Puneet Varma (Editor)

The Ugly Indian

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Formation
  
2010

Location
  
Bangalore

Legal status
  
Anonymous group

Region served
  
India

Purpose
  
A movement of anonymous volunteers working together to clean up Indian streets

Membership
  
Members self-select themselves by writing to The Ugly Indian

The Ugly Indians (TUI) are an anonymous group of motivated volunteers who clean Indian streets. Volunteers can join TUI by sending a mail to The Ugly Indian or by registering name and email address in their facebook page.

Contents

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.

Guidelines For volunteers

The Ugly Indian's philosophy is "Kaam chalu mooh bandh. Stop Talking, Start Doing." 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.
  • 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."

    • Solution

    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.

    • 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. 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.

    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" (for a fee of INR 2,000).

    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.

    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.

    References

    The Ugly Indian Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA