Mawlynnong is a village that is located in the East Khasi hills of Meghalaya State along the Indian border with Bangladesh. The pristine village has around 500 residents, but this number dramatically during the high season, when hundreds of tourists make their way to the village so that they can experience it’s clean living.

Tourism in the village has skyrocketed since Prime Minister Narendra Modi cited Mawlynnong as a model for the rest of the country in a monthly radio address in 2015.

“I was happy to know that in our country there is such a village in the northeast, in Meghalaya, which is passionately carrying forward the mission of cleanliness for years,” he said. “It has become the habit of the residents to maintain cleanliness.”

The village first started getting attention in a 2004 article by Discover India Magazine, which said “this must be the cleanest village in India.” The village has a long tradition of gardening that has been passed down through generations, which is thought to have contributed to it’s cleanliness.

The village council has come together to find ways to address the issue of keeping their village clean despite their influx of visitors. Their solutions include villagers sweeping the streets daily, bamboo dustbins being placed on every corner, and trash being composted so that it can be used to nourish the village’s agriculture.

“Our grandparents and their grandparents had clean habits at that time; nobody dreamed that the village would become a tourist attraction,” said Laphrang Khong Thohrem, a member of the village council.

Thohrem added that while Mawlynnong is beautiful, the best thing about the village is the people.

“They are cooperative and helpful,” he said, adding that when the village council makes requests, the community cooperates. “If the people are not like that, you can’t create a village like this.”

What an amazing little village!

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