Saturday, January 16, 2010

Can Doing Good be Easy ?

I was talking to a friend today who shared the concern of Bangalore getting dirtier each day. Some areas are in such pathetic state, that we wonder where the filth was coming from. Talking about ways to combat the menace, I happened to get a brain wave while discussing this topic with the same friend. The menace of Filth on Bangalore roads is obviously thanks to citizens of Bangalore, me, you and all. Some of us are concerned enough to put it at their designated locations. But the interesting nature of filth is that it somehow finds it way on roadside. BBMP is doing its best to solve the issue. But the root of the problem lies elsewhere.

Why doing the Right thing is so difficult, and doing the Wrong thing is always easy. Disposing the filth at their designated location is difficult, while throwing the same on roadside is easy. Why is that ?
I believe the answer is the lack of dustbins. I am staying in Bangalore for last 7 years, and I have to fight to find out a dustbin to dispose filth. And this exercise is futile most of the times. Having a good spread of dustbins across a locality will lead to a cleaner locality. It is obvious, isn't it ?
A common citizen has to go through so much of trouble just to get rid of filth, and tired of the options, he has to resort to throwing it to any location accessible. So, who is to blame here, and who is responsible for fixing it.

Would installing dustbins all around Bangalore solve this issue ? I believe yes and no. Yes because of obvious reasons, and No if only these dustbins are NOT maintained by the community or BBMP, i.e daily disposal of the filth in dustbins so to make it ready for the next day.
Also, we need to work out the way the Dustbins have to be installed, as there have been plenty of cases when even dustbins were stolen. Not to mention the Dustbins should not allow insects and flies to gather around it, thereby inviting diseases.

Above all, the basic idea that leads to the above solution is : We have to make the process of doing good and right things an easier option compared to the bad/wrong things. If this process is easier, then all of us will be motivated to do the Right thing. As doing Right is the easiest.

Let me know your comments