There is no topsoil anymore'- Prof. Bhavani Bijalani speaks about the Amala Bharat Campaign at TEDxAmrita University

This talk by Prof. Bhavani Bijalani introduces one of the activities introduced by the Amrita University- The Amala Bharat Campaign. Amala is something that is not impure.Thus, Amala Bharat campaign is the Clean India Campaign.

A key concept of Hinduism is that the Creator and the creation are not separate units. The philosophy of the campaign revolves around this.

Dr. Bijlani suggests that in`the race for development as embodied by increased GDP, we have forgotten some of our core values. Despite our growth, millions of children die of sanitation-related illnesses. She further comments on the statistics of waste generation and management in India.

The Amala Bharat campaign started in 2004 when a group of students began cleaning a decided upon area every year on the 15th of August. In 2010, they had visited their icon and asked her which area to clean. At that time, she suggested doing more than a token cleaning once a year. In September, people took a pledge to work towards a clean India. This snowballed into the campaign it is today.
The main components of this campaign are:

• Massive cleaning: groups of people cleaning up places
• Awareness campaigns: to teach people how they can keep their place clean and manage their waste
• Pledges
• development of new technologies of waste management
• Building public toilets
• Creating a repository for such knowledge

The statistics for the work done so far are presented in this talk, as is the process followed for clean up of a site. Secondary results, such as that of the concerned municipality providing trash bins to continue to keep the place clean are also  discussed.

Dr.Bijlani speaks about the student's experiences during this campaign. One of those is that a student realised while cleaning a lake that there is no topsoil anymore. They would clean a layer of trash only to realise that there is another layer below it..and another. This brought home to the students the pernicious effects of plastic. Students' role in raising awareness is also discussed.

The question that now rises is that of what to do with the waste?  The Math has been lobbying for plastic recycling plants. In the meantime, various creative options used during the campaign are described. The knowledge and experiences gained during this process are posted on the Amala Bharat campaign page