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#Mere10Guz: #Mere10Guz Banega Swachh India Cleanathon
NDTV-Dettol Banega Swachh India is a five-year 360-degree campaign aimed at spreading awareness about sanitation, empowering citizens with better hygiene and sanitation facilities across the country.
The 12-hour long NDTV-Dettol Banega Swachh India cleanathon ended with the national anthem being performed by a group of differently abled kids, as brand ambassador Amitabh Bachchan took centre stage to end the event with a salute.
Wrapping up the 12-hour Banega Swachh India cleanathon, brand ambassador Amitabh Bachchan says that despite differences, there was unity in what people said about cleanliness. We must introspect why the voices are not reaching the millions of people out there. We should work every day towards cleanliness and how much of the efforts are getting implemented, should also be looked into. We need millions of people who should think together. We must get together and think alike and inevitably become a better and cleaner nation. Mr Bachchan also thanked the volunteers participating in the cleanliness activities across the country during the cleanathon.
Manual scavenging should be made the number one focus for the next one year, says Nitish Kapoor of RB, in the final few minutes of the cleanathon. Alia Bhatt says that we should create more awareness and adopt #Mere10Guz with further seriousness. Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra says that we must be responsible for ourselves and pay our debt to the society.
Alia Bhatt says that awareness is the only to realise that something more needs to be done for change to take place. There are innumerable reasons why there is need to contribute to the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. Even taking on an area on a monthly or quarterly basis can make a difference. Amitabh Bachchan says that youngsters who look up to people like Alia Bhatt can do a lot to ensure that change in cleanliness scenarios actually take place.
Jaggi Vasudev: All the policies concerning our rivers was about how to share the waters. Now we are talking about how to revitalise our rivers. Ganga accounts for 33% of India's agriculture but in the last few years 94% of forest cover near the Ganga basin has been removed. Forest based agriculture more viable option for farmers residing near the Ganga basin and they need not give up their land. It is an economic module with an ecological impact.
Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev of Isha Foundation joins the Banega Swachh India cleanathon panel. Sadhguru Vasudev says that India's rivers are forest fed as substantial vegetation and bio-activity a must. Unless there are forests, redeeming India's rivers are not possible and the cycle of drought are caused due to lack of vegetation in river banks. The Rally for Rivers Campaign aims to improve the status of rivers and thereby improve the income of farmers by six to eight times within six to seven years.
Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra says that when he visited Sabarmati, he thought of Gandhi and how Gandhi was the architect of freedom in India. But apart from that, Gandhi was also highly interested in sanitation and the work he did on toilets was incredible. Along with the NGO Yuva, which has 1,50,000 volunteers, Mr Mehra has adopted 601 schools and slums with nearly 10,000 toilets built in total and maintenance infrastructure for two years. In the sites Mr Mehra's NGO has worked, there has been an 86 per cent rise in girls coming back to schools where toilets have been installed.
Also Read: Rang De Basanti Director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra Builds 800 Toilets Across India
Filmmaker Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and Afroz Shah, the architect behind the Versova beach cleanup join the Banega Swachh India cleanathon panel. Mr Mehra says that he has already built 601 toilets. Afroz Shah says that criticisms should be directed at self. Amitabh Bachchan, says how Afroz Shah requested for an excavator from him and was presented with an excavatator, a tractor and a trailor to aid him in his garbage collection process.
Also Read: 100 Weeks Of Versova Beach Cleanup, Afroz Shah And Team Gear Up To Mark The Landmark Of World's Biggest And Longest Beach Cleanup
Mr Wilson says that modernisation of sewage system a must to eradicate manual scavenging. The 2013 Act on Manual Scavenging clearly states that anyone employing manual scavengers should be imprisoned for a year. Construction of toilets not enough as dry toilets still exist. Sewage treatment plants are a must to treat sewage via mechanisation and so that manual scavengers are not employed. 1.6 lakh women still clean human excreta and 117 people have already died in 2017 and unless these problems are solved, there is no point in celebrating the success of Swachh Bharat.
Magsaysay Award winner and founder of Safai Karmachari Andolan Bezwada Wilson, says that the government policy is the reason behind the deaths of manual scavengers. 1,470 deaths happened in India since the Supreme Court judgment on manual scavenging. He says that police stations, court and political will have repeatedly not shown any interest in eradicating manual scavenging.
Naresh and Rakesh, manual scavengers talk about the discrimination and pressure they face due to their profession. Rakesh says that on August 6, three of his relatives went into sewers filled toxic gas and died. He talks about the harassment he faced after the incident and because of speaking up, has not been given work for the past two months.
Also Read: Delhi Records 7 Deaths In Past One Month Due To Sewer Cleaning Activity, Is Manual Scavenging Privately Thriving In India?
Jaya Bachchan talks about the issue of manual scavenging and says that despite raising the question on manual scavenging on several high platforms, no significant progress could be achieved. Sensitive and conscious people have raised the question on manual scavenging. Talking about contractors who employ manual scavengers, Mrs Bachchan says that justice must be swift and fast in courts.
Raveena Tandon says that somewhere we have to make people realise that there are alternatives available which should be used. She also urged people to opt for eco-friendly festivals to make festivals more enjoyable without harming the environment. Awareness among people of utmost importance as only that can translate to action, says the actress.
Actress Dia Mirza talks about her initiative to make Linking Road plastic free. Along with several volunteers, the actress has been instrumental in collecting plastic garbage. She also said that to achieve the idea of Swachh Bharat, a comprehensive waste management model is needed where usage of plastic is discouraged, or can be used for initiatives like building roads.
Also Read: Dia Mirza Sets An Example As A Swachh Ambassador, Makes Her Society Zero Waste
India's plastic man Professor Rajagopalan Vasudevan joins the cleanathon. Prof. Vasudevan firmly believes that one person's waste is another person's treasure. The Madurai resident has built roads using plastics instead of dumping them into garbage. His technology has been used across 15 districts all over India.
Also Read: 'One Man's Trash Is Another Man's Treasure': Meet India's 'Plastic Man'
Tony Ribbink, CEO and Founding Trustee of Sustainable Seas Trust joins the cleanathon to talk about pollution in the oceans. 3 tonnes of fish are caught in the sea every day and continuing plastic pollution could result in more plastic in oceans than fish by 2050. Mr Ribbink says that the most obvious solution is to stop the plastic from entering the sea. Governments, municipalities and schools have a huge role to play to ensure that plastic does not go into the river. Plastics from ships must also be stopped from entering the oceans.
Also Read: A Reminder That Oceans Need Our Attention
Over 20,000 crores has been spent on cleaning several of India's rivers but to no avail. 7,000 million litres of untreated sewage every day is disposed in the Ganga. The pathetic state of all of India's rivers is a cause of concern as almost all of India's major rivers. The Ganga and Yamuna remain two of the world's dirtiest rivers and despite several conservation efforts, the status of these two rivers has kept deteriorating.
18-year-old Bilal Ahmad Dar, the brand ambassador for the Srinagar Municipal Corporation, says that the Wular lake, which he has been cleaning since 2007 is highly polluted. Bilal says that encouragement from Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, as well as Prime Minister Narendra Modi has further encouraged him to continue with his Swachhta initiative.
Srishti Bakshi, Founder, CrossBow says that she has covered a distance of more than 3,000 kilometres to empower women in each and every household and ultimately eradicate open defecation in India. She has collected 66 lakh steps and aims to collect a billion steps and conducts workshops which give out the messages of health and sanitation through digital and financial literacy.
The Juhu Walkers Group says that the Juhu beach in Mumbai is 80 per cent clean. The group has created a WhatsApp group where the local MLA and corporator have also been added and regular monitoring ensures that the beach remains clean. The group has also been instrumental in saving marine life and often returns marine fauna back to the sea. 6 lakh idols for Ganesh Chaturthi were made this year in Pune of which 5 lakh made of plaster of Paris, which does not dilute and is a potential pollutant. The group requested brand ambassador Amitabh Bachchan to request people to adopt eco-friendly idols in larger numbers from next year onwards.
