Swachh Bharat: Modi's promise of cleaning Varanasi doesn't appear to be an empty one

[Bang Galore]

We need to create jobs at those places where people live in order not to let them migrate to the cities and clutter them. This will also let those places to develop too....

Not feasible or desirable. Villages have to be slowly consigned to history as much as possible to allow for social change. As for economic plans, nothing will work except silly ideas like MNREGA etc. You need to build up more urban spaces & create new urban towns.

 

[East or West India Best]

Keep posting more swacch success stories. They say cleanliness is next to godliness.

Not feasible or desirable. Villages have to be slowly consigned to history as much as possible to allow for social change. As for economic plans, nothing will work except silly ideas like MNREGA etc. You need to build up more urban spaces & create new urban towns.

Villages need to be destroyed and those people need to be transferred to cities. Their farmland needs to be congregated and mechanized, they can be payed a %/year depending on how much land they own.

 

[lasttry]

Keep posting more swacch success stories. They say cleanliness is next to godliness.



Villages need to be destroyed and those people need to be transferred to cities. Their farmland needs to be congregated and mechanized, they can be payed a %/year depending on how much land they own.

What .... the hell are you smoking?

 

[East or West India Best]

What .... the hell are you smoking?

Progress.

 

[Abingdonboy]

Best to kick UP/MP/Bihar states out of India. Rajastan can change.

The situation in the villages of UP bihar and MP are so rotten u can't believe. I think they still live in middle ages. So to say this about my fellow Indian.

It is true Bihar and UP are effectively the "wild west" with an abysmal law and order situation BUT it is also true that these are by far the most populous states in India (UP alone has almost the entire population of the US) and whilst these states remain backward all of India will remain so. It is up to the GoI to take the initiative and bring about a suitable development model in these states because their state governments are totally incapable of doing so and are by and large inept.

These states have been recording some of the highest growth figures of Indian states in recent years (albeit from a very low base) so there may be some hope...

 

[lasttry]

Progress.

Your premise is that Urbanization = Progress. Thats just wrong bro. but i respect your opinion.

 

[Hindustani78]

Varanasi's Assi Ghat
6 Apr, 2015

Prerna Katiyar, ET Bureau

"A lot of it is dirty work. But I am up to the task," declared Narendra Modi a year ago when he descended on Varanasi after deciding to contest the Lok Sabha polls from the holy city.

Cleaning up and beautifying India's spiritual capital was one of Modi's biggest electoral promises to the people of Varanasi. A year later, it doesn't appear to be an empty one.

Transformation of Varanasi
6 Apr, 2015
'Look how Assi Ghat (the southernmost of the 84 ghats of Varanasi which is known to accommodate over 20,000 people during festivals like Shivratri) looks today — as clean as a new one. Modi is here and changes are visible. There may be some delay in work but transformation of Varanasi looks inevitable,' says Praveen Kumar, an employee of Banaras Mercantile Bank.

'Dirty work'
6 Apr, 2015
Modi wasn't exaggerating when he called it 'dirty work'.

Solid waste, liquid waste, paan stains, silt and garbage from households are as conspicuous in Varanasi as its temples and ghats that lead to the banks of the river Ganga.

Basis for hope
6 Apr, 2015
When your MP is also the PM, it's inevitable that the buzz factor hits a crescendo, along with expectations. 'Earlier, dharnas and even minor scuffles between smaller political outfits were a regular feature, but now almost all political activity is limited to the PM and his talks,' says Kaushal Kishor Mishra, professor of political science at Banaras Hindu University (BHU).

He's hopeful, and points to Assi Ghat as the basis for that hope. 'A big part of the (Assi) Ghat that was till now buried under silt has re-emerged. There's hope that there will be changes in Varanasi — something that most of us had never imagined till the PM entered Varanasi,' adds the professor.

Work is on in full swing
6 Apr, 2015
'Work is on in full swing,' pipes in an enthusiastic state BJP spokesperson Ashok Pande. And no prizes for guessing his frame of reference — 'Visit the Assi Ghat and see for yourself,' he says pointing southwards.

 

[Hindustani78]

Hope over Varanasi
6 Apr, 2015
The hope over Varanasi would have been unthinkable a year ago. Local civic authorities had almost given up on this city of 15 lakh people with a population density of 2,400 persons per square km — till the point Modi entered Varanasi.

Apparent proactivity
6 Apr, 2015
Modi's apparent proactivity has had an unintended ruboff effect, which Radhika Ranjan Tiwari, a priest at the Vishwanath temple, spells out: 'There's a chain reaction.

After the PM came to Varanasi, the CM [Akhilesh Yadav] too has become more active.' The healthy competition it seems is working well for the wellbeing of this ancient city. 'Many of the projects that were stalled since ages got approved recently.'

Catalytic effect
6 Apr, 2015
BP Singh, a professor of statistics at BHU, explains Modi's catalytic effect. ' On his own, he may not have achieved much as of now but his entry in Varanasi has galvanised many NGOs, global organisations and individuals to participate for the uplift of the city.'

There's hope - and not hype
6 Apr, 2015
Alok Kumar Rai, professor at Faculty of Management Studies, BHU, says certainly there's hope — and not hype — that things will change in the city.

Work by two young women
6 Apr, 2015
Meanwhile, PM Narendra Modi recently praised two yong women, Temsutula Imsong and Darshika Shah, for their cleanliness initiative at 'Prabhu ghat' in Varanasi.

Appreciating their efforts Modi, tweeted on March 31, 'This effort by @temsultulaimsong & the entire team to clean the ghats in Varanasi is phenomenal! I salute them.'

Work by two young women
6 Apr, 2015
Nagaland native Temsutula and Darshika, a local, both in their 20's - during a boat ride on February 12 saw the filth on Prabhu ghat and decided to take up the task of cleaning it

'We made our effort to clean Prabhu Ghat with more than 20 team members. The ghat has now been cleaned in nearly a months time. We need to have bio-toilets or floating toilets so that poor people living on or near these ghats may not use it for open defecation or urination,' the young women told PTI.

Expressing happiness at PM's praise, the girls said, 'The PM's praise to ordinary people like us will encourage many youths to take up such tasks for nation building,' they said.

PM Modi's one-year report card for Varanasi
6 Apr, 2015
> Opened a Trade Facilitation Centre for weavers

> Signed a deal with Japan to transform Varanasi into a 'smart heritage city' on the Kyoto model

> Spearheaded work for the desilting of Assi Ghat Wi-Fi connectivity along the major ghats

> Kicked off Swachh Varanasi mission

> Pushed for construction of Ring road around Varanasi Adopted Jayapur village

(With inputs from PTI)

Clean Ganga not possible without clean Yamuna: Uma Bharati - The Economic Times

By PTI | 6 Apr, 2015, 05.58PM IST


MATHURA: Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharati has said the Centre will soon start fulfilling the promises made for cleaning up River Yamuna.

Saying that the government is committed to the cause of cleaning up the river, the minister added that the plans for rejuvenation of river Ganga also include cleaning up of Yamuna as it is not possible to clean Ganga without cleaning Yamuna.

Bharati, who arrived here on Saturday night, said a committee has been formed under the Secretary of Environment Ministry and it will prepare a report on the demands for the rejuvenation of Yamuna which will be implemented by the Centre after perusal.

She said the government will soon table a Bill in the Parliament for cleaning and interlinking of Yamuna, Ganga and other holy rivers which will also fulfill the dreams of ex-PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Bharati also said that she has spoken to Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi on the plan of Yamuna rejuvenation and it will yeild positive results.

Gageshwarnath Chaturvedi, a petitioner at Allahabad High Court working to make Yamuna pollution-free also met the Union minister and demanded for cleaning the river in Mathura-Vrindavan at the earliest.

 

[kakathiya]

when i went to Varanasi in 2010, i was so angry that the city was so dirty and it was called a sacred city, we could not take a dip at the ghat because the boatwala said that the water was dirty and we may get rashes because the municipal waste water was flowing near the ghat so we went farther away in a boat to a small sand dune and there we took a dip in the water, the people of varanasi should come to tamil nadu or the coastal temples and see how they up keep the premises and the city, by seeing the pics it looks miracle to me but if the people of varanasi does not participate in the cleanliness drive then no one can save them, even the lord shiva will hesitate to live in a dirty city

 

[uparyupari]

when i went to Varanasi in 2010, i was so angry that the city was so dirty and it was called a sacred city, we could not take a dip at the ghat because the boatwala said that the water was dirty and we may get rashes because the municipal waste water was flowing near the ghat so we went farther away in a boat to a small sand dune and there we took a dip in the water, the people of varanasi should come to tamil nadu or the coastal temples and see how they up keep the premises and the city, by seeing the pics it looks miracle to me but if the people of varanasi does not participate in the cleanliness drive then no one can save them, even the lord shiva will hesitate to live in a dirty city

Maybe lord Shiva has sent somebody to clean the city and give it life

A yogi who loves Ganga.

 

[itachiii]

How we cleaned Varanasi's Prabhu Ghat and inspired change

We have been cleaning Shool Tankeshwar Ghat, which is a short distance from Varanasi, since 2012. We used to clean Assi Ghat, too, but that wasn't a big deal - it involved sweeping and picking up garbage.

I recall that day vividly. It was February 12, the day Temsutula Imsong (from Nagaland) and I were taking a boat ride along the Ganga. As we were about to pass Prabhu Ghat, the unbearable stench assailed our noses. This was a bit of a shock, since we had heard a lot about the ghats being cleaned up. We decided to take a walk and see for ourselves.

Prabhu Ghat made us stop in our tracks. What we saw was disgusting - worse than disgusting. There was excreta strewn all over the area. Which ever way I turned made me want to throw up. There was nothing holy about what we saw. We walked back silently, overwhelmed and distressed by the deplorable state of the ghat. Temsutula later told me what was troubling her; she, too, was feeling helpless because we could do nothing about it.

A few days later, we mustered the courage to visit the area again. This time we wanted to do a recce to understand the gravity of the situation and to properly assess the possible measures that we could initiate. We approached the civic authorities first to check if they could help us.

The response, unsurprisingly, wasn't positive. Their attitude reeked of indifference. Maybe they had bigger things to attend to. The outcome of the meeting was not all bad, though. We decided to take matters in our own hands, despite limited resources.

Temsutula Imsong and I contributed funds. We don't know how, and it always brings a smile to our faces, but we managed a sum of Rs 10,000.

We began to spend an hour every day, teaching in a school (this was inspired by our PM Narendra Modi asking people to do so, and we found that approach highly practical). The programme we wanted to start kept getting postponed.

On March 14, we decided that enough was enough, and set our plan in motion. We also decided to use social media and crowd sourcing to gather volunteers for the clean-up. Our aim was to clean the ghat up by March 22, and organise a signature campaign on Martyr's Day. We spent the next few days milling around the area, interacting with locals and deliberating on how to maintain the area once the cleaning was done.

We began to use the hashtag #MissionPrabhughat on social media on March 18. Soon, our team was joined by Manish Dubey, Shreyash Singh, Ayush Mishra, Anurag Singh, and Ankit Pandey, which gave us immense strength and support. The results were beyond our imagination.

This is what followed:

I have no hesitation in acknowledging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision has been a big inspiration. We would not have been able to garner the kind of support #MissionPrabhughat was getting. Even small children at the ghat were saying: “Swachch Bharat Abhiyaan ke liye aaye hain!” Since then, no one refused to join us in cleaning the ghat. For once, the vision of clean India was acknowledged, accepted, and also imbibed to some extent, by the society. We saw that happen.

By the fourth day, the total expenses of our cleanliness drive amounted to Rs 2,700. This would not have been possible had it not been for the people who pitched in. We did most of the cleaning manually and that helped us cut cost. We were also lucky. We managed to get nice and good-hearted people to do the initial cleaning with us. The labour costs were to the tune of Rs 1,800 and about Rs 900 was spent on purchasing material like brooms, buckets, phenyl, trash bags, and masks.

We also learnt something important during the mission: There will always be people who will nitpick without reason. We came across people who mocked us, ogled at us and passed lewd comments. There were some who were constantly trying to paint the entire effort in a bad light on social media. We decided to ignore them and focus on the people who stood by us - that took care of all the negativity because we were surplus on positivity.

We had visited these ghats so many times that we became a common face for the children who played there. Every day, when we went around, they accompanied us. And no amount of convincing could make them stay away from cleaning the ghats. We wanted them to watch us and not clean, but we had to give way to their enthusiasm. One day, when a man was peeing , these small kids started yelling and taunting him, and almost chased him away. I will always remember that scene: a well-built man, scared, being yelled at and chased by small kids. We nearly split our sides laughing.

I wish that such positive stories are highlighted more, so that more people are inspired to work for such causes.

You will be surprised to know that the #MissionPrabhughat tag reached more than 29 lakh unique accounts on social media, with more than one crore impressions. And the local media did not take note of it (which says a lot about how things work). Anyway, we weren't really focused in that direction and wanted to share with anyone who was keen to know. We did propagated primarily on social media.

Social media gave us an opportunity to reach people directly and spread the word without any compromises or pre-written scripts. We saw the power of social media here. We want to make #MissionPrabhughat a model for others to emulate - in terms of finances, efficiency, execution, and every other facet that concerns cleanliness.

At this ghat, we have started the practice of making “offenders” clean the area with buckets that we provide. The word is spreading fast and we are seeing results.

The initiative is open for anyone to work on and improve upon. We do not seek ownership of the ghat, but will be more than willing to pitch in.

Further, I would like to say that #MissionPrabhughat is not over yet. We are trying to find a viable solution to the problem of open defecation, and also get Prabhu Ghat on Varanasi's tourist map.

Temsutula Imsong and I run an NGO named Sakaar Sewa Samiti, and have dedicated ourselves to doing things that appear small, but have a long term impact.

For more information, please have a look at www.sakaar.co.in. Thank you. I believe this will help.

 

[indo]

She needs to be honoured. Extremely good job by the girl.

 

[itachiii]

 

[indo]

People give too much credit to politicians , its people like her who actually do the work..... many other countless volunteers without even expecting anything. These people are our real assets, unsung heroes .

 

[itachiii]