Swachh Bharat Abhiyan | Clean India Movement | Is It A Farce?

Swachh Bharat?
What is it?

Is it something like the images of Narendra Modi holding a broomstick himself and cleaning some places in New Delhi going viral? Or is it something like the iconic star Aamir Khan holding the broom? Or some other diplomats like Priyanka Chopra posing with some brooms?

What is it? What do you think Swachha Bharat is?

Or is it simply yourself taking a selfie holding one broom and pretending to clean your roadside?

The great personalities may be stepping forward with some good intentions to be a role model for others to get inspired to keep their home and environments clean and hygienic.

But what about the administration?

Where is the presence of real good administration and mentally prepared, disciplined public?


Mere Messages Does Not Create Cleanliness

Today I got some message from HP DBTL early in the morning at 5:29 am. while my alarm was ringing to wake me up. When I saw the message I thought it could be regarding some special offer to procure my second cylinder either free or at a discounted price since the message was from HP Gas and started with the words "our honorable PM Narendra Modi".

But LOL!!! It was the same message that I got the previous day from our Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation 2, 3 times requesting to contribute 100 hours per year on cleanliness and asking me to send this message to all my other contacts.

And, this time it was from our state's honorable minister for petroleum and natural gases.

Do you think you can keep the city or country clean by merely circulating messages? No... Not at all. Messages are read and deleted.

Mere messages and alerts do not work here.

Most people do not like somebody guiding their actions at all.

Only Sincere Actions Work

Everybody should work from the basic point of cleanliness.

What is cleanliness? Can anybody correctly tell?

Most of us think to keep clean means cleaning your place after making it dirt. Is it true or not?

But that is not maintaining cleanliness. 

Cleanliness implies keeping your habits clean, civilized and hygienic.

I am always conscious of cleanliness and I never allow my family members to squatter the waste on floors or around my house. Never. Never would I do things like that. I always maintain my places clean and never give chance for sweeping and collecting the rubbish afterwards. So only we need to make it cleaner with a wet cloth or mop. That is all what we need to do.

Most of us need to learn all these things by watching at people who are very conscious of each and every point of this field.

Mahatma Gandhi was a great person who practised and lived the life he preached. People were moved by his way of life and felt ashamed of themselves to be present in front of such a great ideal person.

What I want to tell is why do we make it dirt and rubbish at all? Why not think before acting?

Why should we make our places, first of all, rubbish and then think of cleaning the rubbish?


Six Simple Tips for Maintaining Cleanliness

Let us develop some simple habits of keeping our rooms, roads and neighbourhood neat and clean. Here are some tips to keep it clean.

• Do not throw wastepaper or other rubbish around you either in rooms, offices or on roads while even on journeys.
• Keep the waste in the dust bins provided or in some polythene bags and disperse the waste when the dust collector comes to collect it.
• During journeys also, you should not throw the waste on roads or on rail tracks. It should be kept with you till the end of your journey and handed over to the dust collector or dropped in a garbage bin.
• Throwing water while washing and spitting at whichever place you may find are very bad habits. 
• Wash the hands or anything at the specific places provided for the same purpose and keep all surroundings dry and clean.
• Spitting in wash basins and washing it with the water is okay. But leaving it unwashed or spitting at any other place you may find vacant is a very bad habit. If wash basins are not there, you should spit in the earth place that may be available in your backyard or at deserted places on the way where it can easily dry up and leave no traces. But never on roads and walls of buildings or compounds.

The above tips are for keeping your places clean so that there will be no need for sweeping with brooms at all.

You only need to remove the dust with the help of vacuum cleaners or water soaked clothes or Mops.

Now, coming to the duties of our Municipal corporations:

Our municipal corporations need to do much more than just sending messages to keep it clean.

• Provide public garbage/dustbins at frequent distances for people on roads to discharge waste which are designed just like the post office letter boxes so that they are easily operational and hygienic also. 
• Collect the waste from homes and establishments and the public dustbins timely and regularly.
• Educate the garbage collectors/pickers to carry the waste in their hand pulled carts carefully without spilling it all throughout the way to be flown by air squattering all over the roads and entrances of homes which is the case presently at all places.
• The intermittent dumping points should handle the garbage properly so as to dispose it quickly within hours and should not be left there for more than 2, 3 hours as seen presently by me at some places.
• Many other ways of keeping clean are there like preventing overflowing of drains through regular checkups and through regular repairs and maintenance of leaking pipes, broken roads, etc.

So, once again, coming to the point of Swachh Bharat. Swachh Bharat is not simply achieved by one person or groups of persons trying to spread the message. It is a combined effort of both public and municipal administration with true intention and determination of keeping the surroundings neat and clean before it gets rubbish.

Swachh Bharat or Clean India is possible only when both our public and the administration strive for it sincerely. Public should honestly try to keep their home, workplaces and public places including neighbourhood neat and clean through good, civilized habits being conscious of others. 'Prevention is better than curing' should be the policy of all of us so that no need arises for cleaning it afterwards.


There will not be any need for brooms or broomsticks if all of us follow above tips.

Made-In-India | Promote Indian-ism

Promote "Made in India"

Our Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Independence Day speech rightly and timely stressed the need for promoting Indianism by calling investors for "made in India" products. His Independence Day speech mostly focused on making our country a manufacturing hub and developing the lives of our poor common man.

Till now much attention has been given to making our country an IT hub.

Thereby, the manufacturing sector has somewhat been ignored or given step-motherly treatment in our lust for IT.

Narendra Modi is now taking a bold and timely step to drag the attention of all industrialists to concentrate on promoting the concept of "Made-In-India" goods and services.

It can be a great twist for attaining self-sufficiency and economic development of our country.

Our country has enough technology and resources to be capable of producing all types and kinds of goods required for our needs. But due to the convergence of MNCs and the Metro style of living, our people have been mostly tilting towards consumption of western countries' products since a decade or so. They have become a bit of blindly getting attracted towards the foreign glamour and bash living standards.

This kind of craziness is not to be found in other countries. All of them love their own culture, traditions, heritage, and lifestyles and are not dragged madly towards foreign lifestyles and cultures.

Those countries' people mostly try to preserve their own heritage and cultures and their country's prestige and reputation.

But our people, mostly new generations, are becoming averse to our heritage and living-styles and getting more easily attracted towards western culture and lifestyles.

Due to this change in lifestyles and habits of our younger generations, our country's products are getting less demand in the markets whereas foreign brands and products are being increasingly consumed by our people.

This is a great drawback for our industries as their products do not attract sufficient market.

Our PM's call to MNCs should correct this position.

Much attention requires being given by our businessmen to concentrate on production of good quality indigenous products especially in the sectors of electronic goods and textile products, which control a major share of the market demand.

True patriots of our country and our heritage should contemplate on this problem very seriously and find some solutions.

A kind of "Modifying' our country throughout each point and level of the economy is required. Our attitudes and lifestyles should also be overhauled and revamped completely to bring back everything to Indianism.

Please try to understand the values of our heritage and traditions and the inner essence and science of those practices and lifestyles.

Our culture and heritage are so great since thousands of years back which inspired all other parts of the world.

Our Science, Maths, Philosophy, Astrology are all so great and superior to all other countries.

We must be proud of our heritage and culture and adapt them and show our greatness to foreigners instead of imitating their lifestyles.

Show Indianism in all your actions, thoughts and lifestyles.

Become an embodiment of "Made-In-India" personality.

Tell people how great your country is and spread the cult of Indianism.

"I Love My India"

Independence Day and Real Independence in Life

Most of us are very proud to shout loudly and say that we are Independent.

Our country attained Independence from British Raj, after a long struggle of freedom fighters and on the loss of many great heroes' lives and loss of much property. Much blood has been spilled all over the corners of our country for many years and the unforgettable Jallianwala Bagh well is the witness of our people's sacrifice.

Our great Father of Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, with the cooperation of many great selfless heroes fought barehanded with those rulers who were armed with many sophisticated weapons and attained freedom for our lives from their tyranny.

Now, we are happy to feel ours an Independent country and reap the fruits of all their bloodshed.

We simply commemorate their sacrifices on a single day like this and feel quite satisfied that we have done our duty to thank them. Some of us may not be doing even this small favor to our heroes. We enjoy a holiday delighting ourselves with picnics, parties, sweets, and chats.

Our duty is over. Done much to pay our homage. Is n't it?

But, even so, I feel somehow that we are still not Independent.  

Are You Independent in the True Sense?

All around, I see the shadows and gallows of western culture, fashion, lifestyle haunting our people, especially our younger generation. It appears that they are still in the shackles of foreign rulers and not got freed from them.

Our Indian country has a great culture, great heritage, art, science, music everything which is never lower than other cultures. Then why do we get attracted towards other glamorous lifestyles instead of promoting our lifestyles and culture? Why are you so weak and easily fall prey to those artificial things leaving your own country or region's high valued natural lifestyles which are far more superior than those western styles?

You will get much more satisfaction and comfort by following your own heritage and lifestyle instead of mimicking other countries.

Try to learn the greatness of the lifestyle and culture of your country and your native region and practice it always. Be proud of your country, your state, your city, your village, street and home and have the guts to shout loudly and say that you are a guy from your place and you love and be proud of what you are. 

Free yourself from the bondage of western lifestyles and be proud to live as an Indian.

Chutney Recipes Made From Peels of Vegetables

Chutney is a side dish most popularly used with tiffins and meals all over India. In modern culture, sauce and jam are trying to take over the place of chutneys. But still, most people like the age-old chutneys like idli chutney, Pudina (mint leaves) chutney, Dhaniya (coriander leaves) chutney, ginger chutney, etc.

All above chutneys and many more chutneys have their own special tastes and are quite healthy also. There are many blogs dealing with these chutneys.

But, I am presently concerned with some green, healthy chutneys most of which may not be known to the modern generation and which may not be found on the internet.

The Importance of Green Vegetable Chutneys

These green chutneys are made from the fiber (skin) of green vegetables and leaves which are beneficial for a better blood circulation in our human bodies.

The skins/peels and leaves of these vegetables contain fiber, calcium, potassium, and iron much needed for our body.



Most of us simply do not the value of it and so, without hesitation, throw away the skins of bottle-gourd, ridge-gourd, or the outer leaves of cabbage, etc. which should not be thrown away like that.

But one should know that consuming as much of fiber as possible is essential for the health of our body.

Starch, proteins, and oils stick to our body cells and cause indigestion and gastric problems.

Consumption of fiber prevents these smooth substances from hampering our digestion and creating fat.

Fiber-rich food enables a free circulation flow and thereby controls indigestion and any accumulation of sticky material in the body.

That is the reason behind the need for an intake of as much fiber as possible through the consumption of some vegetables and fruits along with their skins and by using the edible vegetable skins in preparation of chutneys.

Preparation Tips for Fiber-Rich Green Vegetable Chutneys

Here are some easy tips to prepare such fiber-rich green chutneys as described in the following paragraphs.

1) Ridge Gourd Chutney

Wash the ridge gourd and peel the skin with a peeler. The skin peels may be cut into medium pieces so as to be smaller than the grinding jar size. If you want, you can make chutney of the entire gourd. In that case, you may not peel skin separately. You can cut the whole gourd into small pieces along with its skin. But, if you are making a curry of the gourd and do not know about utilizing the skins, this is the method for utilizing them by making chutney. You keep ready some red dry chilies (3 to 4 chilies for a half kg. gourd peels), mustard seeds, and Cummins.

• Now, light the stove and place the hollow pan (kadhai) on the flame. Pour one tablespoon oil and heat it. 
• Then add the chilies, mustard, cumin seeds, and fry till the mustard makes the splitting sound. 
• Next, add the cut pieces of gourd or gourd skin and fry for some time say 2 minutes. 
• Then, remove the pan from flame and leave it to cool. 
• After 3 to 5 minutes, you can grind it. 
• Put the fried material into the jar, add salt, turmeric powder and  5 to 10 grams of tamarind as per your likings and grind the mixture into a paste adding some water for a better grinding. 
• One minute is enough for grinding. A little bit roughness is good for health. 
• Now your chutney is ready to serve. Remove it into a bowl having a tight-lid. You can store it for 2, 3 days in your fridge for your daily consumption.

2) Bottle Gourd Chutney  

Use the same procedure as above. Cut the gourd along with skins or peel the skin separately to make curry with the inner material and chutney with the outer skins. It is advisable to add some pieces of the inner material also to the skins (say 100 grams or so) for good taste of chutney. Then fry in the frying pan as above along with red dry chilies, mustard, and cumin. Fry for 1 or 2 minutes and cool and grind in the mixie along with tamarind, turmeric powder, and salt.

This chutney may consume less water than Ridge gourd.

Remove the chutney from the grinder into a container and serve as per needs.

You can store this chutney also for 2, 3 days in a tight-lid container.

3) Cabbage Chutney

Wash the outer leaves of cabbage by separating them from the whole cabbage upto three or four layers. The remaining cabbage does not need washing. Now cut the leaves into small pieces and also some portion of the cabbage to meet requirements. The balance cabbage may be used for preparing your curry as usual.

The cut pieces for making chutney should be fried as per above-mentioned procedure along with the red chilies, mustard, and cumin.

Then cool it and grind in the mixie adding salt, turmeric, tamarind.

Your chutney is ready for serving.

4) Spinach or Any Leafy Vegetable Chutney

These whole leaf vegetables are also good for making chutneys.

• Cut the roots portion of these leafy plants and throw them away.
• Now wash the usable portion. Cut them into pieces. Quantity will depend on your needs and tastes. 
• Chilies can be increased or decreased according to requirement. 
• Fry the cut pieces of these leafy vegetables as per the same procedure as above along with chilies, mustard, and cumin. When you fry them, the quantity reduces to one-fourth or so. 
• Then cool the material and grind along with salt, turmeric, and tamarind as above chutneys.

For full details of preparation along with images, you may visit another article at hubpages.com 

by clicking here

All these chutneys are very healthy besides being very tasty and spicy. You can use them with breakfast, tiffin or meals items.


How to Eat the Chutneys Recipes

Just like you use sauce or jam, use these chutneys in lieu of them or along with them as an extra dish. What you do is simple take a loaf of bread, burger or donut, etc. and touch the chutney with it so that some chutney sticks to it. Then swallow the loaf like anything else. You will feel the difference. A spicy taste will enter into your mouth enhancing your appetite. You will definitely enjoy the taste. Not only for these western food stuffs, but many Indian breakfast stuffs like Idli, Dosa, Vada, Upma, Puri, Paratha, etc. all can be enjoyed with these chutneys joyfully. I and my family members enjoy it very much with our breakfast Idlis very often. It tastes so good, you can't imagine.

For those who eat rice, mix the chutney, one or two spoonfuls into a plate of well cooked rice, so that the chutney mixes fully into the whole rice evenly. Now eat the rice with a spoon just like you eat biryani, lemon rice, tomato rice, etc. It will be very good in taste.

Important Points to note

• The quantity of chillies, salt and tamarind, etc. depend upon the quantity of chutney prepared.
• Water for grinding may be added in two trips so as to make the chutney as solid or liquid as per your choice and for better grinding also.
• Take care that items do not get too much fried or burnt while frying. The vegetable skins, leaves etc should not get fully cooked or fried. They should be less than half fried so that natural elements of fibre and leaves remain intact to secure health benefits.
• Do not grind for more time. First grind for 30 seconds, then add water and grind for 30 seconds. It can be enough.
• The ground paste should contain some rough particles in it to be healthy. So do not grind excess.

Tobacco Kills

Tobacco and Cigarette are very dangerous to health. In spite of the thousands of cases witnessed in our everyday lives, people are simply ignoring the fact and continuing their addiction to this life-taking habit. I am very much concerned and agitated at the thought of the bad consequences waiting for them.

Why don't you, indulging in such habits, try to understand the hazards and the consequences you might have to face if you continue your stubborn attitude like this?

• You must be coming across the warning "cigarette smoking is injurious to health" or the other one that tells "tobacco kills" many times in your life.
• As it is a very serious matter to be concentrated, especially if you are a chain smoker or going for smoke many times in a day, it is now time to think over the matter and look for reducing the smoking habit and finally quit it.
• It may be difficult to make up your mind.
• But you must think of your family members and your dear and near ones if you love them truly and honestly.
• Whenever you go for purchasing these things, the thought of your family should strike your mind and heart. You must control yourself for their sake.
• Can't you sacrifice something for your loved ones?
• You are being asked only to leave this bad and harmful habit for their sake. Not to sacrifice your life.
• You must take it seriously and not a joke. The warning is not for simple awareness but for serious contemplation. So Quit Smoking before it is late.

In spite of the many awareness programs and advertisements regarding the bad effects of smoking, people are going on continuing this practice and there are many more new entrants every day according to the statistics, even though some people are quitting also.

Do you ever know that a burned cigarette produces thousands of chemicals and some of them very poisonous? And when you put it into your mouth and inhale the smoke, hundreds of poisonous gases enter into your body causing much damage to your throat, lungs and the whole system of your body?

It is a scientifically proven fact that the smoke inhaled from the burned cigarette contains many poisonous agents that pass into your lungs such as nicotine, carbon monoxide, the carcinogen and even radioactive metals that stick to your cells- all these causing cancers and many other deadly complications in your body.

The following links can give you a detailed report of the hazards of smoking recently confirmed by US Surgeon General and other researchers,

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/surgeon-general-report-links-more-diseases-health-problems-to-smoking-tobacco/2014/01/16/c0552c90-7eb5-11e3-95c6-0a7aa80874bc_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines

http://pub.mims.com/India/topic/medical-tribune-in/nearly-1-billion-smokers-worldwide-time-to-talk-harm-reduction?elq_mid=150&elq_cid=882208

Do you know that smoking is injurious not only to you but to your near and dear ones also? Whenever you smoke and release the coils into the air it spreads around your vicinity in your homes and at outside places and it may enter into the bodies of your family members and friends thus causing injury to them. You must have come across this fact in the above-linked reports of medical experts.

Many types of research have shown that radiation also plays an important role in causing cancer to tobacco consumers. Radiation is the result of fertilizers used by tobacco growers to increase production. This radiation of tobacco leaves produces radionuclide and radium which is more dangerous as per American researchers. Here is a link to the articles dealing with this fact published by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

I once again stress the need for re-thinking on this need for quitting smoking. Why this unhealthy habit? It only sucks your health and money. You can have some healthy food and fruits etc. with this money and build up your health instead of deteriorating it and that of your near and dear ones.

Next time, when you go for lighting a cigarette think of the warning seriously. Even though it may be a simple slogan for the manufacturers of tobacco products so that they can sell those products, it is not so for you. It is a very serious matter that may cost your life and create problems for your family.

So wake up and do something before "Tobacco Kills".