Swachh Bharat And Enabled Bharat

Mahesh Vijapurkar

Two significant campaigns are on, both with laudable objectives. One is the Swachh Bharat Mission and the other is Sugamya Bharat. The latter is aimed at enabling easier access for the disabled to places like trains, stations, buses, buildings, etc. Massive advertising campaigning is on to drive them further.

The clean-up plan has a deadline of 2019 to get India clean of the filth seen everywhere, and everyone, citizens and authorities, have to act and thereby harvest benefits like personal and public health. The disabled have only to use the facilities if provided. But no deadline has been set. It would have been nice had it been.

Both are hard to realize because the people, despite the campaign, have not yet realized that cleanliness cannot be enforced but has to be cultivated. Incentives can help build toilets as long as corruption in distributing subsidy does not emerge as a cancer. It is a fond hope for the system in India works only on grease money.

An aspect of the Sugamya Bharat is the advertising of the idea instead of building disabled-friendly facilities by those who should, especially in the public sector, are reluctant. Recently The Bombay High Court threatened the Railways with a contempt notice if outside auditors were not allowed to assess the extent of how disabled-friendly the stations were.

How a disabled suffers would not be known unless a normal person suddenly gets disabled. Here is an example: Jayant Patil, a finance minister in Maharashtra, suffered fractures on both legs in an accident during a pilgrimage to Puttaparti. Soon on his return, ramp was laid to enter the legislature, another inside to enable him to reach the treasury benches.

Similarly, a ramp emerged in double quick time in the secretariat in Mumbai so he had unhindered access to his workplace. I recall persuading him to provide at least a token sum in the state budget to push towards making public buildings owned or used by the state government disabled-friendly. Yet one does not see ramps anywhere. The disabled continue to suffer.

Even Swachh Bharat is not going to meet with any success as Narendra Modi hopes. Though the local self-governments, villages to cities, have to also help by making sure their conservancy work is optimal and also educate the citizens. But in each place, save rare exceptions, even this effort is sorely lacking, as if it is more the rule. There is a disregard for the very idea of cleanliness by man and institution.

Subsidies may have led to building toilets but their use may be sub-optimal for two reasons: one habits that die hard, and for want of water to keep them clean. Statistically they may look impressive but when it comes to total compliance in patent benefits ahead, there is a serious problem. It is a question of toilet training the country, not merely providing toilets. But lack of toilets has led to problems – girls dropping out of school and women in cities demanding the ‘right to pee’.

It has not yet registered on the population that they can merrily litter streets, spit, and lean against the wall to empty their bladders, and the initiator of the Swachh Bharat Mission, the prime minister, would come after they are done and clean up. It is as if it is not their problem but a government activity that does not touch them like most don’t. That scepticism is an underlying factor.

My hackles are up if anyone spits, for instances, on a street. Or drops a used and empty gutka– yes, despite its proscription in some states, they are openly sold – pouches or cigarette packets. On occasions I have gotten violent, not merely in words, and tried to explain. It has helped because of the shamefacedness of the person who is the violator of public standards on hygiene.

The simple action is to walk up and ask the person to please unshod himself and put his toe, not his feet, on the spittle which is often has a whole lot of phlegm. ‘’Please just feel how it is when you touch your own spittle”, and say, “imagine how it would be for another to touch it”. A sense of disgust at the very idea flashes on the face and any argument like, ‘’kya, rastaterebaap ka haikya?’’ does not leave the lips of the person.

But this is a long journey which we all need to take in our own self-interest seen in good public health that can ensue. On access to disabled, everyone owes it to the disabled.