I saw someone looking at the garbage pile collected in his neighbourhood and then throwing his garbage in it, with some murmur for the local corporation worker and cursing our PM. It would have appeared as a normal behaviour from that person, considering cleanliness was not considered as resident’s responsibility some years back.
Imagine if all the residents behave alike to that gentleman, the pile will only aggravate. But this didn’t happen for long as some responsible residents started cleaning the garbage pile themselves with the help of corporation workers and our gentleman who was murmuring and cursing our PM that day, also joined the noble cause.
So what brought the much needed behavioural change among the residents? The answer is very simple, holding a broom and cleaning the streets was considered as a shoddy job and there was a social stigma which was also associated. But when PM of our nation started the cleanliness campaign by holding the broom in his hands, all the social taboo associated with it got vanished and people started maintaining their surroundings clean.
Some of us may not like the current working style of the PM, as we have been so used to our status quo. We don’t admire someone asking us to create jobs through start-ups, pay more taxes so that money can be distributed among people in need, asking us to improve the cleanliness of our surroundings and our own hygiene levels and start using the digital modes of payment for better transparency of money flow.
Even Newton agreed and proved with his first law, called a law of inertia, that objects maintain its status quo unless acted upon by an external force. Same applies to us, as we love maintaining our status quo.
Our status quo has been challenged by attitudinal shift, and the things which were supposed to be social taboo are now being considered as hygiene issues.
Another classic example of attitudinal shift can be seen in the villages where constructing a toilet inside a house was considered unhealthy and people preferred going out for nature’s call. Only a few houses which belonged to economically well-off and socially upward classes had built the toilets outside their houses, within their house compounds.
This made people with economically low status and economically backward classes left with no choice, as they didn’t have much space to construct a toilet within their house compound. As a result, toilets were also considered as a social status and created more divide.
But with the present govt.’s approach to educating people and providing space, construction of toilet in every household has been a great success. People in rural areas have uplifted their personal hygiene levels due to this altitudinal shift by constructing the toilets within their houses.
Below map showcases the success of the present govt. in uplifting the hygiene level in each household.
Other initiative like Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana has also helped in bringing about the social parity. Bank accounts which were maintained by privileged few in the rural areas are not considered as a privilege anymore. Bank accounts have been opened by the economically & socially backward classes in millions number, which has created a channel for the state/central govt. to transfer the subsidies transparently.
As per www.mudra.org.in, since April 2015 Rs. 4.6 lakh crore loan was sanctioned under Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) to around 10.38 crore individuals. The important thing to notice is that out of the sanctioned loan, 76% were women borrowers. While more than 56% are individuals, who availed loan, belong to the SC, ST, or OBC category.
Some of us may argue that average loan amount which was availed comes to around Rs. 40,000 per individual, but any amount is good for an aspiring individual who couldn’t secure anything earlier.
Some may also argue that with Rs. 40,000 as an average loan availed, one can only set up a tea stall. My answer to them is that any start is a good start and we shouldn’t demean any profession, as it empowers people to work harder and earn their own living.
To conclude my article, I will like to highlight that one of the successful tea retail chain founders studied at Harvard University. He saw an opportunity in this market and has successfully created a business model. He could convince a lot of investors to invest in his business model.
But our opposition still thinks that tea selling is an ordinary job!
