NDIA
Modi, sweeper for a day for Gandhi and the "Clean India" campaign
Nirmala Carvalho
The
aim is to improve the sanitary conditions of the Indian people,
providing toilets and services to schools and homes. For pro-Dalit
activist Raghuvanshi, the campaign is a boost to the fight against the
caste system. However, he opposes plans to turn the Ganges River into a
fluvial highway for goods.
Mumbai (AsiaNews) - This morning in New Delhi cleaners from Valmiki Basti Colony found themselves with an exceptional co-worker,
Narendra Modi, the
Prime Minister of India.
Wielding
a
broom, the prime minister cleaned
one side of the road, inaugurating
his much-heralded Clean India campaign (Swachh Bharat Abhiyan).
In a
symbolic move, Modi chose the birthday of
the Mahatma Gandhi - India's independence leader
- to present an
ambitious project whose goal is
to improve the sanitary conditions of the Indian people.
Modi's
action might seem just a big publicity stunt.
However, speaking to AsiaNews,
Lenin Raghuvanshi, director of
the People's Vigilance Committee for Human Rights (PVCHR), an organisation
committed to the defence and promotion of Dalit right, calls today's demonstration a positive
step.
"The Clean India campaign," he explains, "is a step
towards reconciliation with Gandhi
and against the mind-set
that still keeps the caste system alive. In this sense, I welcome the prime minister's step."
In
the
caste system, Dalits -"untouchable" outcaste - take care of most
menial and degrading tasks,
namely those involving contact with anything that is dirty and "impure".
This ranges from
the tanning of
hides and skins and animal slaughter to the removal of garbage and
animal carcasses.
Even
today
- in spite of the official abolition of the caste system - streets, latrines and sewers are
cleaned by Dalits.
Modi's
five-year national campaign kicks off today
and on 2 October 2019, the government will
take stock of its achievements.
This is a tall
order. The first - and most difficult - thing to
do will be to get people to stop defecating in the open.
In fact, more than 600 million Indians have no access to privies. To change
the situation, Mr Modi has promised to build toilets in every school and
provide every home with a one over the next five years. This is
expected to cost 620 billion rupees
(US$ 10 billion).
The government has
earmarked 146 million rupees of its own money for the project, and expects the
remaining amount to come from the corporate sector, international development
organisations and elsewhere.
However, to build health services will not (and cannot be) the only solution to "clean" India.
In
all of the country's cities - including some areas in
big cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata - it is not
only easy to see people performing
bodily functions outdoor, but they also dump trash everywhere.
Indian rivers are virtual open dumps.
For
this reason, the campaign calls on people to
take an active part in the project,
learning to keep the streets clean
and acquire a new "consciousness" about health and
hygiene.
As
part of
the cleanliness "battle",
Raghuvanshi however has some misgivings about another measure by the central government.
"The
authorities presented a plan to transport
goods via the Ganges. If this is implemented," he warns,
"the government will end up polluting
even more the already highly polluted waters of
the sacred river".
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