Dr. Daisy Parihar
Every year, as the nation observes Swachh Bharat Abhiyan with slogans, sweeping brooms, and ceremonial clean-up drives, there arises a fleeting sense of pride and duty. Streets are cleaned for a day, plastic is gathered into heaps, and images of spotless lanes flood social media. But the question remains: is this enough? And more importantly, beyond campaigns and celebrations, what are we truly giving back to the Earth that gives us everything?
Sadly, the answer is disturbing. We are returning nothing but damage to Mother Earth – heaps of untreated waste, oceans of plastic, rivers choked with sewage, and skies thick with pollution. Despite our self-congratulatory claims of progress, the truth is that we are degrading the very planet that sustains us. We boast of being a modern, civilized society, but in reality, we are becoming silent culprits in the slow destruction of nature.
Plastic, the most visible face of this destruction, is everywhere. It lies in gutters, floats in rivers, lines the bellies of dead animals, and now even contaminates the soil we grow our food in. Microplastics have made their way into our crops and water sources, threatening human and ecological health alike. Despite repeated bans, its production and use continue unabated – a failure of both governance and public behavior. We must ask ourselves: what kind of legacy are we leaving behind? A land poisoned at its roots and a food chain infused with toxins?
We see rivers like the Ganga, Yamuna, and Chenab not as sacred anymore, but as sewage lines. Every day, millions of litres of industrial waste and untreated sewage are dumped into these rivers, making the water dangerous for even basic use. In many cities, rivers have become symbols not of purity, but of pollution. The same hands that fold in prayer before a river have no hesitation in dumping plastic or ashes into it. Rituals will not save what neglect continues to destroy.
Even our definition of development has become dangerously one-sided. More roads, bigger buildings, taller towers – we celebrate concrete as a sign of growth. But beneath this glitter lies a harsh reality: forests are falling, groundwater is vanishing, and glaciers are melting. In the name of expansion, we are shrinking the natural world. The Himalayas are witnessing shorter winters. The snow that once stayed for months now melts within weeks. Rivers fed by glaciers are slowly drying. And in the years ahead, we may witness the unthinkable – mountains without snow, valleys without rivers, and fertile lands cracked by thirst.
Urban waste management continues to be a silent failure. City waste, collected dutifully each morning, is often dumped outside the city limits, far from the public eye – in forests, near rivers, or on open land where it seeps into the soil and water. What is portrayed as “cleanliness” is often just displacement of dirt. With no proper segregation, treatment, or incineration, these sites become toxic landscapes. The environment does not recognize boundaries – pollution dumped outside the city will ultimately return through air, water, and food.
Enforcement of environmental laws remains weak. Plastic bans are declared but not followed. Polluting industries continue operations without fear. Civic responsibility remains optional, not essential. This failure is not just of policy – it is a collective failure of public conscience. We cannot expect a clean, green India without shared ownership of the problem and the solution.
The real problem is not just plastic or pollution – it is mindset. We clean our homes but dirty public spaces. We worship rivers but pollute them. We demand change but resist accountability. Civic sense – the simple act of caring for the world beyond one’s doorstep – is missing. And unless that is restored, no policy, no campaign, and no mission will be enough.
This absence of civic sense is the root cause of our environmental decline. When people take pride in keeping their surroundings clean, when public hygiene is treated as a personal duty, and when natural resources are respected, transformation becomes possible. The Earth cannot carry the burden of our carelessness forever. If we do not correct our course, nature will – and its correction will not be gentle.
Perhaps the most painful truth is what we are leaving behind for the generations to come. A planet stripped of its forests, poisoned by its rivers, and wrapped in plastic waste is not a gift – it is a curse. The air they will breathe, the water they will drink, the food they will eat – all are being compromised today. Tomorrow’s children will ask why we let it happen. They will not forgive us for knowing the consequences and doing nothing. They will not call us modern – they will call us reckless.
We often speak of modernization, of advancement, of living in the digital age. But what is the value of all this progress if it comes at the cost of the planet? True modernity lies not in technological comfort, but in ecological harmony. If we cannot coexist with the Earth, then we are not civilised – we are destructive.
Remedies do exist, but they require commitment. Environmental education must begin early – in schools, in families, in communities. Waste segregation and composting should become household habits. Cities must invest in sustainable infrastructure – not just to look clean, but to function cleanly. Industrial regulation must be tightened. And most of all, awareness must be translated into action. Cleanliness must not be an event; it must be a culture.
Civic sense cannot be legislated – it must be lived. When caring for nature becomes as normal as caring for one’s own home, when people take pride in preserving what they once ignored, real change will begin. The Earth has given us everything. It is time we give something back – not words, not gestures, but responsibility.
If humanity does not change its course, nature will remind us of our insignificance. Earthquakes, floods, heatwaves, crop failures – these are not mere natural events anymore; they are reactions to human abuse. Climate change is not a distant threat – it is here, and it is already taking lives. It does not discriminate between rich and poor, urban or rural, powerful or powerless. We all live under the same sky, drink the same water, and breathe the same air. Yet, through ignorance or arrogance, we are severing the very lifelines that connect us to this planet.
It is not too late – but it soon will be. A clean future demands courage today. Courage to question habits, to challenge convenience, to confront indifference. Let us not be remembered as the generation that destroyed the Earth for profit and plastic. Let us rise as the generation that paused, reflected, and rewrote the story – with conscience, compassion, and courage.
The words of Mahatma Gandhi echo more powerfully today than ever before: “The world has enough for everyone’s need, but not everyone’s greed.” We must replace greed with gratitude. Let us teach our children that progress is not a skyscraper – it is a tree that lives. It is a river that flows clean. It is air that does not carry poison. Let the next generation inherit not our mistakes, but our resolve to undo them.
The Earth does not need us. But we need her for everything – for every breath, every sip of water, every grain of rice. And if we don’t act now, the damage we pass on will be irreversible. We are not separate from nature – we are nature. Every act of pollution is an act of self-destruction. Every act of conservation is an act of self-preservation.
Let this be the century not of conquest over nature, but of coexistence with it. Let us create cities where trees are valued as much as towers, where rivers are protected like temples, and where every citizen acts like a custodian, not a consumer.
Because in the end, we are not saving the planet. We are saving ourselves.
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