On 31st October 1984, six-year old Amrinder Singh became aware of the large scale violence that had been unleashed against his community. Residing in a Sikh majority population area, Vashisht Nagar near Janakpuri, in Delhi, his family were not the target yet. Not taking any chances, they nevertheless shifted their womenfolk to a relative’s house in a posh South Delhi locality.
Their fears came to life the very next day. At around 11 A.M a huge mob, shouting anti-Sikh and pro-Indira Gandhi slogans, fully armed with lathis and axes, suddenly engulfed their area. As if it was a well planned strategy, only the houses belonging to the Sikhs were targeted.
Amarjeet Singh, Amrinder’s father, recalls the fateful day, “They systematically went straight to all the Sikh houses in the locality as if they knew where all the Sikhs stayed.”
Amrinder’s grandfather, a retired army officer, then in his early 70s prepared himself to confront the mob with his Kirpan, but was prevented by Amarjeet. He was forcibly whisked away through the back door to a Muslim family’s house two doors away.
“My father grieved Indira Gandhi’s death as much as the whole nation did. All his life he served the country and this is how he was being rewarded. He could not control his anger,” says Amarjeet.
Amarjeet himself was dragged out by the mob and beaten by lathis. His Muslim neighbours rushed to his help. They managed to drag Amrinder and his bleeding father away from the crowd, bundled them into a car and drove them to a Muslim dominated area, where they stayed for the next four days.
Amrinder, now 30, says, “I still remember how the mob beat up my father. His turban had come off and he was bleeding. I was too young to help him and was terribly scared.”
Amarjeet returned to his house after things settled down in the city and was informed by his neighbours that the mob had first thoroughly removed useful things like the TV, telephone and other electrical appliances and loaded them onto the trucks. The cupboards were then broken open and whatever cash and jewellery they could lay their hands on, were pocketed. They smashed the rest of the furniture with their axes, and then they set the house afire.
“We lost everything in the riots and had nowhere to go. The place that was most safe for us, our home, was gone,” recalls Amarjeet.
Prepared to handle the worst, his family went to the local police station the next day and lodged a First Information Report (FIR). The police visited their burnt-down house and noted all the visible details. “We were a bit surprised as we did not have any problem lodging the FIR. We had lost all our faith in the system,” says Amarjeet.
But that was all the police did. Amrinder’s family had not expected much. They had seen the policemen standing across the road as mere spectators on the day of the attack. They had also noticed a senior police officer talking to some men sitting in white ambassador cars (allegedly used by the mob to commute) a few meters down the road.
Till date they have not heard of any progress on their FIR from the police. They did not get any summons from any court of law. Some journalists visited them and took down all the details of their ordeal, which appeared in some magazines and newspaper columns as a collective problem of their entire locality. Some NGOs came forward and assured them that cases would be filed on behalf of each family. They were assured that the culprits would be brought to book and adequate compensation given to them soon.
Three months after the attack, they received a letter from the Delhi Government, offering them a paltry compensation, which they refused.
25 years down the line, they are both frustrated and disillusioned with the system. They are now well aware that the riots and the police and court actions were all planned, executed and sanctioned by the Congress led government then.
“My heart burns every time I am reminded of that day. I grew up with this grief. I know what it means to be a minority in this country,” Amrinder says.
Amarjeet, now residing with his family in another colony in the same area, does not blame any particular community for the riots. According to him, it was a lesson for the minority community. It taught them that they could not take on the might of the government.
They appreciate the help extended by people of other communities—Hindus and Muslims—who came forward to help them.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Lost in Transition
Amidst a razed slum area, stands alone the house of Shakuntala, a sweeper and mother of five children. In a kuccha house covered with plastic sheets tied with ropes, lives her family of eight with high hopes that one day they will also be given a land of their own.
On 8 March 2006, the slum dwellers of Pushpanjali slum in Pitampura, Delhi, were moved to Bawana, on the outskirts of Delhi (on Delhi-Haryana highway), by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) under the beautification project of the State government.
“I was born in here. These municipality people have moved everyone but we are left behind because I do not have a ration card,” says Shakuntala.
Families with no ration card and no voting card were the ones left behind here. More than 100 people in Pushpanjali slum alone have not been given land in any of the areas allotted for the slum relocation project in Delhi (These areas are - Bawana, Narela, Kondli and Madanpur Khader). They still live on, isolated from their community, on the land where they claim they were born, with no drinking water and no electricity.
Sanjay Upadhyaya who runs a tea stall on the sidewalk shares the same plight as Shakuntala. “We came here from Uttar Pradesh in 1987. I have lost my ration card and have spent some 50-60,000 rupees bribing the DDA officials. Still we have not been given land in Bawana.”
Bawana in North-West Delhi is one of the areas where plots were given as per the slum rehabilitation scheme. Two plot sizes, 18 square metres and 12.5 square metres are available in this area. Under the cost-distribution rules as fixed by the Union Urban Development Ministry, the beneficiaries of the plots were to pay Rs.5,000 irrespective of the size of the plot. The rest of the price was to be borne by the Delhi Government and the land owning agency.
Despite this rule, the families who got 18 square metres plot had to pay Rs.7,500 out of their own pockets.
According to a report released by the vigilance department in 2007, more than 500 DDA employees are under scanner for grossly misutilising the funds for the slum rehabilitation scheme. The plots meant for the evicted slum-dwellers in Bawana are sold to property dealers for building shops and multi-storeyed permanent structures. The corner plots and the plots on the main road fetch Rs.4 lakh in the market, while ordinary plots are worth just Rs.50,000. The local MCD and DDA functionaries get a cut from the contractors who get the plots allotted in their names.
The whole area in Bawana for the slum rehabilitations is divided into five blocks – A, B, C, D and E. Slums dwellers in these five blocks came in 2004 and are mostly from the Yamuna Pushta region. Their slum was demolished in the same year and at its place now stands a state of the art facility for athletes competing in the Commonwealth games scheduled to be held in Delhi in 2010.
Four years in a cramped, unhygienic piece of land, yet there is no electricity in the mornings and evenings. Out of the 8,000 houses in these five blocks, hardly 400 have electricity connections.
DDA claims that they have installed 16 hand-pumps for drinking water in the five blocks. But the residents complain that there is hardly any water in them. The situation gets worse in summers when there is water scarcity.
The three far off blocks – F, G and H were set up in 2006. None of these houses have electricity connections. Pradeep Bharadwaj, a private electric contractor in Bawana says, “The electric poles have not yet been put up by the New Delhi Power Limited (NDPL). NDPL gives out contracts to private companies for giving electricity connections to the houses. No tender has been released yet by the NDPL for these three blocks.”
Block B lies on a low land area and is flooded during the rains. With no proper drainage system, the water is left stagnant which provides a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Maqsood, a resident of the same block says, “Last rains a lot of people got malaria. We do not even have a hospital nearby. The nearest one is some four kilometers away. The doctors there do not speak our language and they don’t treat us properly.”
Resettlement areas in Delhi are on the outskirts of the city, far away from their earlier sources of income. There is no scope of earning one's livelihood and with poor standards of sanitation, hygiene and medical assistance are virtually non-existent. Those who still cling on to their old jobs in the city start their day as early as four in the morning to reach their places of work in time. Not to forget the added expense of everyday commuting.
Narendra, school van driver in Pushpanjali says, “We bring women and children here everyday from Bawana. Most women who used to work in the bunglows here full time have left work. The ones who work till afternoon still come.”
The government just gave the land to build houses to the people who were moved to Bawana from all around Delhi. The slum dwellers then had to build their own houses on that land. Given the small chunk of land allotted, none of these houses have toilets.
With all these problems persistent in the resettlement land, those who were evicted from their slums and were not given a share in the resettlement area are still struggling for it.
“I give rent for sitting on this footpath. Policemen come and harass me almost everyday. Once we go to Bawana, at least no one will move us from there. We will have our own land,” says Sanjay.
Sanjay is lucky for his house was not demolished along with the other houses in the area. But he lives under the constant threat of loosing the roof on his head any day. The ones whose houses were razed to the ground have nowhere to go.
When asked if these people were given an alternative arrangement, Devender Singh, Supervisor, Municipal Corporation of Delhi, Slum Development, Bawana said, “They must have gone somewhere; many run away. How are we to know?”
On 8 March 2006, the slum dwellers of Pushpanjali slum in Pitampura, Delhi, were moved to Bawana, on the outskirts of Delhi (on Delhi-Haryana highway), by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) under the beautification project of the State government.
“I was born in here. These municipality people have moved everyone but we are left behind because I do not have a ration card,” says Shakuntala.
Families with no ration card and no voting card were the ones left behind here. More than 100 people in Pushpanjali slum alone have not been given land in any of the areas allotted for the slum relocation project in Delhi (These areas are - Bawana, Narela, Kondli and Madanpur Khader). They still live on, isolated from their community, on the land where they claim they were born, with no drinking water and no electricity.
Sanjay Upadhyaya who runs a tea stall on the sidewalk shares the same plight as Shakuntala. “We came here from Uttar Pradesh in 1987. I have lost my ration card and have spent some 50-60,000 rupees bribing the DDA officials. Still we have not been given land in Bawana.”
Bawana in North-West Delhi is one of the areas where plots were given as per the slum rehabilitation scheme. Two plot sizes, 18 square metres and 12.5 square metres are available in this area. Under the cost-distribution rules as fixed by the Union Urban Development Ministry, the beneficiaries of the plots were to pay Rs.5,000 irrespective of the size of the plot. The rest of the price was to be borne by the Delhi Government and the land owning agency.
Despite this rule, the families who got 18 square metres plot had to pay Rs.7,500 out of their own pockets.
According to a report released by the vigilance department in 2007, more than 500 DDA employees are under scanner for grossly misutilising the funds for the slum rehabilitation scheme. The plots meant for the evicted slum-dwellers in Bawana are sold to property dealers for building shops and multi-storeyed permanent structures. The corner plots and the plots on the main road fetch Rs.4 lakh in the market, while ordinary plots are worth just Rs.50,000. The local MCD and DDA functionaries get a cut from the contractors who get the plots allotted in their names.
The whole area in Bawana for the slum rehabilitations is divided into five blocks – A, B, C, D and E. Slums dwellers in these five blocks came in 2004 and are mostly from the Yamuna Pushta region. Their slum was demolished in the same year and at its place now stands a state of the art facility for athletes competing in the Commonwealth games scheduled to be held in Delhi in 2010.
Four years in a cramped, unhygienic piece of land, yet there is no electricity in the mornings and evenings. Out of the 8,000 houses in these five blocks, hardly 400 have electricity connections.
DDA claims that they have installed 16 hand-pumps for drinking water in the five blocks. But the residents complain that there is hardly any water in them. The situation gets worse in summers when there is water scarcity.
The three far off blocks – F, G and H were set up in 2006. None of these houses have electricity connections. Pradeep Bharadwaj, a private electric contractor in Bawana says, “The electric poles have not yet been put up by the New Delhi Power Limited (NDPL). NDPL gives out contracts to private companies for giving electricity connections to the houses. No tender has been released yet by the NDPL for these three blocks.”
Block B lies on a low land area and is flooded during the rains. With no proper drainage system, the water is left stagnant which provides a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Maqsood, a resident of the same block says, “Last rains a lot of people got malaria. We do not even have a hospital nearby. The nearest one is some four kilometers away. The doctors there do not speak our language and they don’t treat us properly.”
Resettlement areas in Delhi are on the outskirts of the city, far away from their earlier sources of income. There is no scope of earning one's livelihood and with poor standards of sanitation, hygiene and medical assistance are virtually non-existent. Those who still cling on to their old jobs in the city start their day as early as four in the morning to reach their places of work in time. Not to forget the added expense of everyday commuting.
Narendra, school van driver in Pushpanjali says, “We bring women and children here everyday from Bawana. Most women who used to work in the bunglows here full time have left work. The ones who work till afternoon still come.”
The government just gave the land to build houses to the people who were moved to Bawana from all around Delhi. The slum dwellers then had to build their own houses on that land. Given the small chunk of land allotted, none of these houses have toilets.
With all these problems persistent in the resettlement land, those who were evicted from their slums and were not given a share in the resettlement area are still struggling for it.
“I give rent for sitting on this footpath. Policemen come and harass me almost everyday. Once we go to Bawana, at least no one will move us from there. We will have our own land,” says Sanjay.
Sanjay is lucky for his house was not demolished along with the other houses in the area. But he lives under the constant threat of loosing the roof on his head any day. The ones whose houses were razed to the ground have nowhere to go.
When asked if these people were given an alternative arrangement, Devender Singh, Supervisor, Municipal Corporation of Delhi, Slum Development, Bawana said, “They must have gone somewhere; many run away. How are we to know?”
Another 1971 in Pakistan?
Islam, the religion of love and tolerance, has been incessantly interpreted, misinterpreted and defined in versatile ways. But is the new wave of modern Islam, given the political complacency, giving rise to another Taliban Afghanistan? Or is Pakistan headed towards another 1971?
Unhappy with the broken promises of President Zardari of restoration of the deposed Chief Justice, Ifthikar Chaudhary, Pakistan Muslim League’s (N) leader Nawaz Sharif on Monday warned against creating a “1971-like situation”.
The recent imposition of Governor’s rule in the Punjab province by Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leading to an immediate dismissal of Shahbaz Sharif led provincial government has further jolted the ever crumbling democratic structure in Pakistan.
With an unstable political situation, religion has become more assertive and hardliner. Barelvi, the tolerant, Sufi-minded form of Islam is now pushed out of fashion by the new wave of Wahhabism flourishing in Pakistan, especially in the north-western frontier province. These Saudi-funded madrasas have adopted a more radical and political face.
The shrine of Rahman Baba, an 18th-century Sufi poet, unable to counter the wrath of these Wahhabi Islamists, was finally blown up on Thursday, a few hours after the Sri Lankan cricket team was attacked in Lahore. The students of the madrasa complained that the shrine was a centre of idolatry and superstition, and tagged it ‘unislamic’.
The Wahhabi sect of Islam, to which the royal family of Saudi Arabia belongs, had its origins in the 13th century. When oil wealth opened Saudi Arabia to the West in the 20th century, some Wahhabi clerics became radical opponents of a royal family they no longer saw as keepers of the faith but as decadent apostates.
One of the main reasons why the Wahhabis have been so successfully infiltrating and sculpturing Islam in Pakistan is because of the vacuum created by the collapse of the state education. Religious education is still prevalent in several parts of Pakistan and the drop out rates stay high. Over 140 schools were shut by the Taliban last month in the Swat Valley because they don’t approve of the curriculum.
Also, many of the madrasa buildings have been financed by the Saudis. Quickly advancing in Pakistan, this imported education has swept an entire generation to abandon the indigenous, tolerant Sufi-Islam.
There are now 27 times as many madrasas in the country as there were in 1947: from 245 at independence, the number has shot up to 6870 in 2001.
The entire Islamic society has been a victim of theological conflicts over centuries. Call it their ulterior motives, successive major political parties have allowed the religious education in madrasas breed alongside democracy. Given the rigid support they get from the international community, in no time these propagated ideologies find acceptance in a politically weak country. Under the military rule of Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, Pakistan adopted Shariat and other laws based on Islam. In the 2004 national elections, Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, a coalition of Islamic religious parties, won elections in North-West Frontier Province and increased their representation in the National Assembly until their defeat in the 2008 elections. Lal Masjid, a madrasa in Islamabad, where the madrasa students allegedly held hostage women and children, was said to have faced a “massacre” by the Musharraf’s military regime. Musharraf was said to have “antagonizing the country’s tribal and Pashtun minorities” by doing so.
Over the recent imposing of a ban on education in the Swat Valley by the Taliban, William Darlymple in an interview to a BBC journalist said that the Pakistani Taliban, who were a minor force until about 18 months ago, have come out of FATA, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, which is a dubious buffer zone between Pakistan and Afghanistan, where the al-Qa'eda high command is presumed to be sheltering. They are now out in the north-west frontier province, which is about a fifth of Pakistan and they control it a great deal now.
With Sufism on its way to be rooted out with Wahhabism, suicide bombings and attacks on the police and the army almost a daily routine and uprooting the democratically elected provincial government in the region, it is high time the government focus to stabalise and check it’s internal matters. In Darlymple’s words, “The Pakistani government could finance schools that taught Pakistanis to respect their own religious traditions, rather than buying fleets of American F-16 fighters and handing over education to the Saudis. Instead, every day, it increasingly resembles a tragic clone of Taliban Afghanistan.”
With widening ideological differences among the leaders and one pitching against the other, the military, as says history, may again assume power. Or is Pakistan heading towards another Bangladesh of 1971?
Unhappy with the broken promises of President Zardari of restoration of the deposed Chief Justice, Ifthikar Chaudhary, Pakistan Muslim League’s (N) leader Nawaz Sharif on Monday warned against creating a “1971-like situation”.
The recent imposition of Governor’s rule in the Punjab province by Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leading to an immediate dismissal of Shahbaz Sharif led provincial government has further jolted the ever crumbling democratic structure in Pakistan.
With an unstable political situation, religion has become more assertive and hardliner. Barelvi, the tolerant, Sufi-minded form of Islam is now pushed out of fashion by the new wave of Wahhabism flourishing in Pakistan, especially in the north-western frontier province. These Saudi-funded madrasas have adopted a more radical and political face.
The shrine of Rahman Baba, an 18th-century Sufi poet, unable to counter the wrath of these Wahhabi Islamists, was finally blown up on Thursday, a few hours after the Sri Lankan cricket team was attacked in Lahore. The students of the madrasa complained that the shrine was a centre of idolatry and superstition, and tagged it ‘unislamic’.
The Wahhabi sect of Islam, to which the royal family of Saudi Arabia belongs, had its origins in the 13th century. When oil wealth opened Saudi Arabia to the West in the 20th century, some Wahhabi clerics became radical opponents of a royal family they no longer saw as keepers of the faith but as decadent apostates.
One of the main reasons why the Wahhabis have been so successfully infiltrating and sculpturing Islam in Pakistan is because of the vacuum created by the collapse of the state education. Religious education is still prevalent in several parts of Pakistan and the drop out rates stay high. Over 140 schools were shut by the Taliban last month in the Swat Valley because they don’t approve of the curriculum.
Also, many of the madrasa buildings have been financed by the Saudis. Quickly advancing in Pakistan, this imported education has swept an entire generation to abandon the indigenous, tolerant Sufi-Islam.
There are now 27 times as many madrasas in the country as there were in 1947: from 245 at independence, the number has shot up to 6870 in 2001.
The entire Islamic society has been a victim of theological conflicts over centuries. Call it their ulterior motives, successive major political parties have allowed the religious education in madrasas breed alongside democracy. Given the rigid support they get from the international community, in no time these propagated ideologies find acceptance in a politically weak country. Under the military rule of Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, Pakistan adopted Shariat and other laws based on Islam. In the 2004 national elections, Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, a coalition of Islamic religious parties, won elections in North-West Frontier Province and increased their representation in the National Assembly until their defeat in the 2008 elections. Lal Masjid, a madrasa in Islamabad, where the madrasa students allegedly held hostage women and children, was said to have faced a “massacre” by the Musharraf’s military regime. Musharraf was said to have “antagonizing the country’s tribal and Pashtun minorities” by doing so.
Over the recent imposing of a ban on education in the Swat Valley by the Taliban, William Darlymple in an interview to a BBC journalist said that the Pakistani Taliban, who were a minor force until about 18 months ago, have come out of FATA, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, which is a dubious buffer zone between Pakistan and Afghanistan, where the al-Qa'eda high command is presumed to be sheltering. They are now out in the north-west frontier province, which is about a fifth of Pakistan and they control it a great deal now.
With Sufism on its way to be rooted out with Wahhabism, suicide bombings and attacks on the police and the army almost a daily routine and uprooting the democratically elected provincial government in the region, it is high time the government focus to stabalise and check it’s internal matters. In Darlymple’s words, “The Pakistani government could finance schools that taught Pakistanis to respect their own religious traditions, rather than buying fleets of American F-16 fighters and handing over education to the Saudis. Instead, every day, it increasingly resembles a tragic clone of Taliban Afghanistan.”
With widening ideological differences among the leaders and one pitching against the other, the military, as says history, may again assume power. Or is Pakistan heading towards another Bangladesh of 1971?
MDMK condemn Sri Lankan Army General Fonseka
Chennai: Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) organized a protest on December 10 at TTK Road condemning the statement made by the Sri Lankan Army chief Sarath Fonseka, who called the Tamil political leaders ‘jokers’, in an interview.
The Army Chief was quoted as saying, “If the LTTE is wiped out, those political jokers like Nadumaran, Vaiko and whoever sympathising with the LTTE will most probably lose their income from the LTTE.”
MDMK general secretary Vaiko and his supporters demonstrated a protest here and asked for an open apology from the Sri Lankan government. The protest went peaceful and the crowd dispersed after displaying their displeasure over the issue. No arrests were made.
Mr. Nanmaran, MDMK spokesperson said, “We want an open apology from the Sri Lankan government. The General should be sent back.”
Apparently, arresting of sixteen agitators and burning of effigies of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and General Fonseka was reported from a few districts of Tamil Nadu.
Discontent by the way the Central Government is reacting, Nanmaran said that the Central government in India is doing nothing and that they should look into the issues seriously when foreigners make comments about our leaders.
“What if they make statements about the Prime Minister (of India)? The government is for everyone. The Indian government should make strict warning to all the Sri Lankan foreign officials and ask for an open apology from (the Sri Lankan) President Rajapaksa and General Fonseka,” he said.
Vaiko and The Tamil Nationalist Movement (TNM) leader P. Nedumaran have been getting support from the other political parties of Tamil Nadu as well. Nanmaran said, “We are glad that all the other political parties supported us. They all expressed their concern, especially the ruling party (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam).”
On questioning the High Commission of Sri Lanka in Chennai about the security arrangements for the protest, Dominic, Public Relations Officer, said, “Nothing happened in front of the High Commission. The police had the situation in control and the protests happened elsewhere.”
Expecting a positive response from the Sri Lankan government for the demands made by MDMK on the issue of ridiculing the Tamil Nadu politicians, Nanmaran said, “The diplomatic relations with the government of Sri Lanka will change if the demands are not met. This will have an impact on the Sri Lankan embassy here.”
MDMK has sent a letter to the Prime Minister regarding the same. “We’ll have to wait and see what response comes from the Centre,” Nanmaran said.
AIADMK-CPI((M) alliance
MDMK is at present in alliance with the All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), headed by former Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa.
Commenting on the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) being AIADMK’s new ally in Chennai, for the Lok Sabha elections in 2009, Nanmaran said, “We will continue our alliance with the AIADMK. We are willing to wait and see if anyone is coming forward to form an alliance with us.”
The Army Chief was quoted as saying, “If the LTTE is wiped out, those political jokers like Nadumaran, Vaiko and whoever sympathising with the LTTE will most probably lose their income from the LTTE.”
MDMK general secretary Vaiko and his supporters demonstrated a protest here and asked for an open apology from the Sri Lankan government. The protest went peaceful and the crowd dispersed after displaying their displeasure over the issue. No arrests were made.
Mr. Nanmaran, MDMK spokesperson said, “We want an open apology from the Sri Lankan government. The General should be sent back.”
Apparently, arresting of sixteen agitators and burning of effigies of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and General Fonseka was reported from a few districts of Tamil Nadu.
Discontent by the way the Central Government is reacting, Nanmaran said that the Central government in India is doing nothing and that they should look into the issues seriously when foreigners make comments about our leaders.
“What if they make statements about the Prime Minister (of India)? The government is for everyone. The Indian government should make strict warning to all the Sri Lankan foreign officials and ask for an open apology from (the Sri Lankan) President Rajapaksa and General Fonseka,” he said.
Vaiko and The Tamil Nationalist Movement (TNM) leader P. Nedumaran have been getting support from the other political parties of Tamil Nadu as well. Nanmaran said, “We are glad that all the other political parties supported us. They all expressed their concern, especially the ruling party (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam).”
On questioning the High Commission of Sri Lanka in Chennai about the security arrangements for the protest, Dominic, Public Relations Officer, said, “Nothing happened in front of the High Commission. The police had the situation in control and the protests happened elsewhere.”
Expecting a positive response from the Sri Lankan government for the demands made by MDMK on the issue of ridiculing the Tamil Nadu politicians, Nanmaran said, “The diplomatic relations with the government of Sri Lanka will change if the demands are not met. This will have an impact on the Sri Lankan embassy here.”
MDMK has sent a letter to the Prime Minister regarding the same. “We’ll have to wait and see what response comes from the Centre,” Nanmaran said.
AIADMK-CPI((M) alliance
MDMK is at present in alliance with the All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), headed by former Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa.
Commenting on the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) being AIADMK’s new ally in Chennai, for the Lok Sabha elections in 2009, Nanmaran said, “We will continue our alliance with the AIADMK. We are willing to wait and see if anyone is coming forward to form an alliance with us.”
Development at the cost of fisherfolk’s livelihood
T. S. S. Mani is a social activist who is a member of the People’s Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL). He is the convener of the Fisher Movements Coordination of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
How will the expansion of the Chennai Port affect the fishing hamlets?
Every expansion of the harbour, based on dredging of the shore, leads to breaking of roads all along the shore. Fishing hamlets have to face all the problems because of that.
The Multinational Companies (MNCs) fill up the shipyards with monstrous containers. These containers and the huge trucks (in which the containers are carried form the harbour to the city and vice versa) are all along the fishing harbours, right outside the fishermen houses. Children play and get hurt in that area. They may even get killed. No fishing hamlet can be peaceful this way.
The fishing community is known to be very vociferous. Why are they not protesting now?
These MNCs bribe the chiefs of the fishing hamlets. They give them Rs. 1000 each and a few lakhs for the temple festivals.
What according to you is the solution to this problem?
Burn all the containers. We should burn all the containers and all the politicians. Till 20 kilometers from the fishing hamlets, there should be containers.
But the expansion of the Chennai Port is planned. How do you plan to stop it?
There is an irony in what the politicians say. They can’t displace the fisher folk but, the construction of the bridge has already started and in the process, the fishermen will be displaced. This is what the local bureaucrats want.
They have tried to displace us several times before too. Some well renowned Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs), which I will not name, are getting funds from America to spread rumors that the houses will be displaced. They print pamphlets and spread the word around to get more funds from these foreign countries.
The politicians will save their faces when the fishermen will resist. No politician will dare go against our wishes.
How has the government tried to displace the fishermen in the past?
In 2003, Jayalalithaa (the then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu) had a joint venture with the Malaysian Construction Board. The fishermen got a blueprint of the document and came to us (PUCL). The plan was to evict the fishermen and build foreign embassies and hotels there (Nochikuppam). We exposed the document through all the media. The venture was stopped. The document was exposed through the local as well as the English media. But most of the English media refused to believe us. They needed authorization.
Then in 2004, Jayalalithaa signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Mr. Samy Velu (he is a Malaysian of Tamil origin and belonged to the Malaysian Indian Congress party), minister in the Malaysian government. This information was picked up seriously by the fishermen. On January 15, 2004, the leaders of the fisher organizations of all 19 hamlets met and had all the media to publish/telecast the information. 15 January onwards, we had these meetings every week.
We approach the media because the Tamil Nadu media is very strong. They reach out to every single person in the state including the rural areas.
Haven’t the fishermen taken to arms?
We are not for raising them to arms.
In 1985, MGR government tried to remove the fishing hamlets. The fishermen clashed with the police on Kamaraj Salai. They wanted to kill Director General of Police Walter Deva Ram. The fisherwomen saved him. In return, on December 4, the police killed 7 fishermen. That was the price given to the fishermen for saving the lives of a policeman.
In 2004, the fishermen were ready to fight. All the ministers travel through this road Kamaraj Salai. If the fishermen come down on this road, many deaths will occur. We make sure that these don’t come out on the road. If they do, then there will be no stopping them.
The fishermen have been struggling for long. Have you tried to persuade the government to change the policy towards the fishing community?
They talk about beautification of the Marina beach. And they want to achieve it by removing the fishermen. Fishermen are ready to become martyrs for it.
The White House sent a 5 page letter to the Chief Minister telling him not to evict the fishermen. The scheme (beautification) was then withdrawn. Events have happened in the past and we deal with the government on our own. So now, what right do these NGOs have to spread the rumors that the houses will be displaced?
The government says that the fishing hamlets violate the Coastal Regulation Zone Act that’s why they want to move these hamlets.
On December 26, 2004, the Tsunami came. It caused many deaths. The bureaucrats then adopted the Coastal Regulation Zone Act as a weapon against the fishermen. They gave notice to remove the fishermen from 5 kilo meters from the high tide area.
All the traditional hamlets are next to the shore. These are needed by the fishermen to fish. This is their mode of survival. Their livelihoods are based on that. The land based bureaucrats know nothing about the sea men.
People of the sea can’t be understood by the people of the land. Their relations of the production can’t be understood by the intelligentsia of the land. All the IAS, IPS officers are land based. They don’t understand the people of the sea. They occupy the chairs of decision making in Delhi and elsewhere.
When the government’s Malaysian project failed, they came up with the CRZ.
How did you protest against this?
We organized rallies and demanded that the new CRZ policy should be for the new private commercial profit based projects and not for the fishermen who are the traditional owners. These people can’t be displaced. On March 16, 2005, we gave this proposal to Jayalalithaa.
PUCL filed a case which went up to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court gave direction to organize public consultation in the states by the participation of NGOs in which 6 PUCL members participated.
In Tamil Nadu, PUCL organizes meetings. We organized 8 meetings, from 18 to 21 March 2005, in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. Leaders from all coastal districts attended this meeting. Invitation was also sent to the government and Jayalalithaa sent district collectors and fishery department representatives to these meetings. We also met the director of Tsunami relief and rehabilitation in the Secretariats.
Were these meetings fruitful? Did the government act upon it?
On March 25, 2005, Jayalalithaa announced a statement under section 1(10) (according to him, under this section, no opposition party can either oppose or change the statement) that the fishermen shouldn’t be shifted from the shore because of the nature of their profession.
On March 30, the government of Tamil Nadu released an order announcing the same.
Haven’t these orders been implemented? Why are the fishermen still against the government?
In April 2005, the government said that in the cities, the fishermen should be moved at least 500 meters away from the sea. They build commercial buildings in this area but want the fishermen to move away from the sea.
In 2005, the Collector of Chennai said that the houses in the fishing hamlets are old and are dilapidated so they will be given new houses. The fishermen were given the assurance that their houses won’t be shifted. They allotted maps, made model houses, did everything but the construction hasn’t started yet. This is bureaucracy.
An elevated bridge along the Adyar Creek is under construction. What steps are you taking to prevent the fishermen families from getting displaced there?
Who is getting displaced? We are not going anywhere. I have been in activism for four decades now. They can’t build the elevated bridge till the time we want.
What is the Adyar creek project?
The Adyar Poonga project was launched by Karunanidhi in 2006. It is a 100 Crore project. They want to make a park for the elite who have already violated the CRZ by constructing their private buildings. They are making money out of it. It is of interest and is profitable to the Chief Minister and his family.
First they tried through the Malaysian contracts, then through Tsunami and now they are coming through the Adyar creek. We will fight back. We will protest again. But soon the government will change and will throw away the Adyar project to trashes.
Are you sure the government will change?
I’m sure Jayalalithaath will come to power. Till then we just have to postpone the construction.
But even the Jayalalithaa government has tried to shift the fishing hamlets in the past. They may do it again if they come to power. What will your policy be then?
Our ambition is to make people more politicized than the politicians. We want people to be politically aware. We will not let the politicians do what they like. These politicians are destroying livelihoods with their rotten policies. The government needs to take it back. If they don’t, we will take to arms. In fact, it is happening now to threaten to pressurize democratic politics. These politicians have a dagger hanging on their head. If they upset us, all hell will break loose.
Reclaim politics, reclaim democracy and make space for the young to question.
Is the passion to fight back still alive in the fishing community?
I am a powerful optimist. We will re-motivate our fisher folk and we will fight. We are the Maoists. People are our strength. Power of the media and the politicians is temporary. It fluctuates. But the power of the people is steady and strong. I have full faith in my people. We will fight.
How will the expansion of the Chennai Port affect the fishing hamlets?
Every expansion of the harbour, based on dredging of the shore, leads to breaking of roads all along the shore. Fishing hamlets have to face all the problems because of that.
The Multinational Companies (MNCs) fill up the shipyards with monstrous containers. These containers and the huge trucks (in which the containers are carried form the harbour to the city and vice versa) are all along the fishing harbours, right outside the fishermen houses. Children play and get hurt in that area. They may even get killed. No fishing hamlet can be peaceful this way.
The fishing community is known to be very vociferous. Why are they not protesting now?
These MNCs bribe the chiefs of the fishing hamlets. They give them Rs. 1000 each and a few lakhs for the temple festivals.
What according to you is the solution to this problem?
Burn all the containers. We should burn all the containers and all the politicians. Till 20 kilometers from the fishing hamlets, there should be containers.
But the expansion of the Chennai Port is planned. How do you plan to stop it?
There is an irony in what the politicians say. They can’t displace the fisher folk but, the construction of the bridge has already started and in the process, the fishermen will be displaced. This is what the local bureaucrats want.
They have tried to displace us several times before too. Some well renowned Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs), which I will not name, are getting funds from America to spread rumors that the houses will be displaced. They print pamphlets and spread the word around to get more funds from these foreign countries.
The politicians will save their faces when the fishermen will resist. No politician will dare go against our wishes.
How has the government tried to displace the fishermen in the past?
In 2003, Jayalalithaa (the then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu) had a joint venture with the Malaysian Construction Board. The fishermen got a blueprint of the document and came to us (PUCL). The plan was to evict the fishermen and build foreign embassies and hotels there (Nochikuppam). We exposed the document through all the media. The venture was stopped. The document was exposed through the local as well as the English media. But most of the English media refused to believe us. They needed authorization.
Then in 2004, Jayalalithaa signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Mr. Samy Velu (he is a Malaysian of Tamil origin and belonged to the Malaysian Indian Congress party), minister in the Malaysian government. This information was picked up seriously by the fishermen. On January 15, 2004, the leaders of the fisher organizations of all 19 hamlets met and had all the media to publish/telecast the information. 15 January onwards, we had these meetings every week.
We approach the media because the Tamil Nadu media is very strong. They reach out to every single person in the state including the rural areas.
Haven’t the fishermen taken to arms?
We are not for raising them to arms.
In 1985, MGR government tried to remove the fishing hamlets. The fishermen clashed with the police on Kamaraj Salai. They wanted to kill Director General of Police Walter Deva Ram. The fisherwomen saved him. In return, on December 4, the police killed 7 fishermen. That was the price given to the fishermen for saving the lives of a policeman.
In 2004, the fishermen were ready to fight. All the ministers travel through this road Kamaraj Salai. If the fishermen come down on this road, many deaths will occur. We make sure that these don’t come out on the road. If they do, then there will be no stopping them.
The fishermen have been struggling for long. Have you tried to persuade the government to change the policy towards the fishing community?
They talk about beautification of the Marina beach. And they want to achieve it by removing the fishermen. Fishermen are ready to become martyrs for it.
The White House sent a 5 page letter to the Chief Minister telling him not to evict the fishermen. The scheme (beautification) was then withdrawn. Events have happened in the past and we deal with the government on our own. So now, what right do these NGOs have to spread the rumors that the houses will be displaced?
The government says that the fishing hamlets violate the Coastal Regulation Zone Act that’s why they want to move these hamlets.
On December 26, 2004, the Tsunami came. It caused many deaths. The bureaucrats then adopted the Coastal Regulation Zone Act as a weapon against the fishermen. They gave notice to remove the fishermen from 5 kilo meters from the high tide area.
All the traditional hamlets are next to the shore. These are needed by the fishermen to fish. This is their mode of survival. Their livelihoods are based on that. The land based bureaucrats know nothing about the sea men.
People of the sea can’t be understood by the people of the land. Their relations of the production can’t be understood by the intelligentsia of the land. All the IAS, IPS officers are land based. They don’t understand the people of the sea. They occupy the chairs of decision making in Delhi and elsewhere.
When the government’s Malaysian project failed, they came up with the CRZ.
How did you protest against this?
We organized rallies and demanded that the new CRZ policy should be for the new private commercial profit based projects and not for the fishermen who are the traditional owners. These people can’t be displaced. On March 16, 2005, we gave this proposal to Jayalalithaa.
PUCL filed a case which went up to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court gave direction to organize public consultation in the states by the participation of NGOs in which 6 PUCL members participated.
In Tamil Nadu, PUCL organizes meetings. We organized 8 meetings, from 18 to 21 March 2005, in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. Leaders from all coastal districts attended this meeting. Invitation was also sent to the government and Jayalalithaa sent district collectors and fishery department representatives to these meetings. We also met the director of Tsunami relief and rehabilitation in the Secretariats.
Were these meetings fruitful? Did the government act upon it?
On March 25, 2005, Jayalalithaa announced a statement under section 1(10) (according to him, under this section, no opposition party can either oppose or change the statement) that the fishermen shouldn’t be shifted from the shore because of the nature of their profession.
On March 30, the government of Tamil Nadu released an order announcing the same.
Haven’t these orders been implemented? Why are the fishermen still against the government?
In April 2005, the government said that in the cities, the fishermen should be moved at least 500 meters away from the sea. They build commercial buildings in this area but want the fishermen to move away from the sea.
In 2005, the Collector of Chennai said that the houses in the fishing hamlets are old and are dilapidated so they will be given new houses. The fishermen were given the assurance that their houses won’t be shifted. They allotted maps, made model houses, did everything but the construction hasn’t started yet. This is bureaucracy.
An elevated bridge along the Adyar Creek is under construction. What steps are you taking to prevent the fishermen families from getting displaced there?
Who is getting displaced? We are not going anywhere. I have been in activism for four decades now. They can’t build the elevated bridge till the time we want.
What is the Adyar creek project?
The Adyar Poonga project was launched by Karunanidhi in 2006. It is a 100 Crore project. They want to make a park for the elite who have already violated the CRZ by constructing their private buildings. They are making money out of it. It is of interest and is profitable to the Chief Minister and his family.
First they tried through the Malaysian contracts, then through Tsunami and now they are coming through the Adyar creek. We will fight back. We will protest again. But soon the government will change and will throw away the Adyar project to trashes.
Are you sure the government will change?
I’m sure Jayalalithaath will come to power. Till then we just have to postpone the construction.
But even the Jayalalithaa government has tried to shift the fishing hamlets in the past. They may do it again if they come to power. What will your policy be then?
Our ambition is to make people more politicized than the politicians. We want people to be politically aware. We will not let the politicians do what they like. These politicians are destroying livelihoods with their rotten policies. The government needs to take it back. If they don’t, we will take to arms. In fact, it is happening now to threaten to pressurize democratic politics. These politicians have a dagger hanging on their head. If they upset us, all hell will break loose.
Reclaim politics, reclaim democracy and make space for the young to question.
Is the passion to fight back still alive in the fishing community?
I am a powerful optimist. We will re-motivate our fisher folk and we will fight. We are the Maoists. People are our strength. Power of the media and the politicians is temporary. It fluctuates. But the power of the people is steady and strong. I have full faith in my people. We will fight.
CPI-M banks on Jayalalithaa
Chennai: All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) CPI(M) formed an alliance in Tamil Nadu on December 5 for the next Lok Sabha elections.
CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat and AIADMK chief J. Jayalalithaa held a meeting at latter’s residence and decided to form a strong opposition to jointly fight the General Elections, early next year, in Tamil Nadu.
W. R. Wardharajan, CPI(M) Central Committee member said, “The Central committee has decided to work for defeating Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and rejecting Congress in the next General Elections.”
The Communist parties broke the alliance at the Centre with the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government after the Congress went ahead with the Nuclear Deal with the Unites States of America.
“The global meltdown, its aftermath and disastrous economic policies are the main focus of the UPA and it is pushing the financial sector,” Wardharajan said. “We work for the people. We are more concerned about their issues,” he added.
The two parties will work out the election tactics state wise. Since CPI(M) has a strong hold in Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura, they will fight both the Congress and the BJP there, Wardharajan said. Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu are important states for the CPI(M). The tactics for Andhra Pradesh have been worked out and Communist Party of India (CPI), CPI(M) and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) will coordinate there.
“We have a strong force in these two states (Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu) and we can successfully fight to win,” he said.
AIADMK had an alliance with BJP in 2004 and 2006. After 2006 Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections, the alliance broke. During 2004 to 2006, AIADMK was successful in retrieving its mass base which was eroded in 2004 resulting in its complete rout in Lok Sabha polls. Now there are constant attempts by the BJP to form an alliance with AIADMK again. “AIADMK is not responding to the Right party’s requests,” Warhdharajan said. (AIADMK officials were not available for comment)
“To weaken the BJP from getting a foothold in Tamil Nadu and to take on Congress, CPI(M) - AIADMK alliance is the best choice,” Wardharajan said.
CPI(M) believes that the BJP is reviving its Hindutava plan through the terror blasts for gaining political advantage. The Left party’s effort will be to rally secular democratic parties who are opposed to both BJP and Congress in the states.
Wardharajan said, “We have a regional interest. All parties sharing power at the centre are making compromises with the Congress and the BJP.”
The two newly alligned parties have not yet discussed the constituencies but will soon make evaluation with the proposals.
Broadly, CPI(M) will be focusing on communalism and terrorism, rural distress and global economic meltdown in the coming elections.
Party Workers
On asked whether the party workers of the two parties will be willing to work together, Wardharajan said, “Dialogue with the AIADMK is on to sort the differences. We are trying to put a common plank comprising of peoples issues. We are narrowing down the differences and keeping off the divergent views away from the election campaign.”
Ram Sethu
“AIADMK earlier championed the cause as part of the election manifesto. Now, it is opposing the execution of the project. Even the UPA is re-thinking and looking for alternative allignment. The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister (M. Karunanidhi) is also open to choosing a different allignment and even naming the project as Ram Sethu. We will discuss these issues with them,” Wardharajan said.
The CPI(M) has formally ended its ties with the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and had finalized AIADMK, Janata Dal (Secular) (JD-S) and TDP as its allies. MDMKis already with the Left, with AIADMK trying to rope in other Parties for forming a strong opposition front to defeat DMK in the General elections.
CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat and AIADMK chief J. Jayalalithaa held a meeting at latter’s residence and decided to form a strong opposition to jointly fight the General Elections, early next year, in Tamil Nadu.
W. R. Wardharajan, CPI(M) Central Committee member said, “The Central committee has decided to work for defeating Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and rejecting Congress in the next General Elections.”
The Communist parties broke the alliance at the Centre with the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government after the Congress went ahead with the Nuclear Deal with the Unites States of America.
“The global meltdown, its aftermath and disastrous economic policies are the main focus of the UPA and it is pushing the financial sector,” Wardharajan said. “We work for the people. We are more concerned about their issues,” he added.
The two parties will work out the election tactics state wise. Since CPI(M) has a strong hold in Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura, they will fight both the Congress and the BJP there, Wardharajan said. Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu are important states for the CPI(M). The tactics for Andhra Pradesh have been worked out and Communist Party of India (CPI), CPI(M) and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) will coordinate there.
“We have a strong force in these two states (Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu) and we can successfully fight to win,” he said.
AIADMK had an alliance with BJP in 2004 and 2006. After 2006 Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections, the alliance broke. During 2004 to 2006, AIADMK was successful in retrieving its mass base which was eroded in 2004 resulting in its complete rout in Lok Sabha polls. Now there are constant attempts by the BJP to form an alliance with AIADMK again. “AIADMK is not responding to the Right party’s requests,” Warhdharajan said. (AIADMK officials were not available for comment)
“To weaken the BJP from getting a foothold in Tamil Nadu and to take on Congress, CPI(M) - AIADMK alliance is the best choice,” Wardharajan said.
CPI(M) believes that the BJP is reviving its Hindutava plan through the terror blasts for gaining political advantage. The Left party’s effort will be to rally secular democratic parties who are opposed to both BJP and Congress in the states.
Wardharajan said, “We have a regional interest. All parties sharing power at the centre are making compromises with the Congress and the BJP.”
The two newly alligned parties have not yet discussed the constituencies but will soon make evaluation with the proposals.
Broadly, CPI(M) will be focusing on communalism and terrorism, rural distress and global economic meltdown in the coming elections.
Party Workers
On asked whether the party workers of the two parties will be willing to work together, Wardharajan said, “Dialogue with the AIADMK is on to sort the differences. We are trying to put a common plank comprising of peoples issues. We are narrowing down the differences and keeping off the divergent views away from the election campaign.”
Ram Sethu
“AIADMK earlier championed the cause as part of the election manifesto. Now, it is opposing the execution of the project. Even the UPA is re-thinking and looking for alternative allignment. The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister (M. Karunanidhi) is also open to choosing a different allignment and even naming the project as Ram Sethu. We will discuss these issues with them,” Wardharajan said.
The CPI(M) has formally ended its ties with the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and had finalized AIADMK, Janata Dal (Secular) (JD-S) and TDP as its allies. MDMKis already with the Left, with AIADMK trying to rope in other Parties for forming a strong opposition front to defeat DMK in the General elections.
Waste Wanted
Today is Vasanti’s lucky day. She found two over-ripe guavas in the garbage amassed from the last train. Digging her hand in the huge rug, she pulls out the pale, unappetizing fruits and splashes them with the remnant crystal water of the mineral bottles she collected from the train. Clandestinely, she rests the guavas at the corner of her soiled navy saree, rolls it into a knot and swings it over her shoulder.
Clutching a long broom under her left armpit, she separates all the plastic bottles from the trash, throws them in a crumbling carton, picks up her sack and strides to the end of the platform number two of the Chennai Central station, to deposit the collection.
Her angular body swinging to the rhythm of the tingling sounds of her anklets on bare feet. Jasmine flowers dangling on her dark, unkempt hair, striking a contrast.
“I am a train cleaner. I don’t clean the platform,” Vasanti clarifies as she spreads the ‘Opportunities’ supplement of The Hindu for her food box. She squats in a corner of the sullied platform, joining her colleagues. Resting her aching back against the thick rusted metal beam, she pulls out a rumpled polythene bag, containing her afternoon meal.
A single mother feeding her two sons, on a meager thirty rupees a day wage, she has no choice but to cull out food from the trains while she cleans them.
Before depositing all the plastic she collects from the trains, for which she is paid ten rupees per kilogram, she cumulates the water from the bottles into one for her consumption.
A streak of red sindoor shimmering on the parting of her oiled hair, hiding the scalp, a big maroon bindi decorated on her sun burnt forehead, chiming glass bangles and a nose pin, all symbolic of her wedded status, yet, no mention of her husband.
“Her husband left her,” Laxmi, Vasanti’s unhesitant thirty-five year old colleague volunteered. “Her younger son is tenth fail and has polio. He doesn’t work. And her older son is a coolie but he doesn’t bring home any money,” she adds.
Amidst a strong stench of fish and filth, Vasanti, shy and embarrassed, opens the lid of the little white plastic box. Half filled with boiled rice and curry, she delves her fingers in the food unenthusiastically, as if the question, in a jiffy, killed her appetite.
Vasanti and Laxmi, two of the many who migrate to the cities in search of work, end up getting exploited under private contractors as much as in their homes. Working for twelve hours a day and cleaning about fifteen to eighteen trains daily, many like Vasanti make no more than Rs. 1000 per month. To augment this meager income, they sell used plastic.
As Vasanti sat harmlessly swallowing her rice-curry, a sturdy figure, in mud-coloured uniform, her supervisor, came to inspect the stranger she is spilling the beans to.
“Don’t tell your name,” he warned Vasanti in his heavy voice, “I will tell the boss.”
Vasanti nods, without meeting his eyes.
“Ya, Ya, we know what to do. Let us eat our food,” Laxmi, evidently the more outspoken one, playfully shoos him off.
Foxing suspicious glances, the man leaves.
With no trade union or workers’ group to eavesdrop their grievances, these women work obstinately, day after day. Every year, the railway department releases tenders for these secondary jobs on the station. The lowest bidder wins.
Vasanti, a fourth standard drop out, now thirty-two years old, succumbs to all the injustices inflicted on her. “I may loose my jobs if I protest. There is no one to support me,” she says helplessly. “My son works, but he drowns it all away in alcohol,” Vasanti renounced.
Holding the rim of her saree she whispers that the money for this uniform too came from her own pocket. “I had to pay hundred rupees to the contractor for this,” she quetches.
With a stony face, she rattles how the women working under the present contract have no medical aid, even when hurt on the job. Without any protective gear, they soil their hands; the minimum wage rules are flouted, even though the tenders are approved by the State governments. There is no limit on the working hours or days. If they fall sick, chances are that someone else will replace them within a day.
Vasanti unties the knot on her saree’s edge and picks one guava, the smaller one. Effortlessly, she squishes it into two portions and hands one to Laxmi who gayly accepts it.
As Vasanti takes the first bite her eyes become glassy with tears. Her hollow stare like a dark tunnel with no light at the end, tells many abject dreams, as she slowly chews the soft fruit pulp.
“This one,” she ties the other guava in her saree knot, “I will give to my younger son.”
In the ado of the busy cities, hiding behind the rich-coloured sarees, many Vasantis kill their dreams.
Clutching a long broom under her left armpit, she separates all the plastic bottles from the trash, throws them in a crumbling carton, picks up her sack and strides to the end of the platform number two of the Chennai Central station, to deposit the collection.
Her angular body swinging to the rhythm of the tingling sounds of her anklets on bare feet. Jasmine flowers dangling on her dark, unkempt hair, striking a contrast.
“I am a train cleaner. I don’t clean the platform,” Vasanti clarifies as she spreads the ‘Opportunities’ supplement of The Hindu for her food box. She squats in a corner of the sullied platform, joining her colleagues. Resting her aching back against the thick rusted metal beam, she pulls out a rumpled polythene bag, containing her afternoon meal.
A single mother feeding her two sons, on a meager thirty rupees a day wage, she has no choice but to cull out food from the trains while she cleans them.
Before depositing all the plastic she collects from the trains, for which she is paid ten rupees per kilogram, she cumulates the water from the bottles into one for her consumption.
A streak of red sindoor shimmering on the parting of her oiled hair, hiding the scalp, a big maroon bindi decorated on her sun burnt forehead, chiming glass bangles and a nose pin, all symbolic of her wedded status, yet, no mention of her husband.
“Her husband left her,” Laxmi, Vasanti’s unhesitant thirty-five year old colleague volunteered. “Her younger son is tenth fail and has polio. He doesn’t work. And her older son is a coolie but he doesn’t bring home any money,” she adds.
Amidst a strong stench of fish and filth, Vasanti, shy and embarrassed, opens the lid of the little white plastic box. Half filled with boiled rice and curry, she delves her fingers in the food unenthusiastically, as if the question, in a jiffy, killed her appetite.
Vasanti and Laxmi, two of the many who migrate to the cities in search of work, end up getting exploited under private contractors as much as in their homes. Working for twelve hours a day and cleaning about fifteen to eighteen trains daily, many like Vasanti make no more than Rs. 1000 per month. To augment this meager income, they sell used plastic.
As Vasanti sat harmlessly swallowing her rice-curry, a sturdy figure, in mud-coloured uniform, her supervisor, came to inspect the stranger she is spilling the beans to.
“Don’t tell your name,” he warned Vasanti in his heavy voice, “I will tell the boss.”
Vasanti nods, without meeting his eyes.
“Ya, Ya, we know what to do. Let us eat our food,” Laxmi, evidently the more outspoken one, playfully shoos him off.
Foxing suspicious glances, the man leaves.
With no trade union or workers’ group to eavesdrop their grievances, these women work obstinately, day after day. Every year, the railway department releases tenders for these secondary jobs on the station. The lowest bidder wins.
Vasanti, a fourth standard drop out, now thirty-two years old, succumbs to all the injustices inflicted on her. “I may loose my jobs if I protest. There is no one to support me,” she says helplessly. “My son works, but he drowns it all away in alcohol,” Vasanti renounced.
Holding the rim of her saree she whispers that the money for this uniform too came from her own pocket. “I had to pay hundred rupees to the contractor for this,” she quetches.
With a stony face, she rattles how the women working under the present contract have no medical aid, even when hurt on the job. Without any protective gear, they soil their hands; the minimum wage rules are flouted, even though the tenders are approved by the State governments. There is no limit on the working hours or days. If they fall sick, chances are that someone else will replace them within a day.
Vasanti unties the knot on her saree’s edge and picks one guava, the smaller one. Effortlessly, she squishes it into two portions and hands one to Laxmi who gayly accepts it.
As Vasanti takes the first bite her eyes become glassy with tears. Her hollow stare like a dark tunnel with no light at the end, tells many abject dreams, as she slowly chews the soft fruit pulp.
“This one,” she ties the other guava in her saree knot, “I will give to my younger son.”
In the ado of the busy cities, hiding behind the rich-coloured sarees, many Vasantis kill their dreams.
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