Mahatma Gandhi said “Cleanliness is next to godliness.

” He also said “Sanitation is more

important than independence”. While staying in the west, though Gandhi strongly ridiculed
many western customs, he was impressed by the level of sanitation followed by the people.
After returning from South Africa, Gandhiji travelled India for two years and realized that
cleanliness and social hygiene was a big problem. Lack of information and mindset of people
were the reasons which prevented people from thinking about this most serious problem
affecting health and environment. In South Africa, Gandhiji admitted that Indians had
problems with cleanliness and hygiene, as the British had been alleging. But he protested and
successfully argued that color prejudice and the threat of competition were the main causes of
discrimination. But wherever he went in his own country, he found filth, dust, garbage and
the taboo associated with the scavenging community. Gandhiji had written Hind Swaraj in
1909. In his scheme of Gram Swaraj he laid stress self-reliance. Later it was presented as a
compliance and constructive work of the ashram. In this way ‘cleanliness and hygiene’ and
removal of untouchability became two big creative programs.
Gandhi in Champaran
The seriousness of the problem of cleanliness and sanitation among the villagers in the
country became clear to Gandhiji and his companions when they started work in
Champaran. First of all, it came to the attention of Gandhiji that without proper rural
education, permanent work is impossible. Cleaning was a difficult task in the villages of
Champaran. Gandhiji said that even the landless labor families were not ready to pick up their
own sewage. Dr. Dev joined the team of Champaran. Dev regularly swept the streets and
grounds, cleaned wells and filled ponds. Gradually, an environment of self-reliance started
developing in the matter of cleanliness of the village.
Because of his strong belief about the need for education, training and behavior modification
and develop an inclination towards work, Gandhiji started teaching cleanliness and hygiene
in the Champaran and Satyagraha Ashram schools. The women of Champaran Dal were told
that the education of cleanliness, hygiene and morality should be given more priority than
literacy. Significantly, since then cleanliness and sanitation have become an integral part and
basis of all political programs and social reforms.
In ashrams
Cleanliness lessons for Gandhi and those living with him began at the Phoenix Ashram in
South Africa. By the early 20th century, flush toilets had become commonplace, and the
effects of faecal pollution were well known. But adequate and assured water supply was a
must to promote flush latrines linked to proper drains and disposal systems. It was very
difficult to do this in rural areas. Right science and proper technology were the challenges
before Gandhiji in Phoenix. Covering human excreta with sufficiently dry soil and collecting
and disposing of it safely was an established practice in all models. In all the experiments, the
excreta was finally dumped in the fields and used as an organic fertilizer. Prabhudas Gandhi
has written that if the history of Gandhiji's ashrams is observed carefully, it will be known
that experiments in toilets have a unique place. For Gandhi, cleanliness and sanitation was an
important task in India. Gandhiji's desire to remove the stigma of untouchability from Indian
society inspired him to work on toilets and sanitation. He did not accept the tradition of the
society that some people should do the work of cleaning and keep doing it. Determination
towards cleanliness is the main element of social reform. In the ashram, it was specially
emphasized that no one from outside should be called for this purpose. The members
themselves used to do the entire cleaning one by one. The members of the Ashram had to
take care not to spread filth in the streets and corridors by spitting etc. Gandhi ji welcomed
those enthusiastic and determined youths full of nationalist fervour who wanted to join the
ashram. But he also warned that they would have to pass the test of cleaning the toilet bowl.
while staying at an ashram founded and assisted by Jamnalal Bajaj in Wardha, Miraben told
him that when she went for a morning walk, she saw people from the neighbouring village of
Sindi defecating in the open on the road. Gandhi ji suggested her to go to the village every
day and clean the roads. Cleanliness and sanitation were also on the agenda of the Sevagram
ashram, where Gandhi lived from April 1936 to August 1946. It was said in the 'rules of
Sevagram Ashram' that water should not be wasted. Boiled water is used for
drinking. Spitting or sneezing should not happen on the road but should happen in a place
where people do not walk.
Excreta should be done at designated places only. The containers for solids should be
separate from the containers for defecation liquids. The stool should be covered with dry soil
in such a way that flies do not come and only dry soil is visible. One should sit on the toilet
seat carefully so that the seat is not dirty. If it is dark, there must be a lantern. The place on
which flies come should be covered completely.
At public meetings and civic functions
Gandhiji addressed many public meetings, small groups, swayamsevaks, women and
hermits. Many municipalities gave him a civic reception. On most such occasions, he talked
about cleanliness and hygiene. In almost every major convention of the Congress, Gandhiji
used to raise the issue of cleanliness in his speech. Dirt was evil for Gandhiji. He had said –
there is a trio of evils – “filth, poverty and laziness – which you have to face, and you will
fight them.
Gandhiji spoke at the felicitation ceremonies organized by the city and municipalities and
called for improving the cleanliness by drawing attention to the filth. He considered the work
of cleanliness as the most important work of the municipalities. When the Congress
expressed its desire to participate in the municipal elections, he advised that after becoming a
corporator, the Congress workers should become good sweepers. In the matter of cleanliness,
he used to appreciate the municipal administration of the West. On December 21, 1924, at a
civic function in Belgaum, he said, "One thing we can, and should learn, from the West is the
science of civic sanitation." We are used to rural life, Where the need for mass cleaning is not
felt much. But the western civilization is materialistic and that is why it is inclined towards
the development of cities by ignoring the villages. The people of the West have developed a
science of mass cleaning and we have learned a lot from it. Our narrow streets, our stuffy
houses, our neglect of our sources of drinking water have to be rectified. The biggest service
from the municipality would be to make people follow the laws of cleanliness.
In magazines
Gandhiji edited many newspapers and magazines and wrote articles in them. He wrote many
articles on cleanliness and sanitation in Navjeevan and Young India and later in Harijan. The
issue of filth in the villages and urban settlements in the country was on his mind. During the
Kheda Satyagraha (1918), he wrote in Navjivan on the condition of houses, ponds and fields
in terms of cleanliness and sanitation. He was pained that the farmers and their families were
living in dirty and unhygienic conditions due to ignorance.
For open defecation, the term 'open defecation' is used in English nowadays in national and
international reports, but Gandhiji used the more comprehensive term 'open evacuation' for
it. He said that many diseases are caused due to non-use of toilets and open
defecation. Elderly, children, sick and weak persons in families and settlements cannot go out
for defecation, so courtyards, streets and houses themselves turn into latrines and the place
becomes dirty and polluted. He then suggested that people should make simple latrines or
arrange bins in which the excreta should be covered with dry soil.
Gandhiji kept writing about cleanliness and hygiene at every opportunity. Although he never
agreed with this, he understood that the destitute, poor and downtrodden people have
accepted dirt as a part of their lives. In Gandhiji's words, the problem of sanitation and
hygiene was at the 'collective' level. He also said that Indians keep their courtyards free of
dust, insects and lizards, but do not hesitate to throw everything in their neighbor's
courtyard! We have not been able to end this evil even today.
On an evening in January 1935, Professor Winsor of St. Stephen's College, Delhi, met
Gandhiji with a dozen students. Responding to a question about medical help to the villagers,
Gandhiji said that they should be told how important cleanliness and hygiene are as a
precaution and post-treatment care. Distributing 1000 malaria tablets is good but not
commendable. Education to prevent diseases by filling sewage pits, removing dirty water,
cleaning wells and tanks would be more appreciable. When asked for instructions regarding
schooling for Harijans, Gandhi reiterated the priority given to education about cleanliness and
hygiene.
Gandhi ji kept telling the students and workers about the importance of cleanliness and
suggested them to do it the first thing. From 1946 to January 1948, he laid more emphasis on
cleanliness and hygiene education. According to him, travel by train and ship are the most
opportunities for public education on cleanliness and hygiene. Cleanliness and sanitation
were very much on Gandhi's mind, as he was deeply moved by what he saw in the refugee
camps immediately after independence. On October 13, 1947, he said that he attached great
importance to the problem of sanitation and the sanitary conditions in the refugee camps. He
said that although Indians have experience of holding fairs, religious ceremonies and
congress sessions and conferences, we as common people are not used to the life of
camps. Indians do not have a sense of social hygiene, due to which the filth reaches
dangerous levels,
On January 29, 1948, a day before his martyrdom, he prepared the constitution of the
proposed Lok Sevak Sangh. Later it was considered as the last will of Gandhiji. He has to
teach cleanliness and hygiene to the villagers and take all precautionary measures to save
them from ill health and diseases. Cleanliness and cleanliness remained a priority throughout
Gandhiji's life and till the end of his life.