Ayodhya gets cleanliness anthem, IIM Indore pitches in
The streets of Ayodhya will now resonate with the jingle “Cham Cham Chamkere Hamri Ayodhya” as an appeal to citizens to keep the city clean.
The triple power of music, cleanliness and divinity promises to spearhead Ayodhya’s quest to keep the pilgrim town on the path to a future full of cleanliness.
In keeping with this objective, the city of Ram, where hymns in temples are a soothing salve for the soul, has now got its own cleanliness anthem.
The Indian Institute of Management-Indore (IIM Indore) has come out with “Swachhata Anthem” for Ayodhya as part of the “Swachh Bharat Mission”.
The streets of Ayodhya will now resonate with the jingle: “Cham Cham Chamkere Hamri Ayodhya” as an appeal to citizens to keep the city clean.
The song will be interspersed with popular lines like Raghukul Reet Sada Chali Aayi that connect with the people directly. It was made with the joint effort of the Ayodhya Municipal Corporation (AMC).
“The song will now be heard in every nook and corner in Ayodhya. Through this, an appeal has been made to residents of Ayodhya to keep the city of Ram clean to make it attractive for tourists,” said Ayodhya municipal commissioner Vishal Singh.
There are 17 municipal corporations in Uttar Pradesh, Ayodhya is ranked 11, he said.
“The song will be played on loudspeakers of Ayodhya Municipal Corporation vehicles as they collect waste door-to-door across the city. We have already signed an MoU (memorandum of understanding) with IIM Indore and this cleanliness anthem is part of that. We hope that it will help us in spreading awareness among masses to keep the city clean.”
Prof Himanshu Rai, director at IIM Indore, who also lent his voice to the anthem, said, “I feel honoured to be the male lead in this melodious song, along with Varsha Singh Dhanoa as the female lead. My colleague, Shruti Tewari, professor at IIM Indore, and Aawaazz (Geet Sagar) have written the lyrics. The back vocals are by Sudhanshu Shome and the song has been mixed and mastered by Minar Naik. The song’s producer is Ishaan Shivdeo and the music is composed by Rishikesh Pathak.”
“In October 2021, IIM Indore submitted a report emphasising customized recommendations on the Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) strategies in Ayodhya. The objective of this project was to recommend strategies to bring behavioural changes among the public who seem reluctant to follow appropriate cleanliness, sanitation, and hygiene practices. We focused on cleanliness campaign by spreading awareness, facilitating availability and accessibility and ichhashakti (willpower and commitment) as the main elements of the project,” Rai added.
“This is yet another step by IIM Indore to contribute to a better, cleaner, healthier, and happy India. I am happy to share that to contribute to the Swachh Bharat Mission, as part of this project, we have created a Swachhata Anthem for Ayodhya,” he said.
“I thank my team comprising Prof Ganesh Kumar Nidugala, Prof Shruti Tewari, Prof Amit Vatsa, and Prof Vaijayanthee Anand, for being the strongest pillars in this project,” he said.
