By Soroor Ahmed, TwoCircles.net,
Taking up a broom and asking the people to do the same may bring about some cosmetic changes in the society, but it would not be a lasting solution.
When Raja Ram Mohan Roy raised his voice against sati, child marriage and stood for widow re-marriage etc he did so because he has his limitations. He was not in power to enact laws against these social evils and get them strictly implemented.
The maximum he could do was to create a public awareness against them and put pressure on the government to ban such practices. This he did. It was during the reign of Governor General William Bentinck that sati was banned.
Courtesy: The Hindu
In the same way when Mahatma Gandhi practiced and preached cleanliness he was a freedom fighter-cum-social reformer. He fought simultaneously against the British imperialism as well as social evils, including untouchability.
Though Gandhiji did not become a part of the ruling Congress establishment and was assassinated soon after India overcame the post-Independence turmoil, people’s expectation would have been different had he been alive for a few more years. They would have demanded from him enactment of laws to get rid of all the social evils, rather than just listen to his sermons on caste inequality and practical lessons on sanitation.
After August 15, 1947 Gandhi was not just a reformer and a freedom-fighter but now the responsibility to guide the country was on his shoulders. He certainly did that in his five and a half months short life after freedom. Though he did not live to see the Constitution his stamp was very much on it, especially on combating untouchability and social inequality. The citizens of the country would have criticized him had Gandhi failed in his new role.
When a reformer becomes a part of ruling establishment he/she had to change accordingly. But when a ruler tends to play some parts of a reformer, he/she should take into account several very important factors.
Taking up a broom and asking the people to do the same may bring about some cosmetic changes in the society, but it would not be a lasting solution. There is always an inherent danger of celebrities, politicians etc using it for their own publicity.
Such steps would not take us too far unless we have a strict law penalizing anyone who piss or spit at public places or throw garbage on the streets. There are countries which have much better track record of cleanliness than India but that could be possible not because its president or prime minister started sweeping roads as a symbolic gesture. They are clean because law-breakers are penalized and a better system with all facilities has been developed. In spite of cleanliness drive we are yet to come up with any accompanying law compelling people to abide by it.
Apart from building toilets we need to see that they are used. Successive governments had launched quite a few sanitation drives and had offered financial help to build low-cost toilets, but to little avail. Now the need is to legislate laws calling for imposition of fine on those defecating at public places.
Besides, what has the government done to improve the working condition of scavengers, the last persons – but the most important men and women – involved in this really nasty business? Have we armed and trained them with new machines, new technology, dress, boots and gloves? Have we introduced any policy of health insurance for them? As they work in underground sewerages they are prone to fatal injuries and many die without their bodies being actually retrieved.
Similarly, it would not be fully appropriate for the government to spend crores of rupees on advertisements to appeal to the people to switch off the bulb or fan of the room after its use. It may be good to teach such habits, but then these are the trainings often given by those parents, who honestly pay their electricity bills. Instead one expects the government to check pilferage of power done by big industries and establishments and rampant corruption and loot in its generation and transmission.
If the government is serious in saving electricity it should see to it that all the big wastages are checked. If it requires ban on day-night matches like IPL than it should go for it too, as millions of children do not get power to study and thousands of acres of land do not get enough energy to irrigate.
We have experimented piecemeal measures in the past, especially during Emergency. Huge hoardings exhorting people to be prompt, disciplined, punctual and asking them to save electricity, maintain cleanliness etc were put up at public places. Radio advertisements after every news-bulletin would ask the people to do the same. But they had no lasting impact. Trains ran on time and people came to offices punctually, but all for a few months.
One does not need to impose Emergency and suspend all fundamental rights to change things. A democratic government too can legislate new laws and see to it that they are followed.
(Soroor Ahmed is a Patna-based freelance journalist. He writes on political, social, national and international issues.)