WORKING TOWARDS SWACCH BHARAT

It's been a week already.I got a very nice response from my near and dear ones which keeps me motivated to write more.Cleanliness is next to Godliness....means what?God is considered the superior most...the creator of everything...the basic source of energy for life.And according to this proverb cleanliness is the next best thing.

Our prime minister Mr Narendra Modi started the Swacch Bharat abhiyan.What must be the reason to make it a nation wide movement?To continue to stay in power? Maybe!!

As a community medicine resident I have been posted in an urban health centre to provide primary health care to the people in the peripheral parts of Mumbai.This particular urban health centre is in a slum converted into a building.So basically it is a vertical slum because the same people living in the slums with the same mentality stay there.This week was a very motivating week for me which prompted me to do something for the community.So when asked by the Communtiy Developmental Officer(C.D.O) to go into the community to give health talk I immediately said yes and went ahead.

In these buildings there was so much garbage lying around .The gutters were choked with plastic and the water was overflowing.Used diapers were lying around.There was dirt and grit around everywhere.It was a difficult task to gather people to give a talk so we decided to go visit each house and personally talk to the people.So we as in the C.D.O, 2 residents including me, 1 intern and 3 class 4 workers marched into the houses starting our war against the years of garbage accumulated in this community.

Since it was the start we just wanted to get an idea of the garbage disposal system and where all the garbage was created.Surprisingly or not so surprisingly the houses were spic and span from the inside.What is this mentality? I don't care about what happens outside but my house has to be clean.Some people had cluttered corners and garbage in the corridors.But noone was accepting that they had created the mess.Somebody blamed it on their neighbors and some on their children.But they are only responsible for teaching their children .....who is going to tell them that ? I remember when my nephew Abhimanyu for the first time picked up a chocolate wrapper from the floor and dutifully threw it in the dustbin, it was such a proud moment for all of us.

But why all this need to control garbage?India generates 5.6 million metric tons of plastic waste annually.Where does all of this go ?Almost all of the garbage can be recycled.There has to be some recycling machinery and proper policies for garbage disposal.But it is all getting accumulated....clogging the drains, the sewage leaking into groundwater, waste in sea harming the fauna there.Air pollution is happening due to improper burning of waste.We hear animals dying due to consumption of plastic from the overflowing garbage bins.Collection of waste water causes breeding of mosquitoes leading to various diseases like malaria, dengue in humans.How do we end this.

Sweden has achieved a recycling revolution.It has to import waste from other countries to keep their recycling units working.This is on a large scale.But we can start it in our homes.Segregate your waste.Understand the difference between wet waste, dry waste ,E-waste , disposable and non-disposable.See to it that it is taken by the garbage trucks properly.It is going to be a long battle but everybody should be ready to fight it.Re-use Recycle and compost!!!

This week made me think about the hygiene and sanitation of the people where I work....and I will take actions in correcting it.If you have any ideas or suggestions as to how I should go about it, you are welcome.Let's protect our mother earth...She needs us!!