MOST URGENT ( Kindly Treat this Open Letter hosted on PMs FB Post as SPEEDPOST /FAX so that an ordinary senior citizen like me may have faith in DIGITAL INDIA ) SWACHH BHARAT MISSION ie Clean Revolution ? ( *Nagesh Chandra Mishra ) Subject : Can Indias Dream of an Open Defecation Free Country Be Realized within 5 Years Time ? An Open Letter To the Honorable Prime Minister, Shree Narendra Modi. Hon. Prime Minister Sir , Kindly, refer to my earlier letter dated 29-07-2014 written in Hindi on the above noted subject . ( Copy Enclosed ) Many of my friends requested to provide an English Transliteration of the Hindi Text that I knowingly delayed as was very keen to hear the PMs Independence Day Address to the Nation from the ramparts of Lalquila on August 15, 2014 . Your excellent address has touched billion hearts dreaming of SWACHH BHARAT . Hence, this updating exercise . Warm Congratulations , Sir, once again ! There is a sense of great admiration in the country & abroad on your Governments firm resolution as stated in the Address of the Hon. President of India during the first Joint Session of the Parliament : We must not tolerate the indignity of homes without toilets and public spaces littered with garbage. For ensuring hygiene, waste management and sanitation across the nation a “Swachh Bharat Mission” will be launched. This will be our tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th birth anniversary to be celebrated in the year 2019. ( Para 15 of the Presidential Address on June 9, 2014 ) The above commitment has been reaffirmed both by you & the Nations Finance Minister in the Parliament ; as such , none of us are taking these lines lightly ; everyone , be your supporter or adversary, knows it vey well that when you commit something to yourself - not even you can defy it ! Like Green Revolution, or White Revolution , is it the turn of CLEAN REVOLUTION in the country now ? Is it easy to bring a Clean Revolution in our nation ? The answer is ... both YES & NO ! Todays wise men would just rush to begin with, its not any Rocket Science ? Its easier to draw zig zag lines than to draw a straight line ! According to Bapu, who believed SANITATION IS EVEN MORE IMPORTANT THAN INDEPENDENCE , had said : The instruments for the quest of truth are as simple as they are difficult. They may appear quite impossible to an arrogant person, and quite possible to an innocent child. The seeker after truth should be humbler than the dust. The world crushes the dust under its feet, but the seeker after truth should be so humble himself that even the dust could crush him. Only then, and not till then, will he have a glimpse of truth. The dialogue between Vasishtha and Vishvamitra makes this abundantly clear. Christianity and Islam also amply bear it out. ( Courtesy : My Experiments With Truth by M.K. Gandhi ) Resp. Prime Minister Sir ! Does Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan ( the erstwhile Total Sanitation Campaign ) being implemented by the Central & State Governments justify the skill,scale & speed of your commitment ? It was during the first NDA Govt. led by Sri Atal Bihari Bajpayee when Sanitation sector was given due importance almost after five decades since independence & accordingly , the Department of Drinking Water Supply ( & Sanitation, ) launched Total Sanitation Campaign in 1998-99 with great fanfare . The seriousness with which it began , the initial 5-6 years gave the impression as if the Millennium Development Goals pertaining to Environmental Sustainability ( No. 7 of MDG ) indicators would be achieved at faster growth so that India would be an Open Defecation Free Country by 2015 ; but, as the time rolled on, the steam started simmering & we lost the meaning - now, it has completely gone in Slip Back Mode like any other Water program of the Govt., though with a difference - prior to 1998-99, the allotment in the Sanitation sector was negligible , but during the last 15 years till date approx. 15 Billion Rupees of allocations have been pumped through by the govt. most of which has either been wasted or swindled by unscrupulous elements - If immediate remedial measures are not taken, it would open the pandora box of one more serious scam than what we saw during the execution of Ganga Action Plan some decades ago ! I wont like to indulge in citing numerous statistical data to drive home the point - Census of India 2011( Houses, Household Amenities & Assets LATRINE FACILITIES, Table 1 & 2 ) & Day-to-day Progress Report hosted on the official website of the Department of Drinking Water & Sanitation are testimonies to the paradoxical vast gap between the Truth & the Hype , ie % of Toilet Usage vs. % of Toilets constructed ( Barring some exceptions in a few performing states like Kerela , Sikkim, Tripura etc. ) It is high time when we must revisit the entire Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan afresh so that Swachh Bharat Mission can be achieved in a perfect mission mode within the stipulated time frame . This requires a clean bottoms up of our own mindset ( Courtesy : Ashtavakra Geeta ) - something unique that can be emulated from one such simple example : Once during my childhood, I told my mother , Ma, KACHARAWALA has come ; My mother replied , My son! in fact , we are KACHARAWALA - & He is SAFAIWALA ( courtesy : Sri Narendra Modi ) Summing up , in the words of PG Wodehouse , We need dynamite to dislodge an idea that has set in public mind . Taking cue from Kenopanishads Shlokas , Yasya Matam Tasya Matam... , meaning thereby , He who thinks he knows It not, knows It. He who thinks he knows It, knows It not. The true knowers think they can never know It (because of Its infinitude), while the ignorant think they know - in all humility, I would suggest some remedial measures after learning from failures -some are of generic nature & some specific ones that cant be viewed in isolation . 1) AN IMMEDIATE NEED OF INTEGRATED PLANNING : Conceive Optimistically ; Plan Pessimistically ; Execute Optimistically . ( Courtesy : Kazuo Inamori - A Compass to Fulfillment ) As per Millennium Development Goals ( MDG ) , we have set a Goal to Ensure Environmental Sustainability; & accordingly, our Target is , Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programs and reverse the loss of environmental resources. ( Courtesy : MDG Goal No. 7 & Target 9 ) But , alas ! our Countrys main Planning Institutions have converted themselves into Kubla Khans Pleasure Domes ( courtesy : ST Coleridges famous Poem, Kubla Khan ) ! These Think Tanks need immediate revamping (as the newspaper reports suggest , probably, you too are thinking on the same lines & now is evident also from your Address to the Nation on Indias 67th Independence day Anniversary . These days, an advertisement of a branded diamond catches my imagination in which an old man presents a diamond ring to his old loving wife on her anniversary - on this, the old lady quips smilingly & asks, why such costly ring at the sunset of her life ... & the husband replies, Diamond Knows Not ones Age ! Accordingly, our Land, Water, Habitat etc. , all our inexhaustible resources , need an ageless integrated planning diamond ring of Environmental Sustainability . Focusing on various Development Programs of our country, whether Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan,National Rural Health Mission, Integrated Child Development Schemes, Sarva Siksha Abhiyan, MNREGA, JnURM, so on & so forth , every Program preach Community Participation, Inter-sectoral Coordination & Convergence as per Govt. Guidelines , but that happens on papers only ... the ground reality is quite different . As such unless we drastically combine them together into an Integrated Planning System without compartmentalizing & dissecting them into urban, rural etc. etc. - no oasis of smart cities can sustain & coexist in harmony to hold SAB KA SAATH SAB KA VIKAS ? ( the story of MATSYAVATAAR can be an eye opener for we Indians ) Prime Minister Sir, during every morning stroll , when I breathe the rotten smell coming out from the heaps of garbage littered on lanes & roads of my city , I am reminded of your high thinking mothers words : from your imagination of High Speed Bullet Trains , one small ray of hope starts beaming in the eyes of we chhote Log with chhoti si aasha ( ordinary people having very small aspirations ) ... dreaming of a network of low speed mini trains or mini trams too that may help in disposing off all our daily garbage to some appropriate safe sanitary landfills ! Covering up of our deep environmental wounds with populist silken bands cannot heal the real ailment . Alvin Toffler , the great thinker & writer , in the foreword of Nobel Prize Winners Ilya Prigogine & Stangers masterpiece , Order Out of Chaos , has said: One of the most highly developed skills in contemporary Western civilization is dissection: the split-up of problems into their smallest possible components . We are good at it . So good, we often forget to put the pieces back together again . The Britishers have gone back , but the British Colonial Administrative System still rules the Nation . Perhaps, thats why , Lord Curzon , had once said, Indian Bureaucracy is the strongest bureaucratic machine in the world that cannot be corrected or controlled even by viceroys ! For Vote Bank Politics ,every Govt. of the day remains silent on demographic avalanche ( an idiom coined by Alduous Huxley ) with full knowledge that such ad hoc bureaucratic development balloons , in no time , would turn the entire country into millions of slum dog habitats - in spite of all that our endless misadventure goes on & on like a Hindi song : Manzil kahan le jayegi ... Maaloom Nahin..... ? After results of LOK SABHA 2014 , when the moment of Truth came & the nation with bated breadth was expecting a huge smooth transitional change breaking from the past on the eve of the first Budget Speech itself of the newly formed govt. , the Finance Minister, Sri Arun Jaitley ji seemed too ordinary & cautious to change , probably, due to Law of Mental Inertia . Optimists like us havent been disheartened though & would wait till Feb.28, 2015 . Later than this may be too late to change the colonial mindset of this new Govt. I dont understand why our great planners overlook Vedic Thumb Rule of Developmental Life Cycle based on the sound principles of Environmental Sustainability as depicted in the following Sutras of Atharva Veda : PASHYEM SHARADAH SHATAM ( May we have VISION for Hundred Years ) ।।1।। JEEVEM SHARADAH SHATAM ( May we have LIFE for Hundred Years ) ।।2।। BUDDHYEM SHARADAH SHATAM ( May we have INTELLECT for Hundred Years ) ।।3।। ROHEM SHARADAH SHATAM ( May we have GROWTH for Hundred Years ) ।।4।। PUSHEM SHARADAH SHATAM ( May we have NOURISHMENT for Hundred Years)।।5।। BHOOYEM SHARADAH SHATAM ( May we have PURITY forHundred Years)।।6। BHAVEM SHARADAH SHATAM ( May we have SUSTAINABILITY for Hundred Years ) ।।7।। BHOOYASEE SHARADAH SHATAAT ( May , then, we SURVIVE till Eternity ) ।।8।। In short : VISION, LIFE, INTELLECT, GROWTH, NOURISHMENT, PURITY & then SUSTAINABILITY - all for 100 Years lead to the Ultimate SURVIVAL till Eternity ! ( * Atharva Veda , Section 19, Sukta 67 ) Swami Vivekanandas concept of SANAATAN DHARMAs Soul ( or, Universal Religion ) dwells in the above Sutras . And, perhaps, it also reflects Maharshi Aurobindos vision of Supra-mental Consciousness . Vedas, Upanishads & our Epics are testimony to the fact that Indias Civilization & Ancient Education System prior to the advent of British Rule was amongst the best in the world . ( courtesy : Lord Macaulays Address to the British Parliament on 2nd February, 1835 ) But , alas.... ! Indias Five Year Plan that fails to foresee even 20 - Span Life Cycle ( 100 Years ) of Sustainable Development , can we expect from them to wipe out 20- fathom deep tears of the Nation through the hallucinations of 20-point Program ? Now, coming back on the topic of Health, Hygiene & Sanitation related responsibilities , even if we go back to the Indias civilization prevailing during Harappa & Mohenjo-Daro (2600 B.C. - 1900 B.C.) periods , there is evidence of wet toilets prevailing even during those times - which were connected to underground drainage system lined with burnt clay bricks . ( Courtesy : Wikipedia ) . Since the last 2500 years , Kautilyas Arthashastra have been speaking volumes of our commitment to Hygiene & Cleanliness ,but we have chosen to overlook & ignore them. Severe punishments for defiling Environment have been prescribed , some of such glaring examples , are as follows : Hygiene & Sanitation related Offences Punishment as per Kautilyas Arthashastra Not having adequate rain water drainage 12 panas ( 3.8.23 ) Causing damage by letting urine or dung collect 24 panas ( 3.8.22. ) Throwing dirt on the road 1/8 pana ( 2.36.26 ) Blocking it with mud & water 1/4 pana Throwing dirt on the highway 1/4 pana (2.36.27 ) Blocking it with mud & water 1/2 pana For using as a urinal/ latrine As urinal As latrine ( 2.36.28 ) A holy place 1/2 pana 1 pana A water reservoir 1 pana 2 panas A temple 1& 1/2 p 2 panas A royal building 2 panas 4 panas Likewise, strict regulations are provided in Kautilyas Arthashastra not only for the protection of environment , but for an all round development of the Nation . When we compare 2500 Years old these Laws ( a glimpse of which is prescribed above in Kautilyas Arthashastra ) with the latest Legal provisions prevailing today even in some of the most developed parts of the world ( from Britain to USA to Singapore ) , we may come to the conclusion that India doesnt need to blindly follow any imported self- derogatory Sectoral Reform lessons ; what we need is a mass upsurge of self- belief in ourselves to recreate Cultural Renaissance based on Swami Vivekanands concept of universal religion keeping pace with the modern times . It is generally believed that Nations Pride & Honor of Kautilyan Era didnt deteriorate so fast even during later centuries prior to the advent of Lord Macaulays British India that systematically sapped our Self-esteem breaking the Psyche of the Nation into two unequal pieces viz. Rulers & Ruled ; they also created Indian cronies to align with them - lethal combination of this elite class having less than 10% in numbers who ate Angreziyat , played Angreziyat & slept Angreziyat - called as Sahebs ( or, Huzoor Mai-Baap ) ruled over the rest 90% common people known as Raiyats . Comparing their Hygiene-related habits , while the first category had natural access to their choices of Toilets & Restrooms , the rest were left to practice Call of Nature ( perhaps, to amply prove Habit is Second Nature ). I tried my best to find how the word, Call of Nature originated - I couldnt find , but the dictionary suggests , this idiom originated during 1850-55 - the same period when Lord Macaulay s prescription of breaking the backbone of Indias spiritual heritage was at its best ! ( Only the Psychological Aspects have been touched here - as regards the Sociological & Technological Aspects, the readers may refer to other sources ) Sadly, the same Huzoor Mai-Baap culture rules over more than a billion souls even after 67 years since independence - Govt. is , now, in the changed role of DAATA ( in disguise of Facilitator ) who perceive the People as PAATA ( Beneficiaries ) keeping Lord Macaulay still alive in the form of SARKAR downsizing the rest as BHIKHAARI ( Beggars ) ! Can we ever get back our Self-Esteem as One Nation? Can we recreate the competitive crowning glory of Indias Cultural Renaissance ?? Can we have ACHHE DIN or Tipping Point ??? Yes, we can !!! 2) ACHHE DIN or Tipping Point : How little things can bring Big Changes & how efforts of a handful of exceptional people can create History is not an unknown subject . But , how effective that can be - was known to me in details after reading Malcolm Gladwells masterpiece Tipping Point . The Tipping Point is the biography of an idea that may bring mysterious changes in everyday life spreading as fast as Social Epidemics . Malcolm Gladwell has described about some Rules of the Tipping Point viz. Law of the Few, Stickiness Factor & Power of Context, or Broken Window Theory that may be effective for bringing out rapid Behavioral Changes . I wont quote examples cited in Malcolm Gladwells Tipping Point except one that caught my imagination , ..... If you peed in the street , you were going to jail .... - this was told by New York City Administration in 1994 when the brilliant team of Rudolf Giuliani as Mayor & Bratton , the Police Chief applied the strategy to crack down on QUALITY OF LIFE Crimes to step up enforcement of the laws . Minor, seemingly insignificant Quality of Life related crimes brought dramatic improvement in the Law & Order of the City . Prime Minister Sir ! Who can forget the mind blowing sad incident of 27 October 2013 Gandhi Maidan,Patna Blast when the first culprit of Terrorists Gang was captured from a Toilet Complex situated at a Platform of Patna Jn. Railway Station that led to solve the mystery of larger conspiracy ? ( isnt it a symbolic Providence from DEVAALAYA to SHAUCHALAYA ) I want to emphasize that : Improving Quality Of Life is Exponentially proportional to the improvement in Law & Order Situation . There are some defining moments in History when such small changes led to Big movements ; to cite few such examples : ---- No Mosquitoes , No Flys ... -like Cultural Revolution & 2 Children, or 1 Child Norm.. etc. in China may have some own drawbacks , but who can deny how these changes contributed to dramatic development of China as one of the strongest nations of the world. ---- Ideas of Dr. Norman Borlaug & Dr. Swaminathan with help of other eminent agricultural scientists brought Green Revolution in India . ---- Brilliance of Dr. Kuriens Team contributed to the success of cooperative movement in milk production known as White Revolution . ---- It would not be out of place to cite a recent such example of BJPs Mission 272+ for LOK SABHA 2014 led by a CHAI WALA s able team that contributed to an unexpected success during this coalition politics era that stunned all political pundits ! Prime Minister Sir, Since day 1 of the new NDA Govt. , your every action is under scanner - may it be your commitment to a corruption-free government , Indias foreign policy , legislative businesses , appointment of honest persons ( like Sri Nripendra Mishra etc. ) at key positions even after facing so many odds . All these welcome moves raise a hope of a Better Work Culture carved in Mission Mode Time Frame . But , it also poses some valid questions in our ignited minds viz. IN WHAT WAY THIS NEW SWACHH BHARAT MISSION SHALL BE DIFFERENT FROM THE ONGOING NIRMAL BHARAT ABHIYAN, NBA ( or the erstwhile, Sampoorn Swachhata Abhiyan , TSC ) ? Shall it be the same wine in a new bottle ?? Shall Making Undue Haste Prove Another Waste like LAMHON NE KHATAA KI THI , SADIYON NE SAZA PAAI ??? Suffixing or Prefixing the word, MISSION to a Great idea or organization is not sufficient to realize a Mission . In what way Thousands of existing Sanitation & Water Missions ( & Committees ) known as PRAKALP since decades right from the Centre to States to Districts to Villages across the country from Top to Bottom eg Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission; State Water & Sanitation Mission ( SWSM & SWSC ) ;District Water & Sanitation Mission ( DWSM & DWSC ) ; Village Water & Sanitation Mission ( VWSM & VWSC ) - all carrying out a tireless mission to make India an Open Defecation Free Country since 1998 - in slipping & sliding back mode - Shall Do Something Very Different This Time in 2014 to complete SWACHH BHARAT MISSION by October 2 , 2019 ???? To achieve such missions within a definite time frame, we need some Non- Negotiable Instruments like , AMANTRAM AKSHARAM NAASTI, NAASTI MOOLAM NA AUSHADHAM । AYOGYAH PURUSHO NAASTI - YOJAKSTEN DURBHALAM ।। ie , No Alphabet is without some capability to form a mantra ( every alphabet contributes in making Shlokas ) , No root or shrub is without some medicinal qualities ( every root & shrub has some medicinal quality ) ; likewise, NO PERSON IS INCOMPETENT - but, RARE IS A CO-ORDINATOR WHO KNOWS EXACTLY HOW TO MIX THEM PROPERLY . ( Courtesy : From some Sanskrit Text taught by my elder brother ) . This is the Basics of all Missions & Managements . How to work in a Mission Mode ? Mother Teresa , in an inter-personal communication during my early days in Govt. , had advised , Always try to be Truthful ; & Do Not Conceal Truth while on a Mission even at the stake of inviting undesired personal hazards - the Almighty is there to save such truthful persons. Clean Revolution without the means of SWACHH TAN- SWACHH MAN- SWACHH DHAN ( purest Mix of Mind, Body & Soul ) cannot justify the ends of SWACHH BHARAT MISSION . SWACHH BHARAT MISSION , therefore, is in need of a fresh Revisit incorporating :- ----- An Integrated RURBAN ( Rural + Urban ) Planning for 20-Span Life Cycle of Five Year Plan ( ie the Next 100 Years ) incorporating 8-fold Mantra ( PASHYEM SHARADAH SHATAM ........ ) as described above ( *Atharva Veda, Section 19, Sukta 67 ) . The New envisaged Apex Planning Institution ( which is likely to be replaced by the existing Planning Commission ) may kindly think to have a LOGO of the Vision conceived on this 8- fold Atharva Ved Mantra for fulfilling all the Missions based on the principles of An Integrated Sustainable Development ; ----- Immediate Legislation through extending & restructuring the scope of PROHIBITION OF EMPLOYMENT AS MANUAL SCAVENGERS AND THEIR REHABILITATION ACT, 2013 Through the Rehabilitation of a huge network of Lakhs of Manual Scavengers as SAFAI SAINIKS ! For realizing SWACHH BHARAT MISSION within the stipulated time . SAFAI SAINIKS must be an integral part of all the Missions to be constituted from Centre to Villages ( no intermediary or NGOs should be allowed to represent them ) ; ----- If you peed on the road, you are either going to jail or / and fine or / and 3 months compulsory deployment as Open SWACHHATA Prisoners like legislation a must ; Such an integrated Swachh Bharat Mission may prove Cutting Edge for an exponentially improved Law & Order Situation not only in cities, towns & villages but even in & around disturbed Border/ Naxal-inflected areas of our country . This may create an effective community policing consisting of Rag Pickers, Destitute Slum Dog Arjun Baghmares ( the chaiwala child hero of the Hindi film, HAWA-HAWAII ) . The country is in dire need of some very effective Radical Pragmatism ( courtesy : J. Roth ) ------- GoI Guidelines on Water & Sanitation pose more Problems than Appropriate Solutions . The List of Habitations & Problem Villages for water sector are based on imaginary & fuzzy ground realities being top owed since Seventies by GoI & States . They are neither Truthful , nor have any scientifically measurable indicators to match Census Data of Revenue Villages . Ongoing Practice of furnishing Component - wise Progress Reports of NBA or TSC ( Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan or Total Sanitation Campaign ) in numbers or percentage must be done away immediately as they lack accountability & transparency - in their place an effective monitoring & evaluation system based on Binary Scale of 0 & 1 ( 0 even if all components constructed -but not in proper use on consistent basis ; & 1 only when these assets created are in actual use & have been been adopted as consistent way of life by users ) - proper & effective such verification mechanism must be evolved for SWACHH BHARAT MISSION without losing precious time . Now, when every household has got to be covered with proper sanitation & water facilities , simple scientifically measurable methodology needs to be put in place that may cross check water coverage with sanitation coverage for better monitoring & evaluation & also for curbing rampant corruption & manipulation . Govt. may think to avail of the services of international bodies like Water Integrity Network ( Transparency International etc. ) in consultation with Comptroller & Auditor General of India ( CAG ) for such purposes . ------ Some 40 years ago , one of my senior colleagues used to mock all Govt. Engineers with sarcasm by calling them 4 feet into 4 feet creature - he meant our narrow minds - even till today I fail to understand why only 4 ft. by 4 ft. size toilets & other such narrow technological options are there for NBA or TSC ? And, if so due to lack of space -- then,why not inventing VACCUM FLUSHING TOILETS like we find in aero planes & AIRBUS ?? Likewise, I am never convinced by SULABH Concept of RURAL PAN ! Rural Pan word irks me ; Can Pan Indias Bumpkins have no right to aspire for Glamour rooms - is it reserved only for Urbanized Antilias ? And, if so for wise water policy, why not Wash Basin on the Top of Flush Tank as in Japan to save wastage of water ?? There are many such small unsolved Rubrics Cubes being overlooked by GoIs blue eyed Idea Crushers viz. Bosses, Big Mouths & The Subject Matter Experts unless they are put together in a Quarantine Group by some Divine Charmers Brain Steering like that of yours ! ( Courtesy : BRAIN STEERING : A Better Approach To Breakthrough Ideas, By Kevin P. Coyne & Shawn T. Coyne ) Hon. Prime Minister , Sir ! The organizational structure , duties & assignments of Department of Drinking Water & Sanitation, Govt. of India ARE PROGRAMMED in such a way that ministers & bureaucrats would be coming & going , they shall never do things differently - they would continue to do the same set of things till eternity . ( The Agenda Notes for the Review Meetings of State Secretaries are testimony to these facts ) By & large, the situation in the States are no different . The abstract of all these Review Meetings are focused on very limited purposes, How much Allotment - How much Expenditure - How much Requirement- Give the Time Frame etc. etc. As such, I earnestly appeal you to monitor all the Review Meetings related to SWACHH BHARAT MISSION yourself - only then,you can fulfill Bapus dreams of Clean India . Otherwise , Days, Months , Years & Decades Would continue to be wasted in playing such ANTAKSHARIs ( time pass ) as we have seen during the implementation of NBA/TSC . ( Here, it is worth mentioning that you , in your Independence Day speech , have urged all MPs to donate their one years allotted funds for School Sanitation . As the Records would speak for themselves - Department of Drinking Water Supply & Department of Human Resources Development had already allotted FULL FUNDS Dovetailing Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan with School Sanitation , then why these MPs Funds again ? It raises suspicion that Funds Allotted for the purpose of School Sanitation previously have either been wasted,looted or plundered . Its another matter how these public funds have copyright of MPs Funds - thanks to the then PM, PV Narasimha Raos brilliance to allure MPs through institutionalizing Bribe in disguise for saving Govt. in Power ! ) ------ Nirmal Gram Puraskar - like great incentives have already boomeranged on us & have failed to serve the basic purpose of encouraging PRIs & NGOs to boost Nirmal BHARAT Abhiyan . Most of these Villages & Panchayats have Slipped back from NGPs Awardees to Back to Square Ones Photoshops . This reminds me a prophetic word by an eminent futurologist friend from Maharashtra who had cautioned a decade ago at the very outset, Very soon, you shall find Many more Merchants of Wastes minting Gold from Human Excreta through the Paras Mani ( The Touchstone ) of Nirmal Gram Puraskars ! Any such allurement , in my view , may prove too dangerous . You could have integrated your JAN-DHAN Yojna into SWACHH TAN-MAN-DHAN YOJNA to promote PURE HEALTH-WEALTH-EDUCATION with a single stroke of your mighty pen to awake JAN GAN MAN of India for a Clean Revolution ! Can you do it , Sir , even now ? -------- All GOI & State Guidelines Preach Community Participation & Behavioral Change but seldom Practice at their own Workplace . Charity must Begin , at least, in all Govt. Offices first, right from PMO to BDOs Offices . Usually, most offices of developed nations ( With an exception of Indias Govt. Offices ) have ultra modern Toilet Blocks for Men & Women ( like we find at Airports,or other such work places of WHO, Unicef, World Bank etc. ) ...... but Indias Sahebs , right from PMO to BDOs have their own Private Toilets situated adjacent to their Office Cabins. These Sahebs have their own private doors who seldom like to participate along with their subordinate staffs to use Commoners Toilet Blocks - such superiority complexes Must Go at once ! Therefore, SWACHH BHARAT MISSION Must Have Mandatory Provision that No Saheb - Big or Small, Shall Have the luxury of having access to any Private Toilet attached to their Office Chamber - all such existing Sahebs Toilets must be done away immediately converting those spaces for other meaningful purposes & suitable ultramodern toilet blocks for He & Her should be put in place to start & practice Community Fissions in every Sahebs mindset !! This one small change of Habit amongst all the Govt. high ups at their Workplaces ( including Legislative, Executive & Judiciary ) shall Kickstart them to practice Mahatma Gandhis ethos of Be the Change You Want to Change inspiring Billion Souls for a Clean Revolution through out the Nation . And, if the Govt. shirks, laughs , raises eyebrows & summarily reject to come forward leading from front, no God on Earth can come to make happen SWACHH BHARAT even in 100 Years more time ie. by 2nd October, 2119 ! ------- Journey is a way of Learning. While on journey in trains during morning hours , we may always enchant ourselves by enjoying picturesque scenes of vast open fields surrounded by moving trees, bushes & Open Defecators across the lengths & breadths of Indias vast railway network . Bigger the ailway junction, Greater the density of Open Defecators near the Outer Signals all along the railway tracks ! If Repulsion is the surer test of magnetism , the Magnitude of Open Defecation near the outer signals of railway tracks can be Remote Sensors for SWACHH BHARAT MISSION . So far, several Railway Journeys during morning hours from Pallakad to Thiru Anananthapuram seldom could find open Defecators unlike we find in many other regions . Utilizing Outer Signals , TV & Mobile Towers, High Mast Lamp posts etc. fitted with ultramodern electronic gadgets & CCTV Cameras to track & control Quality of Life related crimes in synergy with SWACHH BHARAT MISSION may prove very beneficial . Similar Ideas of developing Innovative Monitoring Systems through utilizing the vast infrastructure across the Lanes , Roads & Highways, Waterways & Airways can bring about revolutionary changes in improving the precarious Quality of Life related problems . ------- HRD/ IEC / Capacity Building funds meant for Nirmal BHARAT Abhiyan ( or, TSC ) are being misused blatantly by the ministers, bureaucrats & other govt. functionaries etc. to serve their one selfish purposes ( we have seen some exceptions also like Raghuvansh Babu, the then Minister of Rural Development , GoI who always used to discourage the bad practice of spending huge funds on govt. advertisements with Ministers photos etc. ) . Outsourcing professionals & NGOs to carry out NBA/ TSC tasks in unscrupulous manners have created cartels of Babus, Netas, Dadas, Jholas & Thailas ( names coined by the former Central Vigilance Commissioner , Sri N Vittal who described Five Elements of Corruption consisting mainly of Bureaucrats, Politicians, Criminals, NGOs & Businessmen ) in a big way right from top to bottom of the system . ------- Reputed international bodies like Unicef, WSP , World Bank , DFID , SIDA , DANIDA, WHO, Global Sanitation Fund, USAID, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation etc. have always been keen to work as catalysts for achieving the common goals of MDG . UNICEF has been working with Govt. since inception of all our water & sanitation programs - their excellent professional inputs used to be the focal point once upon a time , which , in recent years have deteriorated , perhaps , due to growing bureaucratization of their own system . There is lack of coordination amongst these good Samaritans with Govt. departments - too many cooks spoil the pot like such situations create great chaos & confusion to achieve our goals . There are many such areas having tremendous scope for improvement . 3) MINIMUM GOVERNMENT , MAXIMUM GOVERNANCE :- Prime Minister, Sir ! Your catchy slogan of Minimum Govt. , Maximum Governance has inspired all of us . It has aroused hope that you are determined to curb huge colossal Tragedy of Waste. If we sum up in late Nani Palkhivalas words, The tragedy of India today is is the tragedy of waste - waste of manpower , waste of industrial capacity , waste of talent & experience which can be harnessed to great national purposes . More than half of our laws & national policies seem to be well calculated to ensure the perpetuation of such waste . ( Courtesy : We, the People by N. A. Palkhivala ) We do have full faith in your ignited innovative mind but a Prime Minister of the largest democracy in the world surrounded by people with the maxim of MERA KYA , MUJHE KYA- monsters are always muscling like KALIYA NAAGS ( Cobras ) in todays coalition era & vote bank politics . As such, you need such divine power of Lord Krishnas calibre to curb & minimize such evils for a longer period of time . May the Almighty bless you to overpower such RAKT BEEZ ( Cancerous Corrupt System ) sooner than we are imagining ! According to Dr. Vimal Jalan , the great economist & former RBI Governor, it requires an expenditure of Rs. 3.35 for Govt. to reach Rs. 1.00 in rural sector . This reminded us of the ground realities studied by Dr. NC Saxena , the renowned administrator & former Secretary , Ministry of Rural Development , GoI : The Government of India transfers close to 6.5 lakh crore every year to the States. If even half of it was to be sent to the seven crore poor families directly by money order, they would receive more than 130 a day! ( Courtesy : Administrative Reforms for Better Governance by Dr. NC Saxena ) Likewise , when we think in objectivity how much govt. money have been allocated in water & sanitation sector & how judiciously the expenditures have been made by the Govt. Functionaries , one can very well conclude that by this time , all BPL families would have been fully covered with proper water & sanitation facilities in a sustainable way by themselves had all those allocations would have transferred directly to the individual households in cash for labour & material components viz. pipes, hand pumps , bricks, cement , water closets etc. with the minimum facilitation by the government as being done by private mobile operators ! Can such arrangements be implementable in a smooth manner by cutting govt. expenditure without inviting much ire from the existing corrupt & inefficient chain of bureaucratic system of governance ? Such Chicken & Egg - like Catch 22 syndrome has got to be solved for the sake of Bottom of the Pyramid ( its though another matter that such divine wisdom come to govt. servants only after their retirement ) The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid is a revolutionary idea invented by Dr. C.K. Prahalad & seems fulfilling the ethos of Minimum Government , Maximum Governance . It is an important and insightful work showing persuasively how the private sector can be put at the center of development , not as a rhetorical flourish but as a real engine of jobs & services for the poor . It is an idea of Inclusive Capitalism . Lokmanya Tilak , in Geeta Rahasya , has articulated how necessary it is for every citizen to prosper by earning white money - only then, the whole nation can be strong . According to Dr. CK Prahalad, 80% Poor people who are at the Bottom of the Pyramid are NOT WARDS OF THE STATE as generally perceived by Politicians , Bureaucrats & Handful of Effluent Society - DONT SHOWER PITY ON THEM - THEY ARE CO-CREATORS . The four to five billion people at the Bottom of the Pyramid can help redefine what GOOD BUSINESS PRACTICE is . The poor must become active , informed, Poverty reduction can result from co-creating market around the needs of the poor. The Process must start with respect for Bottom of the Pyramid consumers as individuals . The process of co-creation assumes that consumers are equally important joint problem solvers - actually , they are Mahatma Gandhis TALISMAN ! New and creative approaches are needed to convert poverty into an opportunity for all concerned . This challenge must begin in all developmental programs including SWACHH BHARAT MISSION . All barriers & bottlenecks of APL-BPL- CASTE - CREEED -COMMUNITY-MEN-WOMEN -URBAN- RURAL etc. Must be Unshackled without losing even a moment & An United Partnership of CO-CREATORS should be put in place to realize our Mission . Market Principles of the Success Story in Mobile Telephony etc. are to be replicated in the areas of SWACHH BHARAT MISSION also . As W. B. Yeats wrote, Theres more enterprise in walking naked - let Aamir Khans PK-suspense ends with the learning morals of an Open Defecation Free India ! With all these words , I earnestly request & appeal you to kindly look into the matter as stated in this open letter addressed to you . It is my personal request that this letter posted on your website may kindly be treated as REGISTERED POST so that a senior ordinary citizen like me may truly believe in DIGITAL INDIA . For any inadvertent mistake in this letter , you may kindly forgive me . Finally , With All the Best Wishes , I pray to the Almighty for your perfect health, happiness & prosperity , May Swami Vivekanandas Kathopanishada Blessings of UTTISHTHATA JAAGRAT PRAAPYA VARAN NIBODHATA ( Arise , Awake , Reach Out .......till you find your Goal ) Be Always With You ! ENCLOSURE : My Letter in Hindi dated 29-07-2014 With Esteemed Regards , Sincerely Yours, Nagesh Chandra Mishra Former Engineer-in-Chief , Drinking Water & Sanitation Department , Jharkhand Present Address : SYAMANTAK , Adarsh Colony West Patel Nagar , PATNA - 800023 Email : nageshchandramishra@gmail
Posted on: Sun, 24 Aug 2014 10:32:19 +0000