Srinagar, Sept. 18 -- By Syed Sammar Mehdi

Students at schools in Khonmoh took the stage this week to act out a problem that usually unfolds beyond the classroom: waste discarded without thought, public spaces left untidy and plastic accumulating in the environment.

Their skits formed the centrepiece of the Jammu and Kashmir launch of Swachhata Hi Seva 2026, held Thursday in Block Khonmoh, Srinagar. The performances turned a government cleanliness campaign into a lesson aimed at reaching homes, neighbourhoods and communities.

Anoo Malhotra, the director general of Rural Sanitation, J&K, opened the Union Territory-wide campaign with a simple proposition.

Cleanliness, she said, needs to become part of daily behaviour rather than remain ...