The need for hygienic cleanliness to safeguard and promote health and wellbeing of its citizens is of prime importance for a nation. As India is surging ahead in its journey to become an economic superpower, there is also a simultaneous need for development of a concept cleanliness and hygiene, two important parameters for measurement of Human Development Index of a country.
Few important components of any civil infrastructure that directly impact Human Development Index include (i) access to quality education (ii) access to quality health care system and (iii) access to proper sanitation and clean and safe drinking water. Nearly 800 million people in the country do not have access to proper sanitation. Nearly 100 million people in the country do not have access to regular safe drinking water. With more than 6 per cent of this population lacking access to safe water and about 15 per cent of India’s population practicing open defecation, a major chunk of the country’s population is exposed to various types of water-borne and hygiene related ailments.
‘Cleanliness is next to Godliness’ is what we have learnt since childhood. We were always taught to follow a strict cleanliness regime. But cleanliness or maintaining standard sanitation habits is a lifetime virtue which needs to be nurtured since childhood. Economic progress of a country depends on the health and hygiene of their citizens which is in turn related to the equitable investment pattern through various government schemes towards sanitation and cleanliness. While safeguarding public health involves several measures, which cannot be only influenced by individual behaviour and therefore must involve societal action, some of the pertinent questions that need to be addressed are: whether all households have access to safe drinking water, toilets, medical aid, use of soap or disinfectants?
Investments in low-cost, environment-friendly and innovative interventions such as make-shift public toilets can help to a great extent in discouraging open defecation. However, creating sanitation facilities without spreading awareness and necessity of their usage will prove to be futile. Hence, sustainable infrastructure and social campaigns for behavioural change must go hand in hand, in order to improve the quality of life, particularly of the vulnerable sections of society.
Whereas the national percentage of open defecation free (ODF) was 46.9 in 2011, it has reached 98.21 per cent in the year 2019. On a comparative scale, while the ODF status of Meghalaya was 62.9 per cent in 2011, it was 95.7 per cent in 2019. These observations clearly indicate that while the country as a whole and Meghalaya in particular, have made considerable progress in sanitation and public health over the last decade, a lot more needs to be done to this effect.
Less than 50 per cent of India’s population has access to safe drinking water. Under the government’s flagship Jal Jeevan Mission, over 84.5 million, which amounts to 44 per cent of the total 192.2 million rural households, have been provided with piped water connections by the end of 2021.
However, with just over 44.7 per cent households having access to safe drinking water, Meghalaya seems to be amongst the poor performer states in this area. The Meghalaya State Water Policy (2019) envisages an “Integrated Water Resources Management” with the involvement of local communities for sustainable development, management and use of Meghalaya’s water resources. This policy has been framed after taking into consideration the needs and aspirations of the local people and the complexities involved in solving the various water-related issues.
One of the most visible impacts of rapidly increasing urbanisation is the coming up of dumping sites with heaps of solid waste in the suburbs of nearly all the cities and towns. The Government of Meghalaya, with support from the Ministry of Urban Development and the Asian Development Bank is implementing a project in partnership with the North Eastern Region Capital Cities Development Investment Programme to improve and upgrade the existing system of solid waste management.
While the project was to promote segregation of waste at the doorstep of residents of the municipal area and to provide long-term solutions to the problems of solid waste management, only 5 per cent of solid waste is managed through door to door collection. While there is an urgent need for formulation of stringent rules governing the disposal of solid wastes in the state, it is high time that the state formulates a set of rules for management of liquid wastes generated in hospitals, industries and other similar activities.
In this context, “Swachh Bharat Abhiyan” is a timely initiative to enable the elimination of challenges of hygiene and sanitation in the country. The society would also need to focus on behavioural changes to address challenges related to “Water, Arogya, Sanitation and Hygiene” (WASH). In this regard, the Government of Meghalaya has taken several initiatives including formulation of “Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF) (2021)”.
Meghalaya has a strong potential for tourism. As a tourist destination, it is important that the state maintains a clean environment. Mawlynnong, a small village in the East Khasi Hills District of the State located at 25.2018° N, 91.9160° E, presents itself as a proven example of harmony between nature, society and tourism based economic activity. The village is notable for its cleanliness and carries the tag of Asia’s cleanest village which has immensely boosted its tourism and in the growth of local economy.
Mawlynnong village has its own unique solid waste management system wherein waste is collected in dustbins made of bamboo followed by its composting in deep pits for use as manure. All the residents are to mandatorily participate in cleaning drives. The village has the distinction of being 100 per cent ODF with all the households having functional toilets.
Because of its pleasant weather and a large number of educational institutions, Shillong, the capital city of Meghalaya, has remained the educational hub of the North East. The scenic beauty of Shillong is also an attraction for tourists from outside the region. However, many places such as electric poles, office corridors, walls, bus seats have been converted to ugly sites by rubbing lime or spitting by people from all sections of the society.
Similarly, Umshyrpi and Wah Umkhrah rivers have been converted into dirty drains by dumping of solid as well as liquid wastes. The pine tree cones and needles, which are present all around Shillong, make the city dirty. The needles could be a source of income for the local population by converting them to soft coal and cones as decorative handicraft items.
It may be worthwhile to mention here about the involvement of the state government of Uttarakhand in implementation of an alternative energy solution project using dried pine needles for manufacturing ‘coal bricks’ by mixing the needles with cow dung. While the coal is used as energy for home cooking and other small businesses, the scheme also helps in keeping the areas clean and free of pine needles.
Shillong ranks 69th in “Smart City Index” among the top 100 cities in India. As a tourist destination, it is important for us to keep the city clean and help in the improvement of its ranking amongst the clean smart cities of the country. Cleanliness cannot be confined to one’s own surroundings only, rather there is a need for societal participation in prohibiting littering in public places, rubbing of lime and spitting at public places, segregation and disposal of domestic waste, landscape beautification and social behaviour.
We need to rise up and build a “Beautiful Clean Meghalaya”. For achieving such a status there is a need for implementation of action plans that can serve as a roadmap for other hill stations in the country. These include mandatory segregation of bio-degradable and non-biodegradable waste at their source of its generation and its collection through a public/municipal waste collection system, scientific disposal of solid wastes without affecting the environment, establishment of waste material processing units to manufacture products like fertilizer, natural gas, plastics, etc, mandatory implementation of ODF protocol all across the State, increasing coverage of households for clean and safe drinking water under Jal Jeevan Mission, development of underground drainage system, no forest fires except under controlled conditions and with the approval of competent authorities, implementation of system of imposing penalties for littering/spitting/rubbing lime on public spaces/open defecation.
