From the window of a Vande Bharat train near Delhi, you see a different scene.
On one side: aerodynamic coaches, digital displays, a train that can touch 160 km/h. A nation sprinting toward “New India.”
On the other side: plastic, open dumping, stained embankments, the familiar grey-brown mess that follows our railway lines like an unwanted shadow.
Same window. Same country. Two realities.
This contrast is not poetic. It is uncomfortable.
₹90,000 Crore, 10 Years, 110 Million Toilets — And Still This?
Since 2014, the Swachh Bharat Mission has received over ₹90,000 crore in central funding across its rural and urban phases.
More than 110 million toilets were constructed.
By 2019, the government declared all states “Open Defecation Free.”
These are not small achievements. On paper, Swachh Bharat is one of the largest sanitation programmes in human history.
And yet…
If you travel by train across northern India — especially around urban clusters — you will still see:
- Open dumping yards
- Plastic choking drains
- Tracksides used as informal toilets
- Garbage burned in the open
This is not anecdotal.
Multiple Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) reports and independent studies have pointed out:
- Poor maintenance of toilets after construction
- Lack of sewage treatment capacity in many cities
- Weak monitoring of solid waste management
- States declaring ODF without sustained verification
In short:
We built assets faster than we built systems.
The Hard Truth: Cleanliness Is Not an Infrastructure Problem
We love blaming the government.
We love blaming municipalities.
We love blaming “lack of funds.”
But let’s be honest.
India today has:
- More public toilets than ever
- Door-to-door waste collection in most major cities
- Bins, trucks, contractors, apps, helplines
And still, we throw:
- Plastic out of train windows
- Tea cups onto the road
- Food waste into open drains
- Household garbage into empty plots
This is not a budget problem.
This is not a technology problem.
This is a behaviour problem.
We want world-class infrastructure.
But we practise third-class civic habits.
Posters Don’t Change Nations. Systems Do.
Swachh Bharat focused heavily on:
- Construction targets
- Photo ops
- Slogans
- Declarations
What it under-invested in was:
- Continuous behaviour change programmes
- School-level civic education
- Penalties that are actually enforced
- Professional municipal capacity
- Long-term waste processing infrastructure
Cleanliness is not a “campaign.”
It is:
- Daily enforcement
- Predictable services
- Social shame for littering
- Real fines, not symbolic warnings
- Municipal officers who are trained, paid, and protected
Without systems, campaigns fade.
The Uncomfortable Question We Avoid
We love saying:
“Government failed.”
Fair. In many ways, yes.
But here’s the question we dodge:
If every Indian stopped littering from tomorrow,
how dirty would India be?
Very clean. Very fast.
Japan did not become clean because of a ₹90,000 crore mission.
Singapore did not become clean because of slogans.
They became clean because:
- Littering is socially unacceptable
- Fines are real and enforced
- Children are trained early
- Citizens see cleanliness as dignity, not charity
In India, we still treat cleanliness as:
- Someone else’s job
- A government favour
- A photo opportunity
Not as our own responsibility.
A Developed Nation Is Not Built Only With Steel and Speed
Vande Bharat is impressive.
But a developed nation is not measured by:
- Train speed
- Airport size
- Highway length
It is measured by:
- What lies outside the window
- How citizens treat shared spaces
- Whether rules apply to everyone
- Whether dignity exists in everyday life
Bullet trains can be imported.
Civic sense cannot.
What Actually Needs to Change?
Not one thing. Three.
1. Policy: From Targets to Outcomes
Stop counting toilets built.
Start counting toilets maintained, cleaned, and used.
2. Execution: From Contractors to Capacity
Invest in professional municipal services, not just tenders.
3. Public Mindset: From “Not My Problem” to “This Is My Country”
Until littering becomes socially embarrassing,
no amount of money will save us.
The view from that train window is not a failure of Swachh Bharat alone.
It is a mirror.
And what it reflects is not a lack of funds.
It reflects who we are when no one is watching.