Pune Couple On A Mission To Make India Spit-Free

Shail Shukla

Pune, 24 March 2021: Raja Narasimhan and Priti Raja, a couple from Pune, started ‘Sare Jahan Se Achha’, a non-profit organization in 2014. Since then, ‘SPIT FREE INDIA CAMPAIGN’ is one of the significant projects undertaken by them.

They traveled from Pune to Ganpatiphule, Ratnagiri, Chiplun, Mahabaleshwar, Panchgani, and Satara to spread awareness about spitting ills in Public. They also branded their personal vehicle with SPIT FREE and DONT SPIT messages in 5 languages – English, Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, and Kannada.

Vision and the Beginning

Raja Narasimhan says, “There is a theory called ‘Broken Window Theory.’ According to which, a place which is dirty and broken, people go and further defile it. For example, if you see a neat and clean street, and one day someone leaves a garbage bag there, then after a few weeks, you will see the amount of garbage gets doubled and eventually turns into a garbage ground, and it happens everywhere. This kind of attitude is with everyone. We do not feel responsible towards society, do not realize the consequences, and all this unhealthy behavior stems from that. So, someone has to stop it. Therefore, I started the initiative.

We keep complaining about the things around us. However, someone has to take the initiative to improve things. Hence rather than sitting at home and criticizing, we decided to do something about it and started the initiative. We chose to devote our time to socialize with the vision that even one or two individuals can make a difference in the community.

In 2010 we started this initiative individually to request people not to spit and create awareness about cleanliness. However, carrying out any initiative single-handedly has its limitation. Thus, we registered our company in 2013 because then you could go to schools as an organization, visit colleges, and people also support you.”

Motivation

“The thing which motivated me to keep moving with this initiative is the mindset of the people. We go to a foreign country, and say that Oh! Look how clean the country is; People do not spit there, etc. However, when we come back to our country, things change for us. We do not bother about cleanliness and spit anywhere. Hence, I decided to change it and started the organization ‘ Sare Jahan Se Acha’ so that we can genuinely say that our country is better than the rest of the world.” further stated Raja Narasimhan.

Youth as a volunteer

He then said, “We ask youth to participate for the cause as ultimately, they have to live here after we adults leave the planet. Hence, they need to know the consequences and make adults realize that they can not deteriorate this planet.

Moreover, I believe that we cannot correct adults. Sometimes, if an individual goes to another person, many a time, the person will get angry. In such cases, children’s voices help to make people realize their responsibility. Thus children should take the lead and take it forward.

Our young volunteers have done a great job through mass media. Volunteers from Schools/Colleges, working professionals, and other like-minded people participate in various activities like Nukkad Natak, Wall painting, Signature campaign, etc., at public spaces like Railway Station, Bus stand, Event venues, etc. We have painted the entire platform number 6 of the Pune railway station, Swargate bus stand, and Shivaji Nagar bus stand.”

Activities for awareness

While speaking of the activities conducted by the organisation, he said, “Whenever we organize any activities, we start with Zumba dance which helps us gather the crowd. The moment Zumba dance ends, we start Nukkad Natak with a vision to create awareness regarding spitting in public places and cleanliness. In the end, we make everyone take an oath that we won’t spit in the surroundings and will help in creating cleanliness.

Also, We tell our volunteers not to be rude and have an argument with people. We ask them to tell people patiently about the consequences of spitting in Public.”

Cooperation with authorities 

“We work closely with PMC and have conducted many programs with them. We are in continuous touch with Dynaneshwar Molak, Deputy Commissioner – Solid Waste. He calls us if there is anything for us. We also did a big event at Shaniwar Wada for the 150th Gandhi Jayanthi in 2019, and Saurabh Rao, then Municipal Commissioner, was the Chief Guest. Like this, for any extensive program, we ensure PMC is involved.

Our student volunteers organize events inside the PMC building. We have also conducted workshops for sanitation workers in various ward offices. We have also done campaigns in a few police stations.

Last week we applied for a cycle rally. We requested to organize the rally with 25 bicycles, and PMC granted that permission” he further explained.

Challenges and efforts

While expressing the challenges the organisation faces, he said, “The major challenge we are currently facing is the coronavirus pandemic. Due to pandemics, we cannot organize the activities in groups. Moreover, any ground-level implementation is not an easy task in India because we are used to certain conveniences. It will take some time to correct it. However, what we can do is that we can fasten progress.

Most of the significant challenges we face is dealing with a group of people who think it is a time pass. However, when we approach the same person individually, we perceive it differently.

Another set of challenges we face is dealing with the people who use cars such as BMW. They unwind the window and spit, and when we tell them, they say,’ What is your problem? I am paying taxes; somebody would come and will clean it; Why are you worried?. Hence, many times, we have to deal with such a mindset also. While contradictory to this, if we tell a small vendor, he listens to us, apologies, and understands the matter.

 I often get curses for telling people about their wrong behavior. However, you have to keep doing your work in such a way that people do not hurt you.”

Solution

“When we tell people about spitting in Public, they ask us where we spit? which is a valid question. On the one hand, we have allowed pan and Guttka, and on the other hand, we ask them to avoid spitting in Public. Thus our students have made paper cups. We tell them to spit in the cup and throw it in the dustbin rather than spitting on walls and streets.” said Raja Narasimhan, providing a brilliant solution to the problem.

Awareness among people

“Everyone has to realize that simply putting on posters is not going to solve the issue. For the vision to succeed, everyone from corporate to government to common people has to come forward.

People should know that spitting in a public place is hazardous in many ways. Bacterias can live up to more than 24 hours and spread through various means such as flies. We are already dealing with coronavirus and to avoid further such issues we need to take these small steps.

We will continue to drive around Pune, Mumbai, and places in Maharashtra to spread awareness. We invite political leaders, corporate/industry leaders, prominent citizens, and like-minded people to join us in this movement.” said Raja Narasimhan appealing to the people.

(Raja Narasimhan and Priti Raja hail from Kolkata, and Pune is their home now. With the motto – let’s spread goodness, they work towards Animal welfare, Health and Hygiene, and Senior Citizen safety through their Foundation. Raja has worked earlier with American Express, Infosys, and Kanbay (now called Capgemini).