People First
Jyoti Punwani   Tuesday January 18, 2005
Source : Times of India

As the Congress-NCP government drives out slum-dwellers from Mumbai, Jockin Arputham, whose life changed after his slum was demolished during the Emergency, gets his second international honour: the French 'National Order of Merit' for helping the underprivileged.
The Magsaysay award winner and founder of the National Slum Dwellers Federation tells Jyoti Punwani -

Why Mumbai Cannot Survive without its Slum-dwellers

Are the large-scale demolitions making people go back to their villages?
Demolitions keep taking place, normally between November and June. This time, the BMC has demolished in one month what it would normally in seven months. These demolitions have been more vigorous, more mechanised and more ruthless and inhuman. They have exposed the politicians' tall talk. Had the MLAs and MPs wanted, they could have stopped them in a day; instead, they have gone into hiding. Where are the human rights groups, those who talk about the girl child? Babies are dying of pneumonia in the open. If one girl is raped, notices are issued to the authorities. Who knows how many girls must have been raped after having to sleep on the roads? No one will go back. I'm willing to give Mumbai's middle class a plane ticket to go back to their villages. They have acres to go back to. Will they?

The authorities say these slums came up after 1995, hence they are illegal.

Everyday, through the press, you invite people to come to Mumbai. Hundreds of ads are printed asking professionals, managers, to come and work here. You don't have place for more people, but do you stop them? No. And not a single ad says: Bring proof of residence before 1.1.95. On the one side you are opening up doors. Middle-class people come here, find a house. The poor also come here for work. They can't afford a house, so they squat wherever they can and become a visible presence. Therefore you break their homes, ruin their livelihood and drive them out inhumanly. Why don't you create an alternative for them? Why should they not have the same chances for employment as the middle class? The custodians of the city should create a sites and services zone on the city's periphery. Put up 10x10 rooms, common toilets and taps, and ask the poor to pay Rs 5 everyday. Make NGOs responsible for collection. Give us a chance, let us enumerate the slums, categorise the residents, and find a place for all.

Where's the land?

Just before he left, Sushil Kumar Shinde released 300 acres of no-development zone land. To whom? To builders. More than 700 hectares of salt pan land is vacant. The Godrej company owns more than 400 hectares within the city, which is not being used either for gardens or orchards. How did the giant Hiranandani Gardens complex come through? People who started as masons have become builders in Mumbai. For them, land is available. Only when the poor want to use it, it's not. You shift the slum-dwellers into buildings, and see how much land is released. This claim of 'no land' is the biggest eyewash.

But the corporation says you don't pay any taxes, you are a burden on the infrastructure.

You don't take any action against the rogues who swindle crores worth taxes. We pay more than the middle class. Do you know that everyday, a poor family staying on the footpath pays Rs 35 just for water? Where's the free stay? We don't travel free; there are no free ration shops for us. We pay for everything from our pockets. Yet, you look upon us as chors and pickpockets. What about the industrialists who bribe BMC officers to allow them to encroach upon public space? Today, all the land in the city is a market. We made it so. We were squatting there, that's how these places came to be known. We are in fact human earthmovers and tractors. We levelled the land first. We have contributed to the city. We carry your shit out of the city. I don't see citizens' groups dredging sewers and digging roads. This city is not for the rich only. We need each other. I don't beg, I wash your clothes. Women can go to work because we are there to look after their children. The staff in Mantralaya, the collectorate, the BMC, even the police live in slums. Because we are there, women can walk safely at night.

Groups such as Bombay First talk about making Mumbai a world-class city. How can it be a world-class city without a place for its poor? It's my dream that one day, all slum-dwellers will refuse to go to work. Will Mumbai survive that day? Who will build your grand projects and work in your malls? You want us to be your coolies, you want all our services, but you don't want us to live here. It's the whole serving class that has made Mumbai a world-class city, not the middle class.

Do different parties have different approaches towards slums?

Why did Mumbai vote Congress? Because it promised to regularise slums till 2000. What's the meaning of a manifesto? This government came to power by showing the people that 'India Shining' was not the reality. Now, they are 'shining'! And the progressive CPM, which rushed here when Bangladeshis were being thrown out, has proved that as the ruling class, it is as oppressive as others.
 
 

 

Report from YUVA in Bombay

In the month of December, the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai and the Maharashtra State Government have carried out widespread forced eviction of people dwelling in settlements which were erected after 1995 in Mumbai. This action was carried out with the help of Mumbai Police force. Till date more than 52,000 hutment have been razed to the ground by use of bulldozer. No legal intimation or notice was given to the communities residing in these settlements.

Millions of people have been thrown out of their houses at the peak of the winter season. They are living around the demolished site under the open roof without shelter, food, livelihood and basic amenities. There is no medical facility provided either and their ration cards are confiscated and water services have been stopped. The children are out of school, women unsafe, thousands of people living in a state of complete insecurity; utterly defenseless against the elements of nature.

According to a survey conducted by the BMC, the population in the unprotected settlements is around 2,200,000 of which around 250,000 are already rendered homeless. And those who are not are in constant state of fear in face of these rampant demolitions. Any attempt at the local level to resist such act has been addressed as violation of law and order and people are put behind the bars with the help of the police force. Most of these people belong to the Schedule Caste, Schedule Tribes, Nomadic Tribes and other backward classes and minorities.

According to a survey conducted by the BMC, the population in the unprotected settlements is around 2,200,000 of which around 250,000 are already rendered homeless. And those who are not are in constant state of fear in face of these rampant demolitions. Any attempt at the local level to resist such act has been addressed as violation of law and order and people are put behind the bars with the help of the police force. Most of these people belong to the Schedule Caste, Schedule Tribes, Nomadic Tribes and other backward classes and minorities.

The worst effect of this brutal act is on women and children. On one hand the Indian Government has rectified the International UN Convention on rights of children ensuring every child the rights to survival, protection, development, and participation in 1992. On the other hand more than 1,00,000 children have been rendered homeless, out of school, insecure and vulnerable. In such a case the question that arises is on the possibility for these children to realise all the above rights in absence of a roof on their head.   It is the same in the case of women who are in the state of insecurity and are most vulnerably unsafe.

The intention to make this city of Mumbai into a world class city is the main agenda of the State and other beneficiaries behind these rampant forced evictions. The main argument provided by the state for all these processes is that the people who came to Mumbai after 1995 should not stay back in Mumbai. But on repeated thoughts on this, it is revealed that this applies only to the poor; because those who have power in terms of money, political pressure, resources, etc. are welcomed to the city with garlands and bouquet of flowers. So once again we get to see an act of discrimination between the Haves and Have-nots !

During the last elections, slum and pavement dwellers residing before 2002 were promised security of tenement. However once the Government has been re-elected into power, they seem to have forgotten the promises made, the hopes built. Also the ongoing process of inhuman eviction and demolition has disillusioned, acutely saddened and angered the homeless slum and pavement dwellers. Such actions are utter violation of human rights, are impinging upon the rights of people to live with self-respect and are measures towards depriving them of basic amenities, livelihood and shelter.

Every state has ensured the constitutional rights to survival and mobility to all its citizens. The process of forced eviction is utter violation of these rights of the marginalized people by the state of Maharashtra and Mumbai Municipal Corporation.

It has come out clearly from various consultations with these marginalized groups and also during Istanbul Habitat Resolution, that right to housing is a central right and a secured and adequate house provides a sense of security.   But in Mumbai, blatant violation of the most fundamental human rights is going on unabated by none other than the state itself, which, in fact, is supposed to protect, and not destroy, the rights of its people.

If these demolitions are in the light of the development plan of Mumbai city along International standards, in that case where do the homeless, pavement and slum dwellers figure in that entire plan? We are not against the developmental plans or making the city world class, but we should strongly demand that this world class city be based on respect, protection and promotions of all human rights of all the citizens and more specifically the marginalized. Human development should be the main indicators to the formation of World Class City. Also this demand needs to be sharper in the national Constitutional and International Human Rights obligations.

In keeping with our policy of responsiveness, YUVA has, over the last twenty years, intervened and built considerable organizational experience, in working towards empowerment of the oppressed and the marginalized, by facilitating their organizations and institutions towards building equal partnerships in the development process; and ensuring the fulfillment of the human right to live in security, dignity and peace . (Further details of our work can be viewed at our
website: www.yuvaindia.org
In the light of the present situation, we invite you to join us in solidarity to highlight the atrocities and demand that the demolitions be stopped immediately, addressing the question of identity and survival faced by the victims.

This could be done through local level demonstrations, writing to newspapers and to the National Human Rights Commission ( Sardar Patel Marg, Sansad Marg, New Delhi ) Women Commission , the Urban Development Department, GOI (Sansad Bhavan, New Delhi), Shrimati. Sonia Gandhi - the President of UPA Government (10,janpath, New Delhi), Hon. Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam - the President of India , Hon.Dr.Manmohan Singh - the Prime Minister of India (Sansad Bhavan, New Delhi), Hon. S.M.Krishna - Governor of Maharashtra state   (Raj Bhavan, Mumbai, State of Maharashtra), Hon. Mr. Vilasraoji Deshmukh - Chief Minister of Maharashtra State (Mantralaya, Mumbai), Hon. Mr. R.R.Patil - Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, (Mantralaya, Mumbai), Hon. Mr. Johnny Joseph - Commissioner of Mumbai Municipal Corporation, (CST, Mumbai.)

In Solidarity,

YUVA (Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action).For further detail contact: yuvamumbai@yuvaindia.org
Field off. : 52/53, Nare Park Municipal School, Opp. Nare Park Ground, Parel,
Mumbai - 400012.
Tel.: 91-22-24143498 / 24155250 · Fax: 91-22-24135314
E-mail: info@yuvaindia.org · Website : www.yuvaindia.org

Regd. Off. : YUVA Centre, Plot No. 23, Sector 7, Kharghar, Navi Mumbai - 410210     (INDIA)
Tel: 91-22-27560990 / 27560999 / 27560980 · Fax: 91-22-27560970

YUVA (Youth for Unity & Voluntary Action) is putting forward this appeal to take collaborative step towards resisting such deplorable act bordering upon insensitivity and callousness.

Appeal for Solidarity Action against the act of forced eviction of slum and pavement dwellers through massive demolition of hutments in Mumbai.