[Reader-list] Madhu Kishwar, the MCD, the 'mafia' and the media

[Hari Sadu]

[Given below is a news report published in Tehelka and later withdrawn. Two
weeks later Tehelka published an apology, which is appended below the
article. Madhu Kishwar's allegations of corruption against two journalists
are also quoted in the end. This might be of interest to many on this list
about media and the city and will hopefully generate debate. Cheers, Hari
Sadu.]




A BIG, BAD STREET FIGHT

Tehelka (print edition); 2 Feb 2008
"Engaged Circle" section

A Delhi project to accommodate street vendors in a dignified way fails;
social activist Madhu Kishwar is beaten up. SHOBHITA NAITHANI reports

AS OUR METROPOLISES get mallified, and under the guise of "beautification of
cities" street vendors get steamrollered, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi
(MCD) and the NGO Manushi Sangathan, had launched the Sewa Nagar pilot
project in 2004. The objective was to demonstrate that world-class
cleanliness could be attained in the dirtiest of markets; that aesthetics
can be organised and the vendors can be accommodated in a dignified way.
Last week, the head of Manushi, Madhu Kishwar, termed the Sewa Nagar project
a "failed experiment". Kishwar, also senior fellow at the Centre for the
Study of Developing Societies, was beaten up recently by the "local mafia".
TEHELKA's inquiries have revealed that while a local mafia does exist,
Manushi itself is at the heart of growing resentment and controversy.

The project, whose primary aim was to free street vendors and hawkers from
the scourge of "needless bureaucratic controls, license quota and raid raj",
was initiated when 159 vendors signed an oath and agreed to stay within the
Sanyam Rekha (line of discipline). This meant neither selling nor renting
out the allotted stall; paying a monthly rent of Rs 390 to the MCD through
Manushi; contributing on a monthly basis towards the salary of the Safai
Brigade (that maintains cleanliness in the area); paying the cost of
improved stalls and the management cost of the project and accepting a fine
of Rs 100 if they violate the Sanyam Rekha. Membership of habitual violators
was to be cancelled whereby the MCD is free to evict them and seal the
stalls.

Manushi was granted Rs 25 lakh and Rs 10 lakh from Congress MP Ambika Soni
and Dr Karan Singh's MPLADS funds respectively to build the required
infrastructure. The model, which was lauded by locals, politicians and
government officials, today faces allegations of embezzlement. Charges and
counter-charges between Manushi and the local mafia fly thick and fast. The
Bhagat-Baisoya gang (Bhagat Singh, Mahipal Baisoya, Babli Baisoya, and Ajay
Baisoya) is supported by the Delhi Pradesh National Panthers Party (DPNPP)
and a gentleman who works surreptitiously under the pseudonym "Hindustani".

Kishwar claims the bribe-collecting mafia -- in connivance with local
corporator Jagdish Mamgain and Member of Parliament Ajay Maken -- has
unleashed a reign of terror: beating up Manushi members, destroying project
property time and again, and threatening them with dire consequences.
However, members of the Bhagat-Baisoya gang and a few vendors claim Manushi
has "pocketed their money". "The whole thing started with Ajay Maken and his
henchmen asking us for stalls," says Kishwar. Maken's office when contacted
said there was no need for Maken to clarify baseless allegations. Meanwhile,
the situation at Sewa Nagar is volatile. A 24-hour police picket is
stationed there after a recent incident of violence.

On December 31, 2007, Madhu Kishwar and Manushi member Sheeshpal were beaten
up in the market. The Baisoyas, however, allege that the two were beaten up
only when they tried to flee after ramming their car into their 65-year-old
mother, who was admitted to AIIMS and discharged three days later. When
TEHELKA contacted the SHO, Kotla Mubarakpur Police Station, and sought
details, he only had two words: "Nothing happened."

Subsequently, the police served externment notices to Mahipal and Bhagat
Singh in addition to ordering them to furnish bonds of Rs 10,000 each. MCD
Councillor Jagdish Mamgain says, "There are no two ways about the fact that
she (Kishwar) was beaten up on 31 December."

DPNPP president Sanjay Sachdev clarifies that while his party is not against
the Sewa Nagar project, he is certain about the December 31 accident: "There
is an AIIMS report that proves that the old lady suffered a minor head
injury." He also backs the vendors' allegation that Kishwar is running and
ruling the market with an iron hand. "She must realise that she is not an
enforcing agency or the court of law. She has been picking up vendors' items
as and when she desires and has been issuing challans to the tune of Rs
3,000. The temple of the Swacch Narayani Devi (the goddess Kishwar
conceptualised) that Manushi has built is on public land -- it is illegal."

Deputy MCD Commissioner (Central Zone), Amiya Chandra, says it is a
wonderful project, and the MCD is trying its best to make it a success.
"When I met Madhu, she told me the problem was not us with but the police."
Asked if the temple was built on illegal land, Chandra told TEHELKA, "If the
MCD wants, it can demolish the temple tomorrow. But if somebody is doing it
to promote cleanliness, we must appreciate it."

Kishwar says that there wasn't any agreement signed for the temple, but it
was part of the architectural plan given to the MCD. "The issue is not the
temple; not even the project. The issue is policy reform at an all-India
level. They can demolish what they like, I couldn't care less."

According to Hindustani, "As per the agreement, vendors had agreed to pay a
fine of Rs 100 if they violate the Sanyam Rekha. But Manushi charged
Kamruddin and Roshan Khan Rs 2,500 each for violations (copies of the
receipts are with TEHELKA). Some were charged Rs 2,750 and Rs 11,000 with a
promise of a installation of an electricity metre." Kishwar defends: "They
started a chicken slaughter shop in addition to the mattress-making shop and
occupied 100 square feet of extra space. Chicken slaughter is not allowed on
the pavement and we were getting notices from the MCD, so we suspended their
membership. The money of the few people who paid for the electricity metre
is deposited with us."

The man in the eye of the storm, Mahipal Baisoya, who now runs a CD shop in
Sewa Nagar, claims Manushi took Rs 1.5 lakh from him and his three brothers
with a promise to regularise their tempo stand and give them a stall each
with costs ranging from Rs 30,000 to Rs 35,000 depending on how early they
could pay. "We got a receipt for only Rs 30,000. When we heard that the
tender for the project was for five years and would end in 2008, the vendors
decided to question the organisation for accounts."

Kishwar says the Baisoyas' tempo stand was illegal and had become a hub for
"anti-social elements", but denies taking Rs 1.5 lakh as Baisoya alleges. On
June 6, 2007, the Deputy Commissioner (Central Zone) declared that,
"Determined action should be taken to get the unauthorised tempo parking and
the illegally constructed office of the Baisoya Tempo Stand removed from the
project area."

While Mahipal and other vendors allege they live under the terror and fear
of Manushi, active Manushi project members claim it is the Bhagat-Baisoya
gang who have been terrorising them. "They want monopoly of the market and
have made life miserable for us. They come at night with knives to threaten
our wives and children," says Mehboob, a vendor in Sewa Nagar. Another
vendor, Yogesh, says he is a victim of the money-lending mafia led by the
Baisoyas. "They persuaded me into taking a loan of Rs 35,000 at an interest
rate of 10 percent per month to buy goods for my stall. I have already paid
over Rs 3.63 lakh as interest. They are claiming Rs 1.2 lakh more, have
confiscated my scooter and forced me to sign several blank cheques."

As the blame game continues, the Central Cabinet's January 2004 ruling to
implement a National Policy for Street Vendors comes into force. As 3 lakh
tehbazari licenses and vending sites in Delhi are to be allotted, a big scam
appears to be in the making. According to Manushi estimates, at an average
of Rs 10 lakh per stall, this is worth Rs 3,000 crore. Clearly, there's a
lot at stake.



* * *


[This article had appeared in Tehelka and was available on its website for a
few days but later removed:
http://www.tehelka.com/story_main37.asp?filename=cr020208Big_Bad.asp That
link promised an amended version which was never put up and not one but two
weeks later Tehelka published an apology which it curiously did not put up
online at all. Given below is the text of the apology.]


* * *

[Tehelka, 16 February 2008, "Letters" section, page 7; not published online]



A TRAVESTY, NOT A BIG BAD STREET FIGHT

Fighting public battles in India is never an easy task. Corruptions are so
entrenched, interests so vested, and the ordinary citizen sucked so
completely into the country's vast parallel economy and shadow
administration that often it is difficult to even remember how things were
really meant to be. Indians have come to accept that a bribe will allow them
to go their way, allow them to run their businesses, run their lives: they
are almost grateful for this refuge, grateful to be instruments in their own
oppression. One of the biggest ironies of waging public battles in India is
that sometimes those you bat for might actually wish that you wouldn't. The
road is too difficult; everyone would rather bend and look the other way.

All of this makes the reporting of public battles almost as complicated as
waging them. At Tehelka, we had a taste of this in our Feb 2 issue. In
reporting the trouble around veteran activist, Madhu Kishwar's street vendor
project in Sewa Nagar in Delhi ("A Big Bad Street Fight"), we mistook the
surface chaos for the real story. In the process, we ended up being unfair
to both the intention and the complexity of the endeavour.

Four years ago, Manushi, the NGO run by Kishwar, undertook a difficult but
important pilot project in Delhi, sanctioned by the Supreme Court and funded
by an MP's development fund. Its mandate was to prove that street vendors
can be formally incorporated into the city's economy as a hygienic and
beneficial presence and do not need to be booted out. The context of this
project was very significant. As India moves towards large retail formats
and first world urban models, there is an increasing official tendency to
banish the informal sector, comprising poor but self-reliant entrepreneurs.
For instance, there are over three lakh vendors and mobile hawkers in Delhi.
Yet, less than 3,000 have been given vending licenses from the MCD – most of
these after prolonged battles in the courts. The illegal status of more than
99% vendors makes them easy targets of extortionist mafias. Blackmail,
arbitrary confiscation of goods, bribes: that has come to be the vendors'
life. The loss of income suffered by them, in doling out bribes, amounts to
a staggering Rs 500 crore a year.

For years, a key argument offered by municipal agencies and the police for
not legalising street vendors has been that they obstruct other road users
and spread chaos and squalour. To combat this official prejudice, Manushi
offered to take on a pilot project. Much rode on this project. If
successful, it would result in far-reaching policy changes.

Predictably, the project faced a lot of resistance from the local mafia and
police. Vendors who were part of the project now had legal protection and
stopped paying monthly bribes. This outraged the local mafia. Local
political leaders also began to pressure Manushi for stalls for their men:
the usual dismal Indian story.

In December this year, the violence and intimidation came to a head. Manushi
has been coerced out of the area; Kishwar has been accorded police
protection. The pilot project, which, in demanding dignity and discipline of
its vendor-members, had begun to seem a thing of hope, has now been forced
back to its stereotype of chaos and squalor.

As always in India, a larger story looms beyond the immediate incident. The
violence against Manushi's pilot project is just a tip of the iceberg,
pointing to vaster corruptions and vaster violence against the ordinary man
on the street. Until Tehelka has the time and resource to help uncover that
travesty, it extends an apology for getting the original story wrong.

Editor-in-Chief
Tehelka

* * *



[There were some articles in Mid-Day too which irked Manushi. In an article
in the Outlokindia.com website, Kishwar has alleged vested interests on the
part of these reporters and publications: An excerpt:]

============
The police did register an FIR on the basis of my complaint of Decemebr 31st
and some earlier attacks on me, but they also allowed the attackers to lodge
several false complains against Manushi including "attempt to murder" charge
against me alleging that I had tried to kill one of their aunts by ordering
my driver to ram my car into her. They also alleged that when they
protested, my "henchmen beat them up." This has been their standard
strategy.  After every single attack on Manushi members, they lodge all
manners of fraudulent counter cases against us. They are even able to buy
newspaper space for spreading these lies by influencing reporters through
money or political influence. Two such fabricated reports appeared in Midday
and another one in Tehleka. While Tehelka offered an unconditional apology
in their issue of February 11, 2008, for their reporter having been misled
by mafia elements, Midday continued with the falsehoods despite repeated
warnings thus forcing Manushi to sue the paper and the reporter for criminal
defamation.
============


The full article by Kishwar can be read here:
http://www.outlookindia.com/fullprint.asp?choice=1&fodname=20080215&fname=madhu&sid=1