Page 17 - Newsletter Vol2 Issue 1

The Ugly Indian Movement

We all are proud Indians, aren’t we? We all love our na�on and want it to be recognized by other na�ons
for it’s heritage, culture and beauty. But the one issue which we all need to look into: “WHY IS INDIA SO
FILTHY?”

India has developed a lot in these past years and many things are changing but s�ll this problem of filth in
India has never been fully resolved. Have you ever asked the ques�on why is it so? Why are we as THE
FASTEST DEVELOPING COUNTRY WITH THE MOST YOUTH POPULATION IN THE WORLD not able to resolve
this problem? The ANSWER is simple- the most common mindset of INDIANS , We DON’T THINK IT IS OUR
PROBLEM we think someone else will come and do it, but the thing is that someone never comes and
nothing gets changed. The filth remains where it is and we all become the UGLY INDIANS. We are
responsible for India being called as FILTHY. We should be the one who should be the INITIATIVE and clean
the mark that’s rubbed upon India and that’s exactly what the UGLY INDIAN MOVEMENT is doing !!
The UGLY INDIAN MOVEMENT started in 2010 in Bangalore by a small group of ci�zens who decided it was
their problem and took up the ini�a�ve to clean an ugly garbage dump corner and transform it. This team
then moved on to give an en�re road a makeover (a new transforma�on). Gradually, this small movement
by some ci�zens developed into a movement across Bangalore and even across many states in India.

The most special and probably most important part of this movement is that transforma�on of every place
that has been taken up in this movement has been en�rely, I repeat en�rely only by the CITIZENS. The
mindsets that these ci�zens have is what you as the reader, me as the writer and every Indian needs to
have. We are the only ones who can improve our country. The Ugly Indian Movement has an astonishing
90% success rate, meaning about every 9 in 10 transforma�ons were successful.There are 4 main reasons
responsible for its success:
1. They study and try to understand why the place is filthy: For example, most of the �me it is because
there is already garbage in the place, so it just leads to more and more people throwing garbage in there.
The volunteers a�er cleaning up the place try to make the place look beau�ful due to which people hesitate
to li�er and hence the mission is successful. Like this, they study the root of the cause of the situa�on and
try to work accordingly to make the change a success.
2. “Mu bandh kam chalu”: This is the mo�ve of the movement. We Indians talk more than the work we do;
this is the reason why our work never gets done. By following this mantra, Ugly Indian Movement has been
able to complete various projects and has been successful without was�ng any �me on useless discussions.

3. They use their own resources: Like I said before, the work is done en�rely by Ci�zens or Volunteers. They
themselves are the resource and no labor is contracted.

4. They are anonymous: The volunteers of this movement always wear masks to cover their iden�ty. This
anonymity in ugly Indians allows the people to focus solely on the change they are about to bring and
nothing else.

But, why am I wri�ng this ar�cle about the Ugly Indian Movement?

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