Opportunity to plog in Indian elections

A Swedish fitness regimen, called ‘plogging’, which benefits both individual health and the environment at large, has gained international traction, including in India where it has a growing number of followers. Started in 2010 by a resident of Are, a Scandinavian city that hosts a global skiing championship, plogging is an amalgam of the Swedish word ‘plocka’, which means to pick up something, and ‘jogging’, and involves clearing up trash while on the trot. The Scandinavians are known for their love of nature and the schoolgirl eco-activist, Greta Thunberg, who recently led a sit-in outside the Swedish parliament in Stockholm, has become a role model for young environmentalists. Plogging urges people to put their best foot forward and go the extra mile for the environment.

There are already some 10,000 ploggers in India, and those contesting the ongoing polls could do worse than join their ranks. The electoral fray generates a lot of the debris of democracy by way of banners, posters and other campaign paraphernalia. Politicians, by and large, are known to be more ego-friendly than eco-friendly, but even as they continue to give themselves a plug at rallies, they might do well after such events do a spot of plogging to sort out the mess left behind, thus presenting voters with a Mr Clean-up image.