Clean India Green India Essay

We all dream about a clean India. Many of us also give examples of foreign countries in terms of cleanliness, and compare the conditions of our country with those countries and their cities. The problem is that most of people only discuss it instead of taking proper steps and care to keep their surroundings clean. How many of you think you have contributed to keeping your city or country clean?

We also cannot deny the fact that the time is changing; the people of our country are more concerned with cleanliness than before. Some credit goes to the present government as they launched a campaign called Swach Bharat Abhiyan, also called as Clean India Campaign.

The purpose of launching this campaign was to make our country clean and garbage free. Also, Open defecation is still a significant issue in rural areas of our country. Therefore, under this campaign, making toilets in every rural area and house and making our country free from open defecation is one of the campaign's primary goals.

Keeping our country clean and making our country greener are two essential factors for the environment, and keeping our country and planet green is just as important as cleaning our country. We can see that deforestation is being done at a considerable level, slowly leading us to danger. It is not unknown to anyone how global warming is becoming a significant threat to the lives of humans as well as animals. Deforestation is not only causing temperature changes and global warming, but we can also see a massive increase in the pollution level in our country. Trees and plants help in reducing pollution through the process of photosynthesis by absorbing the carbon dioxide which is present in the atmosphere and reducing the greenhouse effect.

The government is also being supported in promoting greenery or saving trees and has started a campaign named "Green India Campaign". It was approved by the Indian Prime Minister's Council on National Change. The reason behind the launch of this campaign was to increase the quantity and quality of the Indian Forests by planting trees and also by preserving the present trees. The idea behind this is to reduce the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere with the help of trees.

Now the question arises: Why is it important to keep our surroundings and country clean and green?

Here, in this article, we will discuss it and also learn about "Clean India Green India" in detail.

Clean India Mission

The Clean India Mission is well known as Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. You must have already seen paintings related to cleanliness on Railway Stations, Roadside walls or any Public place in many cities. It is also a part of this mission, the purpose behind making these paintings is to spread as much as possible awareness about cleanliness. The "Clean India mission" is a nationwide movement by the government of India, causing 4041 constitutional towns to clean the country's streets, roads, rail network and communications. This mission was launched by our Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi. When he became the Prime minister of India, he observed that the people of this country must be inspired by cleanliness, and as a result, he launched this mission. The mission was launched on 2nd October 2014. We all know this is also the birth date of our Bapu, i.e. Mahatma Gandhi, who also used to inspire people for cleanliness. Gandhi Ji once said, "Sanitation is more important than independence". These words of Gandhiji led the foundation for the Clean India Mission. Gandhiji not only fought for freedom but also encouraged people toward a clean country.

Launching of the Mission

We know that people usually tend to follow their leader; their leader is an idol for them. Narendra Modi did what a true leader should do if he wants people to join him in any campaign. He took the initiative and picked up the broom and cleaned the road. Following him as a leader, about three million people from different societies cleaned the streets. The adults, children and everyone else took part in the cleanliness activities.

Objectives of the Mission

As we discussed earlier, the main objectives behind the launch of this mission were to finish open defecation, mainly in rural areas, and to change the people's habit of throwing waste here and there. Open defecation can cause diseases as it pollutes the environment. Making toilets in rural areas could solve this problem, which is why the government is taking proper steps to make toilets. The government is also granting financial help to the people to make toilets.

The success of this mission will bring a clean and healthy environment to the rural as well as urban areas.

Our responsibility is to keep our surroundings clean, including in public places such as parks, tourist attractions and public toilets. We should avoid throwing garbage anywhere on the roads or in other areas. Instead, we should use dustbins to keep such places clean. The best way to generate this habit is that we should start a cleanliness drive in our house, kitchen, room and society. The situation and time demand are to protect the environmental beauty and purity of the surroundings before it is too late.

The steps we can take is that when we go to the market, we do not use plastic bags but carry a bag that can be recycled and is not harmful to the environment. Plastics are something that may take hundreds or thousands of years to decompose. For example, a straw made of plastic takes around 200 years, a cup made of foam plastic takes approximately 50 years, and a plastic bottle takes about 450 years to decompose fully.

It has been proved that Plastics are something our bodies cannot digest; the matter of concern is that plastics have entered the food chain. Most packaged foods use plastic bags because of their durability and strength. Likewise, plastics are also used for many other things. However, most of these plastics usually end up in the rivers or oceans, where they break into tiny particles and enter the heart of the food chain, i.e. Plankton. And from there, through the food chain (such as seafood), it travels back to humans, which is very harmful to us and may cause cancer.

Apart from this, if the plastic is thrown away or left on the soil, the cultivating characteristics of the soil deteriorate. Also, it can pollute the groundwater to some extent. Therefore, wastes should also be disposed of in the right manner. There is a need for a proper plan to reduce the pollution caused by the garbage, but more important is that we strictly implement or follow the agenda too. If India becomes cleaner and greener, it will not just be beneficial for us but our future generation also.

According to scientists, the reason behind the plague was fleas and rats, which were infected with bacteria. The streets of Europe were not clean, and as a result, the rats thrived in the streets of Europe. During that time, there were not even proper waste disposal methods in many cities of Europe, and cleanliness was lacking. We must ensure that something like a plague never happens again, which is why the Clean India mission has been launched.

Green India Mission

The Green India mission or National Mission for a Green India was launched in February 2014. The mission was launched with a motive to protect, restore and increase India's decreasing forest cover. Along with that, this mission was launched as a response to climate change by combining adaptation and mitigation resources. Green India Mission, also known as National Mission for a Green India, was established under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC).

It is one of the eight missions launched under India's action plan for addressing the sudden climate changes. This mission recognizes the influence of a forest on the environment as well as on dependent communities.

This mission has been launched for 10 years with an outlay of around Rs 60,000 crore.

Goals of the Green India Mission

National Mission for a Green India has some major goals; they are as follows-

• Improve forest cover by five million hectares (MHA) along with maintaining the quality of existing green cover.
• To serve ecosystem services like carbon sequestration by 50 to 60 million tons in the year 2020, including the hydrological services and biodiversity and provisioning services like fuel, fodder, and timber and non-timber forest produce.
• According to NDC, India's current forest cover is 75 million hectares; for the carbon sequestration target, 30 million hectares of additional land would be required.
• Maintaining non-forest areas/ Public Forest.
• Afforestation of scrub, cold deserts, abandoned mining areas, mangroves, shifting cultivation areas and ravines.
• Goals set by GIM also include improving forest-based livelihood income for about 3 million households.

However, in 2017-18, only around Rs. 47.8 crores was allocated for the scheme, which is grossly insufficient.

According to reports in 2015-16 and 2016-17, GIM missed its target by 34% as instead of the targeted 67,956 hectares, only 44,749 hectares of land got green cover.

Under this mission, Afforestation was done with the aim of increasing the number of trees, but the soil and weather conditions were not considered. Also, Eucalyptus trees were planted, which made environmental problems worse, resulting in droughts and biodiversity loss.

Increase in Global Temperature and Green House Effect

Due to the industrial revolution, a drastic increase in our carbon footprint can be seen. Industries and vehicles release gases like Carbon dioxide and other exhaust gases; these are called greenhouse gases. These gases are the primary reason behind the greenhouse effect as they trap the heat from the sun.

What is interesting here is that the greenhouse effect is also necessary for life and is a natural phenomenon. Without this effect, the earth would not be able to capture the heat and release it quickly, because of which the earth would freeze soon and not be suitable for life.

But, if these greenhouse gases are present in large quantities in the earth's atmosphere, the earth would trap excess heat, resulting in a global temperature rise. The rise in the global temperature has many repercussions, like the melting of the polar ice caps. Consequently, it will imbalance the ecosystem and cause endangered species to become extinct and a significant threat to human life.

To avoid all these repercussions, it was necessary to launch a mission or a plan that helps not only India but the entire world as it is a topic of global concern. As a result of the need, Green India Mission was launched by the Indian government.

You might wonder how this mission helps reduce the carbon footprint. As we discussed above, Green India Mission is about increasing the quantity and quality of forest areas in the country. Trees absorb the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through the process of photosynthesis, and this is how it will help us in reducing the greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, which will result in the reduction of the greenhouse effect.

Conclusion

Cleanliness is the introduction of purification in our lifestyle and the removal of impurities from our environment. For any nation, Greenness and cleanliness are vital to its development. The cleanliness and greenery of any country attract people from other countries to visit that country and enjoy nature. It not only increases the country's pride but also benefits it financially through increased tourism. The government has launched missions related to cleanliness and greenery. Still, now it is our responsibility to strictly implement necessary strategies in our lives and help our country in sustainable development.