabled citizens who not only consume the services offered by the state but contribute actively to these. By placing cleanliness at the top of the national agenda, whether consciously or otherwise, the government is helping build the idea of a more selfaware citizenry. The attempt, beyond the immediate aims of the programme, is to give birth to the idea of the civic, and at this symbolic level, the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan might be a small but extremely significant step.
santosh365@gmail.com
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Nov 15 2014 : The Times of India (Delhi) How Swachh Bharat Can Succeed Arvind Panagariya   It must pass through the thickets of reform and attention to public health Of the numerous initiatives that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan, which would give Mahatma Gandhi the gift of a clean India on his 150th birth anniversary on October 2, 2019, has the greatest potential to transform the lives of all Indians ­ rich and poor. Sanitation has been the theme of virtually every government in recent times. Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had launched the Central Rural Sanitation Programme in 1986 and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee the Complete Sanitation Campaign in 1999. But no previous government has shown the resolve and commitment exhibited by Modi. This time it feels real.Till date, sweeping streets and ending open defecation have occupied media centre stage. But equally critical to Swachh Bharat are access to piped water; well-functioning drainage, sewage and solid waste management in all cities and villages; elimination of ponds in which stagnant water collects and serves as host to bacteria and mosquitoes; instilling greater appreciation of cleanliness in all its aspects among the masses. Indeed, taking the campaign to its logical conclusion would require replacing slums with more spacious housing having piped water delivery and modern sewage facilities. The campaign faces formidable financial and implementation challenges.Financially , the government will easily need 2-3% of GDP annually till the target date. There are only four avenues to mobilising such vast resources: increases in revenues made possible by accelerated growth; cuts in middle-class subsidies such as for cooking gas; elimination of enormous leakages in the myriad social schemes by replacing them with cash transfers; and accelerated disinvestment including outright privatisation.All roads to Swachh Bharat pass through the thicket of reforms. Ending open defecation requires multiplication of toilets at mega speed while also persuading households to actually use them. The latter has proved a challenge not just because old habits die hard but also because often the toilets we provide are not nice places to visit. Mahatma Gandhi got it precisely right when he wrote in 1925, “I learnt 35 years ago that a lavatory must be as clean as a drawing room. I learnt this in the West. I believe that many rules about cleanliness in lavatories are observed more scrupulously in the West than in the East.“ Having experienced not-so-swachh toilets as well as open defecation during childhood visits to my ancestral village and the town next door, i fully appreciate why many prefer to go for open despite access to a toilet. Educating citizens on the hazards of open defecation is not enough; we must also build toilets that do not repel. Unfortunately that would require larger expenditure per toilet and reliable supply of water in homes. Pursuit of Swachh Bharat also requires strengthening public health services. Services such as good drainage systems, absence of swamps and ponds that are home to stagnant water, and the supply of safe drinking water ­ all of which reduce exposure to and spread of diseases ­ are classic examples of public goods and require effective government intervention. Yet, as even a casual visit to any city or village makes obvious, drainage systems and general standards of hygiene in India remain poor. A bout of mon soon rains is often enough to clog the drains and create swampy conditions conducive to quick spread of communicable diseases. As sociologist Monica Das Gupta and co-authors point out, this situation is to be substantially attributed to the merger of medical and public health departments in all states except Tamil Nadu in the immediate post-Independence era. These authors note that the merger “opened the way for the public health services to be gradually eclipsed by the medical services, which attract far more political and public attention“. Only Tamil Nadu kept an independent public health department, which has allowed it to supply generally superior public health services. Swachh Bharat would do well to encourage each state to restart a separate public health department, accountable for the delivery of public health services.The department should have an independent budget and the charge of public health engineering services that are critical to managing subsoil water drainage to control vector breeding, safe disposal of solid waste, water supply and sewage. As a final thought, let me state that it is of utmost importance that Modi sustains the public awareness campaign at the high level he has begun until the objective is achieved. Through speeches and commercials on television and radio, he must continually exhort citizens to change their habits. He must also cajole state chief ministers, prominent politicians from all parties and film and sports stars to do the same. All TV channels must be encouraged to broadcast programmes featuring experts from medical and related fields who can credibly explain the damage that poor personal hygiene, littering and open defecation do to the health of all citizens.Rural folk must also be made aware of the health hazard posed by cohabitation with livestock, which naturally defecates in the open. If we wage this campaign on a war footing as we once did to eradicate polio, we can surely make the 150th birthday of the Mahatma a memorable day for every citizen of India. The writer is professor of Indian political economy at Columbia University.

MHRD asks schools to ensure implementation of ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ 

The Human Resource Development ministry has asked all colleges and educational institutions to ensure implementation of the ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’. In a ministry communiqué sent on Wednesday ahead of the launch, institutes have been asked to make sure that the programme is sustained in a “befitting” manner and the campuses are kept clean.

Laying emphasis on the sustenance of the programme, the communication said, “All concerned may be requested to keep the academic, administrative and residential area in a neat condition.”

The ministry has also asked the University Grants Commission (UGC) to roll out schemes on national initiatives for fostering social responsibility in higher education and set guidelines for the establishment of a centre for fostering social responsibility and community engagement in universities during the 12th Plan period.

The centre would help to leverage on the mobilisation and interest that will be generated in the higher educational institutions during the launch of the ‘Swachh Bharat’ mission, the communiqué added. Teaching spaces should have a positive ambience for students and playgrounds and open spaces should be kept in neat and clean conditions. Besides, drinking water supplies and storage facilities in both academic and residential blocks should be kept clean and inspected on regular basis, the communication said.

HRD Minister Smriti Irani is set to launch specific cleanliness campaign from a school in New Delhi today. All officials up to the rank of Deputy Secretary will take part in cleaning activities in Kendriya and Navodaya Vidyalayas across the national capital as part of the ‘Swachch Bharat’ campaign. Officials in the higher education division will be at the universities as part of the clean-up drive.

The cleanliness drive culminates on October 31, birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. To ensure the exercise is not confined to one day, the HRD ministry will ask educational institutions to include stories of cleanliness in their curriculum. They will also be asked to ensure that at least few questions in examinations are about hygiene and cleanliness.

- See more at: http://digitallearning.eletsonline.com/2014/09/mhrd-asks-schools-to-ensure-implementation-of-swachh-bharat-abhiyan/#sthash.0rzVSJC9.dpuf

What Will it Take to Clean Up the Ganga?





Rs 20,000 crore later, India's holiest river remains one of its dirtiest. Cleaning the Ganga--a promise made by Narendra Modi to the people of Varanasi--needs great political will and decisive action, reports M Rajshekhar

When he gives his report card to the people of India, as he promised in Parliament earlier this week, one of the metrics on which Narendra Modi will be judged is whether he reduced the numbers that scream environmental squalor in the graphic here.The graphic shows India’s holiest river, the Ganga, and its 2,525 km descent from the mountains to the sea, passing through towns and cities in four states.
The numbers show how the Ganga fares on a common metric used to measure the health of rivers: the density of coliform bacteria. Ideally, this should be below 5,000 per 100 ml. But, as the graphic shows, this is alarmingly higher at most places.
In Varanasi, where Modi made a pitch that moulded electoral strategy and religious symbolism, the figure is 58,000 per 100 ml—11.6 times over the acceptable limit, as per 2011 data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). The member of Parliament from Varanasi and PM-designate has promised to reduce this, not just in the sacred town of Vanarasi, but across the length of the river.
So far, Rs 20,000 crore has gone into the cleaning of the Ganga—most of it down the drain. From household waste to construction debris, from used irrigation water containing fertiliser and pesticides to industrial waste, from people bathing in the river to ashes immersed in it, the Ganga is abused.
“Not even a drop of sewage should reach Gangaji,“ says Vishwambhar Nath Mishra, chairperson, Sankat Mochan Foundation, which has championed several clean-up initiatives in Varanasi. However, even local projects are stuck for want of administrative and political support. The people of Varanasi are eagerly waiting for Modi to make good on his promise.
The question is: how?
Waste In Water Till now, India has followed a relatively simple approach to clean up the Ganga--or, for that matter, any of its rivers. It has acted on the assumption that preventing pollution is sufficient to restore the river.
Accordingly, India has been setting up effluent and sewage treatment plants, which clean up waste water before releasing it, along rivers like the Ganga.
The outcomes of the Rs 20,000 crore spent shows this approach has not worked.The drive to eradicate pollution has not equalled the scale of the problem. This was acknowledged in February in the Rajya Sabha by outgoing environment minister Veerappa Moily while replying to a question from BJP MP Smriti Irani on the amount of sewage generated (and treated) by towns along the Ganga. Citing CPCB numbers, Moily said 2.7 billion litres of sewage was generated every day by class 1 and class 2 cities along the river, but only 1.2 billion litres of treatment capacity existed. In other words, 55% of the sewage generated was dumped-untreated --into the Ganga.
There are also inequalities at work. Class 1 cities (like Kanpur and Patna) in the states the Ganga flows through have installed capacity to process 41-52% of their waste. However, in smaller towns, this dips to anything from zero to 30%.
In 2009, figuring the old model is not working, the ministry of environment created a new body--the National Ganga River Basin Authority. However, it proposed to add additional sewage treatment capacity of 566 million litres per day--half the shortfall that existed in 2012. “The absence of political will has ensured that the cleaning up work yields no results,“ says BD Tripathi, member, National Ganga River Basin Authority.
None of this is unique to the Ganga. It is estimated that India's cities and towns generate 38.2 billion litres of sewage every day. And the country has the installed capacity to treat just 11.8 billion litres--31% of what it needs.
The amount of waste actually treated would be lower, as plants usually run below installed capacity. A CPCB study last August to measure capacity utilisation of sewage treatment plants in 15 states found they averaged 66% usage. Environment is not a priority for governments. “When the Ganga and Yamuna Action Plans were created, the initial funds to set up treatment plants came from the Centre,“ says Manoj Mishra, convenor of Delhi's Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan. “But thereafter, the maintenance had to be done by state governments.“
Restoring Nature Other than capacity figures, data is scarce. In 201112, the Comptroller & Auditor General, the national auditor, surveyed water pollution in India. It found the Central ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) and a number of states “did not carry out identification of existing pollution levels in rivers and lakes in terms of biological indicators (like coliform)“. Also missing were studies on how rivers, major aquatic species, birds, plants and animals are affected by pollution. “As such, MoEF/CPCB was unaware of the risks being faced by the environment as a result of pollution of rivers and lakes,“ concluded CAG.
Here, even state governments are to blame. The CAG report says that no state has identified species at risk due to river pollution. And only seven have studied the risks to human health arising from river pollution. This absence of data, says CAG, “would have repercussions on implementation of programmes for control of pollution.“
According to Mishra of Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan, even if anti-pollution facilities come up in the numbers needed, they cannot revive the river on their own. “Pollution abatement is not the same as river restoration,“ he says. “A river has an ecosystem. It is not a canal. Unless you restore all its components, what you will have is a canal.“
India's rivers are seeing three forms of pollution: organic pollution like sewage; industrial effluents with chemicals; and fertiliser/pesticidetainted irrigation waters from farmlands. Mishra says a free-flowing river on its own can handle the first but not the other two. “A river can take care of the organic pollution if it has enough water,” he says. “But the other two—heavy metals and inorganic chemicals—the river doesn’t know what to do with them.” The minimum amount of water a river needs to perform its basic functions is referred to as its ecological flow. Tripathi says the real issue is increasing the river flow and ensuring the “selfpurifying” capacity of a river is allowed to work.
But that is not happening. “Look at the Ganga,” says Manoj Mishra. “There are three large barrages on the river— at Haridwar, Bijnor and Narora—which divert 100% of the river’s water. By Kanpur, the only water in the river is sewage. In Allahabad, the Yamuna meets the Ganga and revives it to some extent.” Ideally, he says: “No polluted water should return to the river. It should be recycled.
If Singapore can do this, why cannot we? At the most, only polluted organic should be allowed to return to the river.” That’s what Modi, member of Parliament from Varanasi and PM designate, will have to do.
With inputs from Akshay Deshmane

Source:http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/index.aspx?eid=31816&dt=20140522