Confusing announcement on ban on plastics: Need to work on the alternatives

Nagaland from October 1. Nationwide from October 2. That is a ban on single use plastics. Manipur too is set to follow the ban on single use plastics from October 2 following the decision of the Central Government. All good and fine, but one should not forget that a ban on anything is as good as how effectively this is implemented at the ground reality. It was obviously along this line that the Imphal Municipal Corporation went to town announcing that a ban would be imposed on one time use plastics, particularly plastic carry bags or polythene bags as they are more commonly known here from September 15. Just how seriously the Government has taken the task of banning plastics carry bags in the State may perhaps be testified by the fact that while the ban is supposed to come into force from October 2, the Imphal Municipality Corporation went on a publicity drive, complete with loud speaker and a truck announcing that the ban on single use plastics will come into effect from September 15. A case of the right hand of the Government not knowing what its left hand  is doing or a case of the IMC ‘sensitising’ the people before hand ? Whatever it is, it is difficult to believe that giving the date of the ban much ahead of the actual date on which the ban will become effective will have any positive impact. Rather it may just ring out a signal that this is another half hearted attempt of the Government to address the scourge posed by the rampant use of plastics, particularly plastic carry bags. Certainly this is not the way to go about it. The campaign against plastics should have started a long time back, particularly after the Centre announced that there would be a ban on one time use plastic after October 2 this year.
Grapevines say that a large scale crackdown on plastics brought in from Moreh side may be launched in the coming days. This again is all fine and will go well with the stated objective of the Government to ban one time use plastics from October 2. But ahead of the crackdown, a degree of awareness drive in the form of restricting its use in certain places of importance would have gone a long way. The Meghalaya Government has already decided to do away with plastic bottles inside the Assembly of the State. Such campaign should also be launched in schools and colleges, much before the University Grants Commission and the Union Ministry of Human Resources Development came out with the circular urging educational institutes to do away with one time use plastics. Or better still schools and colleges could have been urged to start their own campaign to crackdown on single use plastics inside their respective campuses. Perhaps the only positive move that has come so far is the Deputy Commissioner of Tamenglong who has already issued an order to ban one time use plastics inside the office complex of the DC. It is also expected of the Government to promote alternatives to make the ban all that more viable and effective. All such initiatives should go along with the ban on plastic carry bags.