Article on Swachh Bharat initiative

This is an essay written by me in accordance with the cleaning program 'Swachh Bharath' initiated by the PM of India, Mr. Narendra Modi.

Cleanliness is one of the most required, yet one of the most frequently ignored aspect of our lives. Good sanitary practices in a neighborhood may be the only thing keeping the local doctor from racking up his profits. Several deadly diseases that can lead to a painful rehabilitation or even a torturous death can be easily prevented by observing basic hygiene. The lack of cleanliness is constantly associated with places like slums, and thus it is no surprise that such slums and poor colonies are the source of several disease breakouts. Cleanliness is also one of the most striking characters of developed nations. Therefore, it is absolutely essential for us to convert India into a ‘Swachh Bharat’ for us to progress down the path of development.

All organisms need raw material obtained from outside their body for performing life processes. Humans are no exception to this, and we take in food to obtain a wide variety of proteins, vitamins, fats, carbohydrates and minerals. Since the constituents of food is taken from outside our body, it is inevitable that it will not be composed purely of what our body wants. Our body is capable of removing any contaminating impurities from foodstuffs up to a limit. However, when this limit is breached, as often is the case in a developing country like India, deadly diseases starts to run amok. From the life threatening epidemics of hepatitis to the debilitating E-Coli inflicted food poisoning, food-borne diseases can threaten the health of the entire nation.

The primary cause of food-borne diseases is, obviously, the consumption of contaminated food. When we consume contaminated food, any harmful pathogens that survive our body’s natural defenses start multiplying in large numbers and secrete chemicals that aid their survival, while poisoning us and sapping our internal resources. A higher pH value in the stomach greatly reduces the number of pathogens required to break through the defenses and infect our body. Symptoms of most diseases include vomiting, diarrhea and stomach pain. Many are deceived by these symptoms and put it off to a bad meal, all the while the germs spread across the alimentary canal. This can also be the starting point of even deadlier diseases as the toxins secreted by some bacteria and viruses tend to get absorbed into the bloodstream, wreaking havoc across the entire body in a matter of hours. Unclean food can also have eggs of parasitic worms that can hatch inside out body upon consumption, leading to a slow deterioration of one’s health.

More than half the world’s population do not have total food security, and 1 in every 4 is likely to suffer from food poisoning in his life. Food-borne diseases also kill millions around the world every year, with the worst death rate in African countries. About 2 million children die annually due to food poisoning, and the amount of money spent for treating food-borne diseases in the US alone is over 35 billion dollars every year. This dreadful situation is escalated by the fact that the poorest of India doesn’t have access to good quality hospitals to obtain treatment.

As a result, ensuring access to medical facilities and promoting research and development on cheaper and more effective cures will help alleviate the impact these diseases can have on the society and its economy.

But the old saying ‘Prevention is better than cure’ still very much holds true, and uprooting this problem entirely is better than developing cures, which should only be an intermediate measure. It is a shocking fact that most cases of food poisoning and food-borne diseases happen not because the consumers were struck by ill-luck or was misinformed, but because they have no choice but to eat unclean food. Although India has been working towards achieving food security since independence, we are far from realizing this goal, and this combined with the huge population of India results in a large number of people at the base of the economic hierarchy that are forced to consume contaminated food to continue their existence. As a result, our society remains crippled.

From simple gestures like not wasting food during meals to reinforcing the public distribution system by the government, there are a multitude of ways in which this situation can be improved. While general economic development will significantly contribute to solving this issue in the long run, the measures to deal with this issue should start with a proper overhaul of the aforementioned public distribution system. The tendency of ration shop workers to supply sub-standard materials while usurping the supply from the government is not unknown. A stricter set of laws and higher quality standards will go a long way in helping to solve this problem. Quality checks should also be enforced on restaurants and hotels and constant flash raids on godowns and warehouses to check for improper handling of foodstuffs is a must. Sadly, it is a true fact that much of the buffer stock kept by the government to alleviate famines turns to rat food in the godowns due to inefficiency and corruption of officials. Food security promotion and fundraising campaigns should be organized at the poorest localities of India. It is also the duty of every citizen of India to actively participate in the government campaigns regarding this issue, donate money to NGO’s working to solve this issue, and encourage their friends and family to do the same.

The combined efforts of the society and the government together can certainly help oust this plaguing problem. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi put what we need to do in a nutshell when he asked: "We reached Mars. No PM or Minister went. It was the people who did it, our scientists who did it. So can't we create a Clean India?"

By Aswin G