LEAD STORY
POWER OF GANDHI
THE SANITATION MOVEMENT IN
INDIA AND ITS GLOBAL IMPACT
BY SOUMIT MISHRA*
From 29th September to 2nd October this year, India
was host to Mahatma Gandhi International Sanitation
Convention (MGISC) which saw participation of
Ministers of Sanitation from over 50 countries, Heads
of International Organisations, including the Secretary
General of the UN, along with various experts from the
fi eld of Sanitation. The event concluded on the 149th
Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi with a soulful
rendition of Gandhiji’s favourite bhajan “Vaishnava
Jana” performed by artists from over 40 countries.
I
ndia’s tryst with sanitation precedes its existence as an independent nation-
state. Millennia old practice of caste-system in the society had meant that
sanitation was a tabooed subject. It is often said that to solve a problem, fi rst
we need to accept that the problem exists. The issue of poor sanitation especially
at a community-level was always a pan-India concern but one that was never at
the forefront till Mahatma Gandhi made it into one of his pet issues and exerted it
into the national consciousness.
Gandhi and Sanitation
Sanitation and hygiene were more important according to Gandhi than even
political independence. Since very early in his political career, he had decided to
make Cleanliness and Sanitation a national issue. In “Satyagraha in South Africa”,
he talks about the fi lthy way in which the Asiatic people live in South Africa and
why personal and civic cleanliness must be of utmost priority. Throughout his career,
he made concerted eff orts to edify the masses about the virtues and the utter need of
sanitation and hygiene at a personal and community level. In Navajivan, a weekly
newspaper published by Gandhi, he talked about the importance of Sanitation
regularly and at length. In the November 1919 issue, he wrote about the close
relationship about good health and cleanliness, and deals with the chronic Indian vice
of spitting on the streets. On 24 May 1925, he wrote about maintaining cleanliness
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Diplomatist • Vol 6 • Issue 10 • Oct-Nov 2018, Noida • 33