The Ugly Indian: How this group is cleaning India's mess

1. The Ugly Indian
How this group is cleaning India's mess

2. Introduction
• Indian democracy is a beautiful agreement
between the government and the citizens of the
state duly approved by the Constitution.
• Citizens expect all the rights and facilities from
the government which is unquestionable from the
legal point of view.
• However, if we start to think rationally and
morally, are Indian citizens really fulfilling all
their duties and responsibilities which have been
enshrined under the Fundamental Duties of the
Constitution of India?

3. Indian Democracy

5. Introduction
• The answer would largely be a no.
• There is a greater need for introspection to
delve deeper into the essence of civic sense,
which is widely missing in India.

6. Poor Civic Sense

7. Introduction
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently
launched the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan
scheme for a cleaner India with much
fanfare.
• But long before Modi’s announcement, a
group of Bengaluru citizens were
anonymously doing their bit.

8. Swachh Bharat Abhiyan

9. The Ugly Indians
• The group, known as The Ugly Indian,
describes itself as a “faceless, leaderless”
volunteer organization.
• Formed a year ago to clean areas around
Brigade and MG roads in Bangalore, it uses
Facebook and its own website to attract new
members and has organized 104 cleanup
drives so far.

10. The Ugly Indian

11. The Ugly Indian
• The group’s founders may conceal their
identity, but they are very open in their
criticism of their fellow citizens.
• “It’s time we admitted that many of India’s
problems are because many of us are Ugly
Indians,” their Web site says.
• “We tolerate an incredible amount of filth.”

12. The Ugly Indian

13. The Ugly Indian
• Calling itself The Ugly Indian, the self-
effacing motley group has been cleaning the
city streets since 2010.

14. The Ugly Indian

15. The Ugly Indian
• It strictly prohibits members from speaking to the
media, and even if they do, they do not disclose
their identity.
• “The names of individuals are not important what
matters are results,” claims
www.theuglyindian.com.
• Their motto is simple: kaamchalu, moohbandh
(start working, stop talking).
• They believe the problem lies with the people
and not the system.

16. www.theuglyindian.com

17. The Ugly Indian
• Not all Indians are ugly With help from
volunteers and local civic authorities, the
group is striving to not only keep its city clean,
but also bring about a change in the “ugly”
attitude of Indians.

18. The Ugly Indian

19. The Ugly Indian
• They identify “ugly spots” in the city and
“fix” them what the group calls “spot
fixing”.
• A spot fix could be anything from removing
garbage to covering open drains, removing
paan (betel nut leaf) stains from walls to
restoring public places used as urinals.

20. Spot Fixing

21. Spot Fixing

22. Spot Fixing

23. The Ugly Indian
• On the scheduled day, members reach the
spot equipped with face masks, hand gloves,
brooms, mops, spades, buckets and
dustbins.
• “We are expected not to socialise and waste
time. We spend every single minute doing our
work,”.
• Within hours, they restore an ugly spot to a
clean and green public space.

24. On the scheduled day, members reach the spot equipped with
face masks, hand gloves, brooms, mops, spades, buckets and
dustbins

25. Within hours, they restore an ugly spot to a
clean and green public space

26. Within hours, they restore an ugly spot to a
clean and green public space

27. The Ugly Indian
• There are no criteria for people to join the
campaign.
• Those who want to contribute can write to
theuglyindian@gmail.com or sign up on the group’s
Facebook page, www.facebook.com/theugl.yindian.

28. There are no criteria for people to join
the campaign

29. The Ugly Indian
• It is open to all.
• Most new members these days are IT
professionals and students.
• Many multinational companies in Bengaluru
are also supporting The Ugly Indian by either
encouraging employees to join our spot fixes
or form groups to clean up the area around
their organisation.

30. The Ugly Indians group is open to all.

31. Most new members these days are IT
professionals and students

32. The Ugly Indian
• The Group Raises Its Funds From Members
And “Does Not Entertain External Sponsors
For Spot Fixes”.

33. The Ugly Indian
• The Ugly Indian are an anonymous group of
volunteers who clean Indian streets.
• Volunteers can join the group by sending a
mail to The Ugly Indian, or by registering
one's name and email address on their
official Facebook page.

34. The Ugly Indian are an anonymous group of
volunteers who clean Indian streets

35. Spot-fixing
• TUI calls cleaning the street "spot-fixing".
• TUI chooses small segments of road each
week to clean: pavements piled up with plastic,
defaced walls, footpaths rendered unusable by
potholes as spot-fixing places.
• All tools, materials and instructions are
provided on the spot. All spot-fixes are self-
funded and volunteers are requested to
make a contribution towards material costs.

36. Spot-fixing

37. Spot-fixing

38. The Ugly Indian Guidelines for volunteers
• The Ugly Indian's philosophy is "Kaam
chalu mooh bandh. Stop Talking, Start
Working." Apart from this, TUI has general
guidelines regarding spot-fixing.
• No lectures, no moralising, no activism, no
self-righteous anger.
• No confrontation, no arguments, no debates,
no pamphlets, no advocacy.

39. The Ugly Indian Guidelines for volunteers

40. The Ugly Indian Guidelines for volunteers
• Don’t step on anyone’s toes, don’t take sides in
any ideological debates.
• Support existing systems and improve their
effectiveness for the greater good.
• Basically, get real. Treat everyone with
sincerity, respect and dignity first, and the
greater good will be an outcome."

41. The Ugly Indian Guidelines for volunteers

42. TUI recognises the spot-fix as a success
only if
• It lasts for at least 90 days.
• It requires no ongoing supervision.
• It is low-cost (ideally free) and easy to implement and
replicate
• It changes the behaviour and attitudes of all concerned
• It creates minimal disruption in the daily actions of
everyone concerned (nobody should lose a job, lose a
source of income, or get seriously inconvenienced –
because it takes only one Ugly Indian to undo the
good work of a hundred others.

43. The Ugly Indian

44. Anonymity
• Anonymity is a big attraction of the
movement.
• The Ugly Indian describes itself as a "faceless,
leaderless" volunteer organization.
• It is made up of self-driven and motivated
people who are mostly professionals in the 25-
40 age group.
• They remain strictly anonymous.

45. Anonymity

46. Anonymity
• The Ugly Indians have chosen to remain
anonymous as the names and identities of
specific individuals are not important and they
respond to media queries only by email.

47. Products by The Ugly Indian
• Products by The Ugly Indian
• The group has also come up with products like
Tere Bin and WonderLoo and their new
venture is Smart Waste Drop Box which was
installed in Victoria Layout in Bengaluru on
June 2 for a trial period until June 10.
Volunteers of the group showed residents how
to segregate waste and how to use smart waste
drop boxes

48. Products by The Ugly Indian

49. Products by The Ugly Indian
• TereBin
• TereBins are dustbins provided by TUI for
public use.
• TereBins weigh around 20–25 kilograms (44–
55 lb) and are meant for paper cups, banana
skins, cigarette packets and similar small litter.
• TUI provides tereBin service which involves
identifying ideal locations, installing the bins,
setting up a daily clearing system and integrating
with the local garbage clearance system and daily
supervision. Terebins can be "adopted"

50. TereBin

51. Products by The Ugly Indian
• WonderLOO
• The wonderloo is an open urinal that
protects the privacy of the users.
• The loo is unmanned and free to use.
• As of 2014, some 10 urinals are in operation.
TUI, in association with the local BBMP
office, ensures that each wonderloo is cleaned
twice a day

52. WonderLOO

53. Smart Waste Drop Box

54. Credit And Advertising
• According to TUI, they have declined multiple
offers from companies wanting to sponsor
tereBins and WonderLOOs in return for
advertising.
• However, TUI accepts adoption requests,
especially from companies, if they do so
without advertising on the specific object.

55. The Ugly Indian

56. Credit And Advertising
• The group is leaderless as the belief is they
don’t require a face to represent their
organisation.
• Names and identities of the Ugly Indian
remain hidden and they reply to the media only
via mail.

57. The group is leaderless as the belief is they
don’t require a face to represent their
organisation

58. Small steps make a difference
• The impact of their work is visible from the
change that has come about.
• Take the Wind Tunnel Road in Vinayak
Nagar, Bangalore. A few months ago, the
pavement on one side of the road was a
dumping ground for garbage.
• The Ugly Indian went about cleaning this
spot. The result: a clean and colourful
footpath with benches for people to rest.

60. Small steps make a difference
• The Koramangala Club area saw a similar
transformation.
• This is an affluent neighbourhood in the heart of
Koramangala, which houses many tech parks.
• But in the absence of civic amenities such as
dustbins, residents dumped garbage on the road.
Once the The Ugly Indian started their spot
fixing, Koramangala Club looked as good as
new.

62. Small steps make a difference
• The Ugly Indian’s sincere efforts have also led
to a magical transformation of the six subways
in Bengaluru’s K R Circle.
• The group changed the dark, urine-filled
subways to underground running and walking
trails, complete with lights, graffiti and
paintings.

63. The Ugly Indian’s sincere efforts have also led to
a magical transformation of the six subways in
Bengaluru’s K R Circle

64. The Ugly Indian’s sincere efforts have also led to
a magical transformation of the six subways in
Bengaluru’s K R Circle

65. Small steps make a difference
• These are just three of the numerous spot
fixes undertaken by the group.
• Most have been taken up in Bengaluru’s
central business district, including M G Road,
Brigade Road and Church Street.

66. Small steps make a difference

67. Teaming up for better results
• The group is helped by the Bruhat Bengaluru
Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), or Greater
Bengaluru Municipal Corporation.
• The two entered into an agreement on July 19 this
year with the signing of a memorandum of
understanding.

68. Teaming up for better results

69. Teaming up for better results
• The success of the campaign can be gauged from the
response of the public, in terms of encouragement,
participation and commitment to maintain
cleanliness.
• The group has more than 200,000 followers on
Facebook.
• The members regularly update the page on the
latest spot fixes and post photos of their work,
which gives better accountability to an otherwise
anonymous group.

70. Teaming up for better results

71. Teaming up for better results
• The group members say they try to ensure
that people do not go back to throwing
garbage. After a spot fix, the group keeps a
close watch on the area in what they call the
15-day test.
• If a spot remains clean for this period, they
deem their effort successful. Most of the
spots fixed by the group have remained
clean beyond 15 days.

72. Teaming up for better results

73. The Ugly Indian
• The successful experiments by a few
Ugly Indian in an Indian city.

74. Filth on the Footpath

75. Spot Fixed

76. Paan Stains

77. Spot Fixed

78. Spot Fixed

79. Open Dumps

80. Spot Fixed

81. Cigarette Litter

82. Spot Fixed

83. Death Traps

84. Spot Fixed

85. Public Urination

86. Spot Fixed

87. Inspiring Indians to do their bit
• The cleanliness drive by The Ugly Indian has
encouraged people in other cities to start
similar initiatives, such as Mumbai Rising,
Gurgaon Rising, Kolhapur Rising and Meerut
Rising.
• In Jaipur, the group is called Shut Up and Do It.
• These groups get together in their cities and
beautify public places such as community
centres, parks and markets.

88. Inspiring Indians to do their bit

89. Inspiring Indians to do their bit
• The citizens who are part of the camp-aign
believe their initiative is a small start.
• But a journey of a thousand miles begins with
a single step.
• For this country, this step has been taken by
the “Ugly Indian”.

90. Ugly Indian

91. References
• Bengaluru's Faceless Warriors 'The Ugly Indians' Are On A Clean
Mission
• https://youtu.be/NAt80x25ZN4
• The Ugly Indian
• https://www.theuglyindian.com/
• The Ugly Indian
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ugly_Indian
• The Ugly Indians' clean up Bengaluru
• https://youtu.be/1xi1aLmkS4c
• The 'Ugly Indians' Beautify Flyovers In Bengaluru
• https://youtu.be/GRfSoY3bufk
• 'Ugly Indians' clean up Bangalore
• https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-15769402

92. Ugly is the new beautiful…