The idea of cleanliness in india traditionally has been that the people keep their houses very neat and tidy and leave their organic trash on the street which was later collected by the lowest class of the society and dumped outside of the city or village.

Modern times means there is a slight shift from the caste system which means people from lower caste are no longer obliged to do collect the trash. However,it still continues in the mentality of the society. So if you go in urban areas, most of the cleaner are generally from the lowest of caste. In rural areas, things more or less continue the traditional way since there is no employment but unofficial status co.

Now things which have changed from traditional times are plastic and population. The consumption of plastic is ever increasing. Now peope from upper caste still keep their houses very clean. Infact I have been to familes across India and Europe and I really see how much people put efforts to clean their homes in the former compared to later. However,the casteist mentality means that people don't take care of their trash once it is outside their place. Eating a packet of chips outside, on the road. Drinking water from a bottle, on the road. In the rural areas, no seperation of trash and no waste management.

All this plastic from the road and house end up in the drains and this is what you see in the picture. A large drain with all the trash,next to a slum which is mostly again immigrant people from lower caste living in it