Authored By Krithika Venugopalan :

We all have read about the history of our Nation and its rich and varied heritage! At school, we have sung the National Anthem every day. We have pledged - ‘To my country, and my people I pledge my devotion. In their well being and prosperity alone, lies my happiness’. Yes, all this we have done while in school and to some extent while in college when we used to be forced to participate in Independence Day and Republic Day functions. But after joining work, how many of us still consider the Republic Day and Independence Day to be special days in the calendar, apart from the reason that office is closed on these days?

India became independent after so many precious lives were lost, after so many mothers sacrificed their sons and daughters, so many children lost their parents! But are we using that hard-earned freedom well? Are all Indians really treating each other with the feeling of ‘we’?

Recently, we went to one of our famous Hindu religious temples which is famous for its long queues. Some incidents that happened there seemed to suggest a big NO as answer for the above questions. I shall narrate that incident and after reading through the same, let me know your views…

There was a big queue for the Rs.100/- Ticket where bio-metric scanning is done for every person. It was a very long line spanning 2 floors and winding queues on each of the floors. We had to wait for close to 2 hours to get the ticket alone. All the fans were switched off in the place where people were lined up. There was a vendor who was selling a packaged drink for double the price. All the devotees waiting in the queue were feeling suffocated as there was no air circulation and many were compelled to buy the exorbitantly-priced packaged juice. Children (many in the age of 1 and 2), including my son, were crying. My son vomited there and became very restless and went on crying. I tried sending word through people standing in lines parallel to ours to ask the people in the counter to switch on the fans. One lady just stood there and refused to pass on the message even- she just said “those people will not listen”. I felt shocked that she was so indifferent and was not prepared to even pass on the message.

It was then that I asked this juice vendor if he knows anyone there and whether he can ask them to switch on the fans. To my surprise, he told me that he himself would switch on the fans after selling those juice packets! After 10 minutes I told him again and got the same response! This fellow seemed to be the person who has to take care of switching on the lights and fans there and he had just switched it off and was selling packaged juices at double the price! How atrocious! I grew so irritated that day, I told the other people in the queue that this person can switch on the fans and requested them to insist that they will not buy any more juice packets till he switches the fans on. Finally, he went and switched on just one of the fans in that area.

If people get together and insist on getting their rights fulfilled, it will happen. But some of my own family members were telling me that nothing will change because of one person shouting. I agree, but why should they also not support me and make it happen? I was not trying to bring about any great change there. My point was, if all of us together insist on something, it will happen. But why this display of so much inertia and indifference! When people try to sideline us in a queue, you remind them ‘Hey, I am standing here’ Don’t you? That feeling of ‘I’ makes you do that. But when someone is exploiting you, depriving you of basic rights, and a whole group is being targeted, why is the group not realizing itself as one and trying to insist on that? The individuals in the group need to believe that a change can be brought about instead of keeping on saying it will never happen. In this case, the indifferent behavior of the devotees only encouraged that person to leave his responsibility and don the role of a juice vendor, you can see that clearly, right?

Things will change for good only if we believe it will happen. We have seen films by Shankar like ‘Anniyan’ in which, in the climax scene, the protagonist calls the Press, the Media and all the public and explains and justifies his actions and then people welcome his decision and are convinced that what he has done is right. People Power is an infinite power!

We can make or break governments but we need to realize and believe that we can unleash that power if we get together! Our responsibility does not end with electing one government to power! It is also our duty to constantly ensure we are not deprived of our basic rights.

All the people of this country need to stand up for his/her own rights!

‘Into that Haven of Freedom, My Father, let my Country Awake!’

Authored By Pranav Patel:

The urban rich and middle class wish to see their cities grow into world-class cities with the best possible infrastructure and services. The notion of ‘world-class’ however is fuzzy and unclear. The urban middle class and upper middle class generally associate it with existence of high rise buildings, global companies, shopping malls, high speed highways and expressways, metro stations and more importantly the absence of poverty. The absence of poverty could either be removal of poverty or hiding it. In developing countries it generally correlated with the latter. The commonwealth games held in Delhi in 2010 are a classic example where the local authorities erected huge fences and covered them with banners to hide the slums and also removed all the street vendors for about a month’s duration including the 2 weeks of the games.

So is the removal of pavement dwellers and street vendors a step towards making our cities world class? The middle class and government authorities certainly seem to think so. On the one hand, many of us do not think twice before parking our vehicles on the roads and even footpaths, but the moment we see street vendors on the same public space we consider them to be eyesores. A parked vehicle generates no income at any point of time and neither do we as car owners pay any tax for parking vehicles on the roads whereas a street vendor standing in the same space is actually contributing to the economy. If we take into account all the street vendors in cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Ahmedabad we are actually looking at an economic turnover of billions of rupees. Street vending though is not just about economics but also about a means of livelihood. In a developing country like India street vending provides employment for millions of semi-skilled and unskilled workers. What would happen to these people and their lives if they are forcibly removed by civic authorities and over-active ‘citizens’ groups who claim to represent the interests of the urban society and educated Indians ? By removing street vendors will we be addressing the growing divide between the rich and poor or further expanding it? A deeper look into the lives of street vendors and their businesses will reveal the impact they have on our lives from economic and social aspects. Street vendors sell newspapers, books, food, household items, clothes and many other articles of daily use. All of this is sold at cheap prices and generally very close to our homes. Many of us buy stuff from the streets because it is cheap and affordable. The removal of street vendors would also lead to an escalation of prices of some of the essential domestic and personal items. The presence of street vendors on the streets also provides some sort of safety and security, especially for the women. If the street vendors are removed, our streets would be partially empty during afternoons and late evenings. Many of us actually are able to move freely in parts of the cities due to the presence of crowds on the streets. Most of the crowd on the streets also buys from these street vendors. The removal of street vendors would definitely reduce the number of people walking on the streets in the afternoons and late evenings. The street vendors in some way function as ‘watchmen’ for the streets in cities. Women would generally be more comfortable walking on a street which has vendors than walking on a street which is completely empty.

Many studies indicate that the informal or unorganized sector accounts for close to 90% of the workforce in India. Majority of Indian’s are self-employed. In case of the street vendors, they account for more than 10 million of the workforce. Many of these street vendors are mistaken to be ‘outsiders’ from UP, Bihar and other backward states. This is far from the truth. Many of the street vendors in Mumbai today are actually the mill-workers who lost their jobs after the mills were closed down. A lot of street vendors are actually people who earlier worked in factories and industrial units but lost their jobs after the liberalization process started. Talk to any street vendor in any city and you will find that some of them in fact have been street vendors since two or three generations.

The problem of street-vending is not an Indian phenomenon alone and neither is it a recent phenomenon. Street vendors have existed in cities like Delhi and Mumbai since the 19^th century. Street vendors exist in other Asian, Latin-American and African countries too. Better regulations and inclusive policies will help to bring them into the system. The National Urban Policy for Street Vendors, 2009 in fact lays down certain guidelines to bring some regulation which will allow street vendors to carry out their daily business without any fear of eviction or any ‘illegality’ associated with their existence. The policy lays down guidelines for ‘restriction-free’ vending, ‘restricted-vending’ and ‘No vending’ zones. The Supreme Court of India too has ruled in a 1989 case:

“if properly regulated, according to the exigency of the circumstances, the small traders on the sidewalks can considerably add to the comfort and convenience of the general public, by making available ordinary articles of everyday use for a comparatively lesser price. An ordinary person, not very affluent, while hurrying towards his home after a day’s work, can pick up these articles without going out of his way to find a regular market. The right to carry on trade or business mentioned in Article 19 (1) g of the Constitution, on street pavements, if properly regulated, cannot be denied on the ground that the streets are meant exclusively for passing or re-passing and no other use."

[Sodan Singh & Others versus New Delhi Municipal Council, 1989]

It’s time we should stop looking at the urban poor as a nuisance who are a burden on our cities’ limited resources. The urban poor in fact are as important a part of the city as anybody else. If the government has to beautify the city, it should come out of a fool-proof plan which takes care of both parties. They should learn to provide means of earning bread and butter first and then look at aesthetics. The street-vendors add to the beauty of the urban spaces in a very unique way. We need to understand the needs of the poor and facilitate their means of livelihood by allowing them to function under the ambit of law, rules and regulations. They too should be made to pay taxes and some sort of charges for the public space they utilize. In fact legal recognition to them will help bring down the trend of hafta that plagues all major cities of India. The growing divide between the rich and poor cannot be bridged without providing the poor a means of livelihood.

Authored By Pradip Kumar

It’s already been 1 month since we are in to the New Year and Valentine’s Day is round the corner. Very soon cities, malls and stores would get painted in different hues of red- symbol of love. The season of love will again witness some drama from the moral police claiming their 15mins fame reminding the community what they are capable of. Let’s keep the V-day aside and talk about the shocking headline of 1^st Feb 2011 in TOI which caught my eyes saying - “Bill seeks to let 12-yr-olds have non-penetrative sex”. Click here for the detailed news.

When I saw this headline, I could not believe my senses and read it multiple times to make sure what I understood is correct. Such a proposal coming from Ministry of Women and Child Development and being suggested to all states left me shocked. The bill states: “Twelve-year-old children will be legally permitted to have non-penetrative sex with children of their age. The Bill also seeks to introduce a gradation in the age of consensual non-penetrative sex (12-14 years and 14-16 years) against the existing age of consent for sex which is 16 years. It proposes that in case of the age group 12-14, the maximum age gap between partners should be two years. For the 14-16 group, the maximum gap should be three years”. The consent age for sex in Spain is the lowest -13 and looks like India is trying to prove the world that we have arrived and broken all the shackles of our rusted traditions and become ultra modern. I wonder if this is one such step by means of which India would take over the rest of the world. Well, Irony is the only word that comes to me!

Authored By A.V:

725 AD: The Arab governor of Sindh attacked and destroyed the Somnath temple in Gujarat.

1024 AD: The rebuilt Somnath Temple is destroyed by Mahmud Ghazni.

1296 AD: Somnath Temple is once again destroyed, this time by Allauddin Khilji.

1375 AD: The temple is again destroyed by Muzaffar Shah I, the Sultan of Gujarat.

1451 AD: Doom comes again as the restored temple is destroyed by Mahmud Begda, the Sultan of Gujarat.

1701 AD: Somnath temple is destroyed by Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb who built a mosque on the site of the temple. 

Queen Ahilyabai Holkar of Indore rebuilt the temple in 1783 AD at a site adjacent to the ruined temple which was already converted to a mosque.

(source: wikipedia) 

Authored By:Pradip Kumar

Another year has ended and going by Mayan Prediction we are closer to the end of the world. India today celebrates its 61^st Republic day and media is publishing India’s report card to the world. Recollecting a few incidences related to the republic day, I started feeling home-sick thinking about it. My parents are old fashioned patriots who ensure that special delicacies are prepared on the eve of 15^th Aug and 26^th Jan, since they felt it’s extremely important to celebrate the milestones of our free country. While engrossed in the thoughts of mom’s special delicacies, a little girl started tapping the window pane trying to sell some tricolors. Her tiny body and saucer eyes made her resemble the classic poster girl for poverty. She tapped on the window of my cab and said, ‘‘happy republic day saab.’’ She was shivering as she sold the plastic flags to motorists, most of whom shooed her away. She possibly didn’t know the meaning or importance of the Republic Day, but she knew that she would make some extra rupees that week. And that made her happy! For the little girl, those few extra rupees may have translated into extra bread for dinner.

Looking at her made me think where is the country heading? What is our government’s goal for the country apart from robbing the common man's hard earned money to quench their desires? Do the people like the small girl on the streets begging or selling toys are ever part of the agenda to start with? It’s been over 60 years of our Independence but how much have we progressed? What is the measure of the country’s progress? Does the country’s progress ever take into account the poor and under the poverty line people? Recently I read somewhere- “According to recent Forbe’s list of Wealthiest people in the world, there are 23 billionaires in India with combined net worth of $99bn.” And on the other hand we have around 40 % of Indians below the poverty line who can’t afford to spend even Rs. 21.6 per day to get the basic 3 meals.

Authored by Pradip Kumar:

The year 2010 is about to end and the new year is round the corner with lots of hopes, promises and cheers for everyone. 2010 seems to have been one of  the most eventful year in the history of Indian politics since our independence. The year 2010 has been aptly coined as “The year of scams” by the media. This article is just to have a quick roundup of all the major scams exposed. With media and Common Man questioning the government, it looks like a big blow under the belt for our Prime Minister. While our PM Mr. Manmohan Singh is clean and praised for his smartness and intelligence across the world,

Authored By Pranav Patel:

Think of the government and what is the first word which comes to your mind? Corruption? Bureaucracy? Babudom?  How many times have you felt helpless about the potholes on the roads of your city? What could you possibly do about the long delayed infrastructure projects and the corruption which always accompany those projects? When you think of Satyendra Dubey or Manjunath Shanmugam do you feel a sense of anger and helplessness at the same time? What could we, the people of a democratic country like India possibly do to change this system of corruption, non-transparency and non-meritocracy?

Authored By A.V:

For the last several weeks, we have heard and read about the recent unrest in the Kashmir Valley. People like me have had bitter exchanges with kashmiris who want an independent state and view India as an evil force. When I reflect on the things I have heard from separatists and Kashmiri Pandits who have been victims of an ethnic cleansing operation hardly anybody talks about, I feel India’s approach to J&K has been wrong all the time.

Authored By A.V:

I am an idiot. Now, don’t laugh. So are you guys. And so are the people who put up this site and got people like us to write articles here so that some deprived, underprivileged children get their education. Imagine the hard work a CA, an IAS officer, an IIT engineer or a MBA graduate puts in to reach what they thinks is the pinnacle of success. Imagine the monetary investment that goes behind it. But even they cannot give themselves any salary they want. They have to bow before their supervisors for promotion, bonus and raise. A MP, on the other hand, has to win the election – by hook or crook. And Voila…the crores are in the bank, sometimes even in the Swiss banks. Some of them are even luckier – they just have to take birth in the right family. It is indeed the World’s Best Job. Our MPs have drafted the Right to Education bill.

Authored By A.V:

If like me, you were born after 1980, then probably it is something you have often heard about but seldom given serious thought to. June 25 might have been just  another day for you but not for those who have seen the India of 1970s when Indira Gandhi ruled. It was the night of June 25-26 in the year of 1975 when this daughter of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the Iron Lady who played a significant role in dividing Pakistan and creating Bangladesh, obtained President’s approval to impose a state of Emergency in the country. Those who have lived through that era have mixed feelings about those 19 months when most of the civil liberties were curbed, political opponents were jailed, there was no freedom of press and scores of people were detained without reason and even tortured. Most of the non-Congress leaders we have today were jailed during the emergency.