Indian activists cleaning up slums and dumping grounds with viral video campaign

A LICK of paint here, some pot plants there and a new toilet. Here’s how an anonymous movement is giving India’s filthiest areas a new lease of life.

The campaigners turned a dumping ground into a local meeting point.

AN ANONYMOUS movement is making India beautiful, one street at a time.

The campaign is inspiring citizens across the country to clean up their act.

And their videos show it is possible to persuade people to change.

‘The Ugly Indian’ movement targets ugly, unhygienic eyesores in the country.

The team move tree stumps, build curbs, and then make the area look pretty.

“The Ugly Indian” activist group finds the filthiest streets and corners of a neighbourhood and shows how locals can turn them into safe and attractive places for the community.

Their “Spotfix” makeovers started in Bangalore, but the videos have gone viral, spurring more and more people to join in with the work.

One of the targets described on The Ugly Indian website is open dumping grounds, which they say are a common sight in India.

Teams oif volunteers revamp these eyesores by identifying the dumpers, giving them an alternative place to put waste and making the area look attractive.

Some walls have become popular public urination spots.

But families are keen to try to change their areas.

“Wonder Loos” have transformed walls and roads.

Where smokers are dropping cigarette butts, the group installs bins.

In other areas, they enlist locals to repaint peeling old walls and add seating.

Another widespread problem is filthy footpaths, where shops have been dumping garbage and rat colonies flourishing for years.

“As nobody else seemed concerned, we made it ‘our problem’,” the campaigners say.

Once an area looks pleasant, they say, no one wants to dump there any more.

An unsanitary dump outside a public playground.

Paving, plants and paint give it a new lease of life.

Some street corners have been piled with rat-infested rubbish for years.

A new look changes local behaviour, the campaigners say.

“The combined value of real estate rentals on this street is over $US1 million per month, it hosts over 200 businesses and restaurants, over 10,000 people walk here everyday,” the group says of Bangalore’s busy Church Street.

“Isn’t that a good enough reason to fix it? Fix five such streets and the area gets transformed.”

In most cases, The Ugly Indian movement says people respond to an area being cleaned up and stop dumping and littering, especially if they have somewhere else to dispose of waste.

Where public urination is particularly persistent, they have installed “Wonder Loos” — public urinals that can be attached to an outside wall.

The transformations are breathtaking — and have even saved lives.

Cigarette smokers get new bins so they won’t drop butts.

A foul spot on Church Street becomes a concealed public toilet.

India is rife with “death traps” like unfixed gaps in the footpath. The anonymous activists say there are affordable solutions that anyone can put in place.

Simply adding a paving stone could protect someone on your street from a broken neck.

One of the simplest and most ingenious solutions in the videos is a bright circle painted around a pothole in a road.

Now two-wheelers can see it, avoid it, and escape a crash.

It’s a small start, but the team hope to such efforts will help guide India into the future.