Why are Streets of India Dirty?

Usually what happens in India is a politician wakes up and launches a cleanliness “drive” with fanfare. They ostentatiously start sweeping a street and speak solemnly about civic duty while the media takes photos. The next day it’s over and things go back to how they were before. I was in India recently and the streets of Bangalore were dirty, and traffic was truly unruly. 

But not in Indore in Madhya Pradesh. From 2017, when it won the prize for being the cleanest city in the country, it kept winning for eight straight years, until 2024. “When you come out of the airport, it feels as though you aren’t in India, it’s so clean,” said a corporate executive who travels to Indore frequently for work.

 

Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org

Before 2017, Indore was ranked 25th of 471 towns and cities in the government’s cleanliness rankings. And AI attributes that cleanliness disparity is because of population density, waste management malpractices, cultural issues, public awareness (or the lack of it), economic factors and urbanisation. 

The transformation for Indore has covered many aspects of public life, from the way waste is removed and treated to the army of about 850 sweepers and the thousands of differently coloured bins that line even the smallest alley. In many cities, families will keep their home scrupulously clean, but a few feet from their front door rubbish is left lying around. That’s someone else’s responsibility. 

Indore was once dotted with fetid garbage dumps where stray cows, pigs and dogs rootled around and added their excrement to the pile, attracting swarms of flies. But now in the early morning, pavements and road dividers are hosed down with recycled water. The garbage vans roll out playing a jingle called Indore Has Become Number One. As the sound approaches, people emerge from their homes with their rubbish. Using GPS tracking, a team of workers monitor the vans’ movements to make sure they are doing their job and not cutting corners. The local government says 100% of household waste is segregated into wet, electronics, plastics, non-plastic, biomedical and hazardous materials. 

Residents have taken up cleanliness as their own personal responsibility, according to a petrol pump owner. “I’ve seen people stopping someone who littered. I’ve seen drivers stop their car when they see rubbish on the street to remove it. It’s become a kind of mission that inspires everyone,” he said. 

It took intensive public awareness campaigns to bring about the new behaviour. Schoolchildren were asked to take oaths to keep the city clean. CCTV cameras were installed and anyone who was identified as having dropped rubbish was fined. Cleanliness competitions were launched. Religious leaders were roped in to invoke religious texts to back up the need for hygiene. During the Hindu festival of Holi, when streets and buildings become stained with bright colours, extra vehicles and water tankers come out to hose the city down. 

Indore’s success could be replicated elsewhere in India if local governments dedicate themselves to it. In Singapore, litterbugs do community service and carry placard to shame them. And it has worked. So, we need reward-penalty mechanism to change behaviour of ordinary folks in Malaysia. And it can be done. 

Reference:

I’ve seen people stop their cars to pick up litter’: how one city cleaned up its streets, Amrit Dhillon, The Guardian, 4 April 2025