In 2005 by Discover India magazine and more recently, Modi acknowledged Mawlynnong as the cleanest village in Meghalaya and a model for the rest of the county in a 2015 radio address. In May 2016 he highlighted it as “Asia’s cleanest village” in a celebration of the government’s successes (including the Clean India programme).
This claim to fame stuck, and the village has become a regional legend and source of pride. Walk in, and all the typical rubbish is mysteriously, miraculously absent.
So how do you get a community to become a model of cleanliness and sanitation in a country where this has long been a problem? The answer, it seems, is to start them young.
So where did this sanitation routine come from? No one knows for sure, but, according to the locals, it likely stemmed from an outbreak of cholera more than 130 years ago, and cleanliness was encouraged to control its spread. Early Christian missionaries probably helped implement and encourage the practice too.
The villagers are also of the Khasi people, a traditionally matrilineal society. Perhaps, with women in dominant roles in society, keeping the home and environment orderly also takes on a greater role.
“We are Christians from more than 100 years back, and cleaning is learned from our elders,” said a housewife from the village “We pass on these skills, from me to my children, from them to their children.”
In other words, this isn’t habit, it’s a long-time tradition. Kharrymba’s own day begins by cleaning their entire compound, she said. SSurprisingly the village has hundred percent literacy and most of the villagers are conversant with the English language. The village offers a number of small tea shops, where you can relish a hot of cup of tea with some snacks.
Mawlynnong village has set an example for others that needs to be replicated in other villages. India Beacons salutes to the ‘spirit of cleanliness’ exhibited by the villagers through their self sustained efforts.
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