No dont get me wrong.
Im completely a supporter of the Swatchta mission started by our new government. I love the way they are marketing it, selling it and emphasizing it. And i think i could make our country a wee bit prettier. So hats off!!
However, this whole gung-ho around Clean India mission set me thinking on a slightly different tangent. In the flow of making each city into a western city (making Delhi like Tokyo and Calcutta, sorry Kolkatta! like Shangai) we are slowly trying to turn our country into a developed western world nation. Again, no issues with that. Changing the spelling of Calcutta to Kolkatta was such a political debate, so best of luck with Shangai!! But politics is not what i like to think about.
Being from a life science background I always subject every idea to a single question "But what does it mean at a biological level?"
Swachta has a lovely cultural, political, environmental and Gandhian ring to it. But at the biological level, it has a whole new meaning. And a very interesting one at that!
To save you a Google search, let me describe "biological immunity" a little bit before plunging into Biological jargon. Immunity to diseases is contributed by certain entities inside our body called B cells and T cells. When a body is attacked by a foreign body, say Influenza virus, these cells become activated and "search out" the virus in our body and engulf it thereby killing the viral infection slowly. In this process of identifying and searching the virus, these cells "teach" themselves about the virus. Hence next time, the influenza virus attacks, these cells act much more rapidly and kill the virus before it can create havoc. So, though the virus might have given you the flu first time, the next time it attacks it is unlikely to make you sick because now the body has what mothers love to see in their kids- "resistance". Actually in terms of immunity, literally- "What doesnt kill you makes you stronger."
How does it all loop into Modi's Swachta mission? Well, the "teaching" that immune cells undergo has its implications in a revolution that has increased the world population by decreasing the infant mortality rate and increasing life expectancy by unimaginable volumes. A revolution started by British physician Dr Edward Jenner when he came up with the world's first vaccine against smallpox.
Dr Jenner noticed that while the whole community was succumbing to the epidemic of smallpox, the milkmaids who worked with cows in the farms, seemed to be magically immune to this deadly disease. On further investigation, he realised that milkmaids had baseline infection of cowpox ( a disease in cows similar to smallpox in humans). Having these cowpox virus in their body was making them immune to smallpox. He inoculated cowpox virus in some of his healthy human subjects and viola! they were all immune to smallpox.
Thats when Jenner gave the world the valuable knowledge that to confer lifelong resistance to a certain disease, you need to subject your immune system to baseline infection of that virus. This is how from Dr Jenner's time to now, we have been able to completely eradicate certain diseases like smallpox and polio. No wonder this fascinating and I would say daring experiment of Dr Jenner is considered as one of the most significant medical discoveries till date!
However immunity acquired through vaccinations is part of what is called "acquired immunity." We make tiny packets of pathogens we know of, inject our toddlers with it and the immune system "teaches" itself to fight those diseases if and when the body sees it in the future. But these are just a handful of vaccinations we are talking about. There are millions of bacteria/virus/fungi (some even unknown to Man till now) that the body sees daily. How is it that we are not then dying everyday??
That is because our immune system has evolved to be smarter than us. It has the capacity to confer resistance on its own. It sees a pathogen (known or unknown to Man), it engulfs it and in turn teaches itself about the pathogen and how to win against it in future combats. This is called "natural immunity". These everyday battles that our immune system wins against these pathogens confers us with resistance against millions of pathogens. Thus, without us even knowing it, our immune system is making us more and more resistant (and thus healthy) daily.
Where is the damn link to Mr Modi's obviously full benefits SWACHTA MISSION yet? Now that we know about diseases and immunity, let me introduce you to a very fascinating paradigm called "Western Disease Paradigm" or Diseases of Affluence.
Though leaps and bounds ahead of developing countries, when it comes to immunity the West is sitting on a time bomb. (Note: by West i mean all developed countries). Due to the clean roads, buildings, schools, houses and extra sanitized everything, the immune system of the residents of the developed world doesnt come across many pathogens in its life time. This slowly makes the immune system idle and inexperienced that directly translates into lower resistance to pathogens. Though the chances of falling ill are low (due to cleanliness) but the minute a tiny virus does get a chance to invade, the whole body succumbs to the disease because the immune system has not acquired natural immunity to that pathogen before (again due to cleanliness). Therefore to gain wide spectrum restistance at a biological level, you need to give your immune system a chance to "see" some tiny bits of pathogens.
Of course i am not talking of Ebola level of viral infection. Super nasty viruses cant be tackled by even the most experienced and sophisticated immune system of the world. Neither am i advocating slum dwelling. You would be so sick combating the existing pathogens that your immune system wont get the time or the resources to "teach" itself.
So Mr Modi please go right ahead and teach the nation to sweep and clean. However please allow little pools of stagnant water and tiny heaps of garbage in dedicated "unclean" areas so that 10 years later when my kids want to travel to Africa to enjoy the jungle safari experience, they wont have to carry Bisleri bottles with them.
