Bihar has 6/10 Dirtiest Cities in India
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, on Thursday, announced the results ofSwachh Survekshan2020. Not very surprisingly, but definitely quite alarmingly, 6 cities among the top 10 Dirtiest cities in India, with a population less than 10 lakhs are from Bihar. The state’s capital Patna has come out as the dirtiest city in India with more than 1 million population. Check the list here:
Bihar has Dirtiest Cities in India
Bihar is amongst the bottom ranks in almost all the major parameters that are accounted for in the traditional or the more recent view of development. Bihar ranks the last (36th) in the Human Development Index (HDI) among all the states and UTs in India (HDI-2018). Despite being a non-industrial state, the fact that we are at the lowest position in cleanliness is not just worrisome but also shameful for us.
These stats, accompanied by the poor law and order situation are picked up by groups that have, since aeons demeanedBiharisand their stereotype of presenting Bihar as some filthy, lawless, anarchical piece of land gets reinforced.
The political neglect and henceforth, faulty and lukewarm implementation of laws such as theSwachh Bharat Abhiyan, Green Skill Development Programme, Toilets before temples(?) Namami Gange Programme,and myriad others inherently have been a causative factor in the long-prevalent poor state.
We, however, are no less a culprit for we choose to shrug off our responsibilities, with the usual ‘Oh! It’s the government’ cliché. And to elect ournetas, we analyse everything including their caste, creed, religion, colour, gender, ethnicity but their commitment to work.
It’s fine to lose trust in the government/ state machinery because pollution seemingly never was an issue of concern for them. Subsequent governments showed a similar apathy towards administering the grave issue of cleanliness.
Firstpoststates, ‘The progress of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s much-hyped programme to make the country open defecation free (ODF) under Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) has been lackadaisical in Bihar,’ In Patna, only 27.40 percent of the rural area is ODF (Open Defecation Free), as perSwacch Bharat Mission website (2019).There have been instances of impractical grants to missions for alleviating pollution; there’s no check done whatsoever.
The 28-days Swachh Survekshan 2020 survey covered 4,242 cities, 62 cantonment boards and 97 Ganga towns. In its category, Bihar has secured the last lank, amongst 12 states. Jharkhand has bagged the first position amongst the cleanest state with less than 100 cities.
It’s also grievous to see that Bhagalpur, aSmart Cityis the 4th most polluted city with a population under 10 lakhs. Indore became the cleanest city for the fourth consecutive year. It is followed by Surat. Navi Mumbai is 3rdin the same list. Varanasi was declared as the cleanest Ganga town.
There’s a limit to how far we can brush aside our responsibilities. Now that we have known how ineffective the ones yielding power can be, let’s try beingAatmanirbhar,at least for the cleanliness of our own area. We ought to work collectively organizing cleanliness drives in small target areas.
The least that we can do; and the idea is repeated quite often; is to stop throwing garbage at places where they shouldn’t be disposed off. Bihar doesn’t profound in industrial wastes. All other forms of wastes can be brought under control through easy, cognitive human efforts. The government might make Utopian plans that’d never be executed. We, however, have the dynamism to be the agents of social and environmental change.
It’s the civilian and not the government that constitutes the majority. If all the residents of the 7 cities that have scored abysmally in terms of cleanliness work diligently in one accord, aiming not to see their respective cities in the dirtiest city list, decent milestones in the nextSwachh Survekshanare bound to be achieved.
- The Times of India (2020, August 21).And the dirtiest cities of India are…,The Times of India.
- Yadav, Anubhavi (2020, August 20).Swachh Survekshan 2020: Check out 10 dirtiest cities of the country,Times Now.
- Rajshekhar, M. (2017, July 25).State wrap: Bihar is struggling with development while communal cracks grow wider.The Scroll
- Zee Media Bureau (2020, August 21).Indore cleanest, Patna dirtiest city in country; learning lessons for Delhi and Chennai.Zee News
- FPJ Webdesk (2020, August 21).Six of 10 dirtiest cities in India are from Bihar, Lalu wonders if Nitish will still blame him,Free Press Journal
- Singh, Atyasha, Mishra Ramakant (2019, January 10).Swachh Bharat Mission in Bihar stumbling due to govt corruption and slow construction of toilets, say villagers,Firstpost