How one man’s dream ‘To see India litter free’ catalyzed a national movement
Have you ever heard of the term ‘Plogging’? Well now you have. Picking up litter or ‘plastic’ while ‘jogging’ = plogging. I am proud to announce Ripu Daman Bevli, who goes by PlogManOfIndia on instagram, who has been selected as a Global Impact Ambassador! We believe that you will indeed inspire not only a litter free India but a litter free world!
Here’s a story of one man’s mission to make India Litter Free.
“We all complain that there’s so much trash and plastic but who is responsible for it? So whenever we ask that question every finger needs to point at themselves. Thats the whole idea; take individual responsibility, clean up and then you can ask the government and agencies the right questions to move towards a litter free India. That’s my personal dream, I want to see India litter free”. — Ripu Daman Bevli
During the application process, all applicants were asked “Share your story: how have you created an impact in your community, school, company or country?”
Ripu answered: “In 2017, I started India’s first eco-fitness movement where we made cleaning up part of our cool down activity. It started out as a run and clean up movement from a park in Delhi. I started organizing regular run and clean up drives with schools in Delhi. I was leading a tech startup at the time, which required extensive travel across the country. As I traveled, I took the concept to other cities and it’s running groups and everybody took it up enthusiastically doing regular drives within their communities. As the movement grew, I quit my startup in 2018 to focus full time on the mission to make India Litter Free. In 2019, I did a campaign where I ran and cleaned up across 50 cities in about 2 months where locals, runners, school children etc. joined us in every city. By the end of the campaign the Government of India adopted my mission. I started solo on this 2 month 50 city clean up and by the end of it, close to 5 million had participated. I was named the FIT India Ambassador by the Sports Ministry, Government of India with a mandate to take this mission to all 700+ districts of India. The work to make a Fitter and Litter Free India continues!”
What is the most memorable moment you’ve had in regards to the Global Goals?
“The most memorable moments have come with schools and kids. One of the first schools we started with, adopted the local grocery market and used to clean up once every two weeks along with talking to the shopkeepers and customers about the ill effects of single use plastic and what they can do. Within a couple of months, all the shops had boards stating that customers should carry their own cloth bag and no polythene bags will be provided. It was one of our first small victories.
A big moment came on 2019. We started our mission with Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy of ‘Everyone needs to be their own scavenger’. On October 2nd, 2019 Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th Birth Anniversary life came a full circle for me. The Sports Ministry organized the first FIT India Plogging run. I flagged it off with the Sports Minister in Delhi. Close to 4 million people participated across 62000 location in India and cleaned up hundreds of tonnes of litter”.
There are some every day hero’s that we often do not hear about. The media is constantly fledged with negative news, causing a pessimistic attitude in the world. It is my goal to shine light on the positive impact that people like Ripu have created in society. His dedication to making the environment more sustainable doesn't stop with promoting SDG 13: Climate Change but intrinsically overlaps with the Global Goals; SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production, SDG 3: Good Health and Wellbeing as well as SDG 4: Quality Education.
What I find particularly complelling is the emphasis of using excersise and staying fit while cleaning up the environment. Ripu starts of his plogging adventure by teaching some basic streches and excersices specifically dedicated to enhancing ones ability to pick up litter while jogging. I found this amusing, and did giggle at first. Watch the video below to see his journey.
Across his journey you will find the Ploggers of India not only clean up the streets but chanting “Wherever I go … I will say no to polytene and plastic bags..” This extends to school children who learn while chanting the “wherever I go, I will carry my own bottle and say no to single use plastic bottles" mantra. Increasing access to education everywhere you go is possible. Just watch the video above where Ripu teaches the next generation to say no to single use plastic while being an example himself.
He has also initiated a campaign called“Plastic Upvaas. Upvaas is a hindi word which means fasting”.
The next question should inspire people everywhere on how we can all collectively make sustainable choices on a daily basis. We asked:
Could you give us daily examples of sustainable / positive actions you make?
“We organize regular drives with local residential complexes, schools, NGOs etc on a regular basis. We have organized close to 500 clean ups across the 75+ cities. When someone bends down to pick up somebody else’s litter, they would not litter again, and that has been our focus. My belief is that we will not be able to clean up the country by just cleaning up, we will have to stop littering. And for that we came up with the campaign Plastic Upvaas. Upvaas is a hindi word which means fasting. We ask our participants why not fast on that one thing which is destroying your health and the planet at the same time — single use plastic. And for that, just start by shunning just one thing. We give options like plastic bottles, bags, straws etc. It provides people the push they need, to take that first step towards a more sustainable living”.
When asked ‘Why are you well suited to become one of 100 of the world’s first Global Impact Citizens?’ Ripu responded:
“My goal is to make India Litter Free and for that we need to get the entire country of 1.3 billion people together. With the adoption of our mission by the Government of India, we have reached a sizable population but the mission continues. Becoming a part of this community would give an opportunity to share our learning from across the world, and what more innovative ways we could engage and take our message to a larger population. The problem of waste and littering is a global problem and should be tackled at a global level combining policies and public participation. This would also give me an opportunity to learn about various policies which are successful in other parts to push those with our policy makers. The world problems have to be solved through a collaboration between policymakers and citizens.”
Ripu, I commend you on your incredible positive impact creation. I can not wait to measure the impact you have created thus far in the world. On behalf of everyone at the Global Impact Network team, it is an absolute honour to have you join our Ambassador Family. Join Ripu and other agents of change, by creating a positive impact, globally.
For more information contact info@globalimpact.world
