Be a Part of the Movement to #StopIndiaSpitting

The #StopIndiaSpitting movement is bringing a crucial subject to the spotlight – spitting in public spaces. Spitting spreads COVID-19 and other diseases like Tuberculosis and makes our surroundings unclean. In the context of the pandemic, it is crucial that we address this issue of spitting once and for all. Those who spit need to stop. Those who don’t, also have an important role to play in curbing this habit in others, by educating and spreading awareness. This movement, spearheaded by Beautiful Bharat and propelled by numerous partners, NGOs, influencers, officials, volunteers, and citizens, teaches us a lot about the intricacies of a powerful citizen movement. Read on to know more about the movement and how YOU can play a part in it.

Odette Katrak, Co-founder, Beautiful Bharat, is on a mission with her team to rid our country of a habit that has been largely ignored for a long time. “When the pandemic came, I knew it was high time to adopt this cause – it was a case of now or never”, shares Odette, her passion evident. 

Beautiful Bharat (earlier known as Beautiful Bengaluru) is a citizens’ initiative with a mission to make the world more ‘clean, green and safe’, and this movement is another step in that direction. Odette Katrak, a soft skills trainer, behavioural change consultant, writer, and changemaker, is using her skills to bring about this change and make a lasting impact. She was recognised by NDTV as a Covid warrior on Banega Swasth India, for her role in championing the crucial movement #StopIndiaSpitting.

The spark of the movement

Odette Katrak shared some distasteful early experiences with spitting. “My young daughter was spat on once and another time her ball fell on some spit on the road and came back slimy on her fingers. That left a deep imprint after which I could never pass a spitter without engaging with them.” 

Years later, during the COVID-19 pandemic, she saw a man spitting on the street below. Coincidentally, this was while she was washing her hands at home, as per the suggested guidelines. That made her realise that the COVID protocol, as promoted by the government, should include not only washing hands, wearing masks, and maintaining distance but should also include no spitting.

The same day, Beautiful Bengaluru, as the group was then known, jumped in to plug this gap through a petition to the PM to make spitting in public places a punishable offence, and #StopIndiaSpitting was born.

The crux of the #StopIndiaSpitting movement

There is a knowledge gap that exists, where many who spit are not aware of the link between spitting and the spread of diseases like COVID-19 and Tuberculosis. Also, those who do not spit, often turn the other way. This campaign seeks to bridge that gap. “The name of the campaign – #StopIndiaSpitting itself highlights how it aims to involve everyone, including people who do not spit, as only with their support can the campaign reach those who spit as well. Otherwise, it would be like two parallel lines that would never meet”, shares Odette. 

“The campaign seeks to highlight this knowledge gap, which is explained through an animated campaign video we put out ”, says Odette. “This showed that practising all the COVID guidelines while continuing to spit would be like closing 3 windows, yet leaving one open, thus letting the mosquitoes (aka COVID) come in anyway”. 

As Beautiful Bharat is a volunteer group with no funds, this and other resources are put together with pro bono support. Odette wrote the script for this video, and it was brought alive by a Gurgaon student Ahana Sur. It was made in several regional languages by the team, including English, Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali, Malayalam and Telugu, with more on the way. These videos are contributing towards presenting the crucial message in a simple way that people can understand and the message is reaching villages through NGO partners. 

Each of us must engage in conversations on spitting. “The approach should be to educate people, not attack them,” says Odette. “A polite and respectful tone, as opposed to shouting, shaming or ignoring, would go a long way in communicating the message effectively.” 

The campaign aims to use simple, yet impactful messaging that informs as well as reminds people that spitting is no longer acceptable and that it spreads diseases. Since spitting appears to be a distasteful and boring subject, there is an attempt to bring in compelling, interesting, creative, humorous dimensions to the campaign resources, such that people are more receptive to the crucial message. “The intent is also that those who believe the subject doesn’t concern them and tune it out, start noticing and slowly get involved. Bystander silence is what has made the problem worse,” Odette explains.

But firstly, why do people spit? Apart from the usual reasons such as lack of awareness, concern, frustration and physical conditions, Odette explains that there is a misconception among habitual spitters that saliva is a waste product and must be spat out from the body. However, actually, it can safely be swallowed – it is good for digestion. It would be ideal if people could avoid paan, tobacco and other products that cause spitting. Even if one needs to spit, they could do so in the washroom or a tissue, while maintaining hygiene.

The journey so far

The campaign started with a petition to the Prime Minister of India in March 2020 with a request to make spitting a punishable offence. This petition received 41,333 signatures in 3 weeks. Indeed, spitting has now been made a punishable offence under the Disaster Management Act. An Open Letter to the PM also included a request for covering the issue of spitting in Mann Ki Baat, which was covered on 26 April 2020. “The campaign was successful in making this issue a national priority ”, says Odette, “and more people were starting to recognise the issue”. 

The team went on to conduct a survey circulated nationally to understand people’s perceptions about spitting. It garnered around 750 responses and the data was analysed by a campaign partner, Ellipses Innovation. It was found that most people ignored people spitting during pre-covid times, but now 93% said they would attempt to do something about it. This reaffirmed that the timing was perfect to address the issue of spitting in public spaces.

While enforcement is an important component to prevent spitting, it is only one step of a long journey ahead. Awareness and sensitisation are important as well. A key part of the strategy is to bring together partners across the country, all collaborating to spread awareness, sharing resources, and strategies for better synergy. 

Collaboration is Key!

Prominent figures including Dr Devi Shetty , Dr Sudarshan Ballal and Bangalore Police Commissioner Shri Kamal Pant have endorsed the campaign, bringing more traction. We are grateful to receive the momentous support of Late Kannada actor, Powerstar Puneeth Rajkumar. His video appeal is now a cherished message to his fans and a legacy to the city and nation – it is still as crucial to put an end to public spitting.

Collaborations with the BBMP and BBMP marshals, Sare Jahan Se Acha’s #SpitFreeIndia team, Rotary, Rotaract and Interact clubs across India, Soroptomist International Clubs, Bangalore Apartments’ Federation, NavSahyog Foundation, Namma Bengaluru Foundation, Whitefield Rising, ADDA, Green Stage, Ploggers’ Army, I am Gurgaon, Ys Women Trivandrum Angels and many more, have resulted in bringing in more synergy, on-ground awareness, and action. Anyone can connect on stopindiaspitting@gmail.com to join the Alliance to #StopIndiaSpitting!

Signs in regional languages were made and people across the country put up the signs in public spaces, including shops, vendor stalls, bus stops, railway stations, and more. This continues to be a key strategy of the campaign because more signs immediately brings more awareness, and slowly translates to less spitting.

This kind of consistent messaging was taken up even at the Bangalore International Airport which partnered on the campaign and led to a reduction of spitting on the premises, as confirmed by Hari Marar, CEO, Bangalore International Airport Ltd., on national TV.

“I have personally seen how having conversations with people and putting up signs helps. Near a shop, the staff used to spit a lot. I humorously told them”, says Odette, ““You’re wearing a mask, but still removing it and spitting. Now when people come to your shop, it will be like buy one, get Covid free”. They laughed but got the point. I also put up a sign the next day, which is incidentally still there one whole year later! When I followed up a few days later with the shop owner, he confirmed that spitting had reduced there and that staff now use the toilet to spit.” 

Several NGOs were instrumental in spreading the message at the grassroots level. Hasirudula, a campaign partner, has spread the message to over 20,000 families in their outreach. They shared a story of how a child from a village who was sensitised by the campaign, told an elderly woman not to spit, proving that the strategy of educating is powerful and working! Children can indeed be powerful change agents. 

Thus, “Children say #StopIndiaSpitting” was launched, which invites childrens’ messages on convincing people to curb the habit. Here is one such message by Saaket Ram, in response to our campaign inviting videos from children. An adorable video appeal by Sri Vansh went viral and garnered more than 1,03,000 views!

Several partners from educational institutions like CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Sishu Griha School Bengaluru, NRB College Nerul, Sattva School Ahmedabad, have played an important role in grooming students to take responsibility for public hygiene and channelling them to be changemakers for the cause. Swetha NK, a Class 7 student of Sishu Griha even created an app for StopIndiaSpitting, winning an award from the Science Society of India and pulling in attention yet again to the subject.

Creative Campaigning

“We have worked on building a bank of creative and interesting campaign resources with the help of collaborations and pro bono support from many well-wishers”, shares Odette. “They are helping bring the subject on people’s radar. They are also being found useful by campaign partners across to create interest in the subject and build a strong movement” .

In October 2021, Odette received the Samvahana (Communicator) Award from the Public Relations Council of India on World Communicator’s Day, for use of creative communication in driving an impactful movement for change for a better world.

The #StopIndiaSpitting movement is privileged to have the support of professional singers with amazing voices – Adil Kalyanpur – A-Kal rapper with his Stop Spitting rap (English cum Hindi), Vidya Samuel and Roshan Anand on ‘Imagine‘, and Sarah Jose, Madhuri Braganza and Vineet Braganza on ‘Come Together‘. Arshad Khan and Nelson Siddi lent their creative talent to a catchy Kannada rap to spread the message of the movement in creative ways.

A cute, eye-catching video was created with the help of talented dogs trained by expert trainers Tales with Tails 269

A comprehensive illustration by Arghya Manna vividly explains the science behind spitting spreading disease.

21n78e Creative Labs, a Mumbai-based advertising agency extended pro-bono support to the #StopIndiaSpitting movement. They created compelling creatives, launching the #SpitKills campaign, timed with Independence Day, with the theme ‘Freedom from spitting’.

Champa Srinivas of Kenrina Interior Design created a beautiful wall painting, which led to the launch of the campaign “Paint your walls to #StopIndiaSpitting”. Attractive wall art coming out across the country can pull in a lot of interest.

This is but a small sample of the resources created in various languages and mediums, which any citizen in any city can use to spread awareness about the issue.

“It will take time to eradicate this habit that has been there for generations,” says Odette. “But despite the challenges, we will persist, and have made a definite start in creating a mass movement with more than 80 partners across the country through whom we are able to create a buzz around the spitting issue in unique ways”.

Here is how YOU can contribute to the #StopIndiaSpitting movement

Citizen involvement is crucial for the #StopIndiaSpitting campaign to become a mass movement and contribute to a #SpitFreeIndia. We need your support.

1 . Visit https://www.beautifulbengaluru.org to learn more about the campaign. Follow, engage and reach out to us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and share our resources and updates widely to create a conscious, engaged community. 

2. Access campaign resources and videos and share them widely, to make the #StopIndiaSpitting movement more impactful.

3. Print out and display our multilingual signs at entrances to apartments, premises, shops, etc (with permission of the owners). These signs inform and remind people not to spit in public spaces, and make it clear, especially as life settles post-covid, that spitting in public is no longer acceptable.

4. Engage in preemptive conversations with those you know you may spit be it, staff, vendors or family members, friends, and neighbours. Make them understand why spitting is bad for health and hygiene. Encourage them to spread the word.

5. When you see someone spitting, ask them politely and gently to not spit. Here is what you could tell them: “You’re wearing a mask to prevent Corona right? But do you know that removing your mask and then spitting would still spread Corona? I request you, please don’t spit.” Chances are you will get a reply of ‘sorry’ and the person is likely to remember this, even if they do not immediately stop spitting.  

If you wish to engage in these crucial conversations but are hindered by language, worry not – the team has thought of everything! Access this resource, for conversations on spitting in regional languages.

6. Send an email to stopindiaspitting@gmail.com to join the Alliance to #StopIndiaSpitting and get involved.

7. Help add on to the campaign resources. Connect us to celebrities, influencers, artists, NGOs, and any person, group, or organisation to spread the message far and wide. 

8. Collaborate with us to conduct webinars in your community or institution to spread awareness about the cause. More webinars are resulting in new chapters in different cities. Join the team that spreads the impact of the movement! Connect on stopindiaspitting@gmail.com.

9. Help us network by telling others who could support this movement about us. Ask them to connect with us on stopindiaspitting@gmail.com.

Only if we come together can we address this issue and make our country spit-free, clean, green and safe. Will you join us?

GoGreenGuru is a campaign partner supporting Beautiful Bharat and the #StopIndiaSpitting movement.