[Reader-list] Fear and Loathing in Big Cities

Tue Apr 8 19:13:48 IST 2008

Partha, "
    generalising about muslims" is what you have percieved whereas my thoughts dwell on much ;arger issue of "GENERAL aam admi" irrepspective of faith or caste. Please, with a request to read and think for a while and then respond.
 Those who have it alll do flout the rules and as you rightly said avoid "legally", act illegally with all legal aid. !
----- Original Message -----
From: Partha Dasgupta <parthaekka at gmail.com>
Date: Tuesday, April 8, 2008 7:04 pm
Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Fear and Loathing in Big Cities
To: "radhikarajen at vsnl.net" <radhikarajen at vsnl.net>
Cc: Shuddhabrata Sengupta <shuddha at sarai.net>, sarai list <reader-list at sarai.net>

> Dear Radhikarajen,
> 
> While generalising about Muslims, do read the Times of India of 
> today where
> a Dalit widow was stripped and made to eat excreta because she 
> visited a
> temple.
> 
> As for taxes, I'm sure you see many businessmen (and I can't remember
> knowing any who doesn't) who use all legal loopholes as well as 
> many illegal
> loopholes to avoid taxes. Why do you think the Govt of India is so 
> happyabout record tax collections in this Hindu majority nation?
> 
> It is more the habit of cutting off the poor and bricking them 
> off. Sure,
> they are wanted as maids and servants, but the wall is built in 
> between so
> that the affluent don't get to see / hear them. Like the gates 
> that are
> coming up in colonies and blocking off parks and other utilities 
> that are
> supposed to be community resources created by the government on 
> governmentland.
> 
> Rgds, Partha
> ..............................
> 
> On 4/8/08, radhikarajen at vsnl.net <radhikarajen at vsnl.net> wrote:
> >
> > My dear sister Fathima and her post was very thought provoking. 
> But let us
> > be honest to see the facts in the right perspective, is it not 
> true that
> > poor muslims are second grade citizens like all others in other 
> faiths> divided by castes. But the difference ends there, the poor 
> in other faith do
> > not resort to violence at the flimsy excuse if the pizza 
> carrying vehicle
> > touches their children playing on the roads, they are not out 
> immediately in
> > groups to demand money for the accident.They do not loot with 
> mob power.Hard
> > working individuals irrespective of their faith always see 
> success in life
> > inspite of bad systemic flaws of vote bank governance,that is 
> how one can
> > see yarn merchant Ambani and his next generation in wealth.But
> > unfortunately, many muslims think that their zakath is only 
> legal and not
> > taxes a citizens have to pay, but they want "subsidy" even when 
> the HOLY
> > script says you travel with your honest hard earned money.
> > A system of governance which delivers good governance to ALL in 
> society> with fair and just form is the democracy, but do we have 
> it in place.
> > ?Citizens are  divided in to groups of castes, minorities and 
> "mahorities> and ultimately, a minority rules the citizens defying 
> the oath of
> > governance, with all fear, with all unfair means for the votes, 
> unless all
> > citizens irrespective of faith unite as a single society this 
> game will go
> > on, appeasing one section of citizens at the cost of other 
> sections of the
> > society.
> >
> >   Regards.
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Shuddhabrata Sengupta <shuddha at sarai.net>
> > Date: Monday, April 7, 2008 6:53 pm
> > Subject: [Reader-list] Fear and Loathing in Big Cities
> > To: sarai list <reader-list at sarai.net>
> >
> > > Dear Fatima, Naeem dear all,
> > >
> > > Thanks for your posts on pizza delivery and fear and loathing in
> > > big
> > > cities, and how New York and New Delhi, when it comes to the sharp
> > >
> > > edge of exclusion, can seem like shadows of each other. I recently
> > >
> > > saw something in the Delhi edition of the Indian Express that I
> > > think
> > > would be of interest to the ensuing discussion. Its about a wall.
> > > No,
> > > Its not in Palestine, but in South Delhi. I thought it would echo
> > >
> > > (from a different angle) some of the thoughts being expressed in
> > > Naeem and Fatima's posts.
> > >
> > > best
> > >
> > > Shuddha
> > >
> > > ---------------------------------------
> > > Great Wall of Kalkaji
> > > Preeti Jha, Indian Express
> > > Posted online: Saturday , April 05, 2008 at 11:51:20
> > > http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Great-Wall-of-
> Kalkaji/292736/> >
> > > New Delhi, April 04 Construction of a five-foot wall to divide a
> > > slum
> > > cluster from neighbouring middle-class colonies is wreaking havoc
> > > in
> > > south Delhi's Kalkaji Extension.
> > >
> > > Standing in the remnants of her grocery store, Seema Sagar watches
> > > as
> > > a young boy jumps from one mound of debris to another, before
> > > precariously balancing on a stray brick. All this to safely cross
> > > the
> > > stream of sewage that now floats outside her house.
> > >
> > > On Monday, bulldozers razed down more than 1,000 small shops and
> > > homes to make way for a wall that will encircle all three 
> camps in
> > >
> > > the slum cluster: Bhumiheen, Nehru and Navjeevan. Four hundred
> > > metres
> > > of the proposed 2-km wall are already in place, under construction
> > > by
> > > the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) since December. "We are
> > > acting
> > > on an order from the High Court," says DDA's executive 
> engineer K
> > > K
> > > Khanna.
> > >
> > > And the High Court was responding to a petition filed by Arsh
> > > Avtaar
> > > Singh, former president of Kohinoor Apartments' Resident Welfare
> > > Association, in May 2005. The petition sought a solution against
> > > encroachment of roads and services by slum residents.
> > >
> > > 'Block them out'
> > > Neighbouring middle-class colonies support Singh's efforts. A 
> flat-
> > >
> > > owner from nearby Konark Apartments, who does not want to be
> > > named,
> > > says: "All my life savings have been used to purchase this flat.
> > > For
> > > 22 years I have lived with the stink from open defecation, and
> > > constant over-crowding from blocked roads."
> > >
> > > Residents want slum dwellers to be relocated in 'pukka' housing.
> > > "I
> > > feel bad for them," says Singh, whose own domestic help lives in
> > > Bhumiheen Camp. "They should be given an alternative home
> > > immediately."
> > > But the DDA claims it needs time to relocate the slum dwellers.
> > > "The
> > > wall is a temporary arrangement to offer protection to flat
> > > owners,"
> > > Khanna says.
> > >
> > > In the interim, Daliwal thinks the wall should be built higher.
> > > "It
> > > should be at least eight foot high, and built either with bricks,
> > > or
> > > grills and mesh. There should also be fewer outlets."
> > >
> > > 'Livelihood gone'
> > > The camp's residents, though, are fuming. "We were given no
> > > warning,"
> > > says Sagar. She claims to have bought her grocery shop for Rs
> > > 20,000
> > > rupees 13 years ago. "I make Rs 50 a day, through which I cook for
> > > my
> > > family. We have nothing to eat today without my shop."
> > >
> > > Trying to salvage broken chairs and cutlery from his former
> > > confectionery store, Izhar Ali asks, "What should I do to earn?
> > > Can
> > > the government give me an alternative?"
> > >
> > > As an MCD employee sprays mosquito repellent into stagnant water
> > > forming pools around the newly homeless, Kamla Ujhain forlornly
> > > watches her grandchildren eat in what used to be a bathroom. "We
> > > knew
> > > it would close our businesses," says Maya Devi, peering outside
> > > her
> > > shop, now shrouded by bricks. "And what if there's a fire?" asks
> > > another shopkeeper, Naresh Kumar. "It will be much harder to
> > > escape
> > > if we are contained from all sides."
> > >
> > > DDA's Khanna, meanwhile, insists there will be several entry and
> > > exit
> > > points in the wall. "There are more than 17 gaps in the 400-metre
> > > stretch built so far," he says.
> > >
> > > DDA has a May 21 deadline for building the wall.
> > >
> > >
> > > Shuddhabrata Sengupta
> > > The Sarai Programme at CSDS
> > > Raqs Media Collective
> > > shuddha at sarai.net
> > >www.sarai.net
> > > www.raqsmediacollective.net
> > >
> > >
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> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Partha Dasgupta
> +919811047132
>