Plight of Potter in Dharavi

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rajen-nair/plight-of-potters-of-dhar_b_496686.html

‘’Dharavi Asia’s largest slum is nestled in central heart of Mumbai city. It hit international map when the movie slumdog millionaire inspired from squalor of Dharavi went on to bag the Oscar award. Dharavi is spread over some 535 acres where it houses mainly migrants hailing from South and North India. The Hindu and Muslims co-existing together in perfect harmony here portrays the secular face of India. One can get lost walking through its labyrinth of narrow lanes lined with clusters of dilapidated shanties. Lack of basic amenities like toilets and drainages has made place unhygienic and filthy.

The migrants showcase its entrepreneurial skills boast of number of small recycled and ancillary units in plastic, tanneries, leather and chemicals. Some units exports goods worth several million dollars annually.

Ever since Maharashtra government announced 90 billion Slum Redevelopment Scheme for people of Dharavi, the project is stonewalled with opposition and protest lead by people of Dharavi

The project envisages undertaking about 70 million square feet of construction. Some 30 million square feet of that will be for residential space and amenities, whereas the remaining 40 million square feet will be put up for sale

The government plans to build 57000 new flats consisting of 225 sq ft for resident of Dharavi. For people of Dharavi the area of 225 sq ft of flat allotted is not enough for them to accommodate their large families averaging about 5-7 members and also for carrying out manufacturing activities.

Kumbharwada in Dharavi consist of skilled potter families manufacturing of clay pots a tradition handed down from generations. An average potter joint family has about 6-8 members occupying an area of 600-800 sq ft in a rundown shanty made of brick and cement walls and corrugated sheet roofs tops. Clay Pots producing activity is carried on with its four walls on the floor and a wooden loft built overhead is a make shift place for members to sleep and eat.

I spoke to 25 year old Darmesh who owns a pot ware shop on 90 feet road of Dharavi. He lamented ‘How can the government expect our large family to stay in a small flat of 225 sq ft area provided by the government. Will there be any space left to carry out our pot making activity that feed us and take care of our child’s education.

Another potter Chunilal, which has 7 members in his family consisting of his wife and children and parents staying in an area of 650 sq ft shanty. Whereas the floor is taken up for manufacturing clay pot through rolling wheel machine, remaining space gets filled for storing freshly produced pots. This was his reaction against the Government sponsored free houses and shifting of manufacturing base elsewhere ‘The smaller flat offered by government is unacceptable to us. If the government wants us to shift our units to out of the city limits than it would spell doom of our pot making business. We have been carrying out our activity here since our ancestor’s time. This place is famous for clay pots and people from all over the country come to us here to buy our products, if we were to shift elsewhere we stand to lose our clients whom we depend for our survival. As it is pot making is a dying art as demands for clay pots is not the same what it was in the past thanks to modern usage of plastic cups and bottles. Our demand is that government gives us bigger flats and allots us separate plots for carrying out manufacturing in Dharavi itself’.

Another problem facing the potter families are that as their family size get larger and new people keep pouring in to Dharavi, the shanties have taken to vertical growth due to lack of space. Most shanties houses structure of single, double and even triple stories.

The government recently carried out survey of houses in Dharavi in order to identify the beneficiaries of slum redevelopments. As per the rule the government gives legality only to ground floor built houses. Any structure built above is considered illegal. There are thousands of family residing above ground floor house in single story house will not benefit from government scheme and on the contrary will be rendered homeless once the scheme is implemented.

So Dharavi sitting on a gold mine where everyone including the government officials, builders and NGOS want to have their share of pie and for the people of Dharavi free house appears a distant dream’’.

Rajen nair

Link to photo- documentary of Dharavi-

http://rajennair.com/gallery61.asp

I survived the Chile earthquake

About six months ago I came to Santiago to work as an employee of an Indian IT firm – I am originally from Kolkata. I was at my friend’s apartment on the third floor of an eight-storey building in Las Condos when, at around 3.35am on Saturday, the earthquake occurred.

The whole building began swaying, the furniture was shaking violently and things were thrown off the shelves. I had never experienced an earthquake before so I panicked. I ran out of the room as fast as I could and left everything behind. All I could do before running out was to shut my laptop and put on my slippers.

On reaching the passage I sensed the magnitude of what was going on outside. Lot of people was desperately running along the narrow passage and down the staircase. People were pushing and tumbling over each other to get out of the building. There was utter chaos and a lot of noise. My legs were shaky and I had trouble keeping straight while running. Then the passage lights went off – creating more panic.

Though the emergency lights were on, it was still very dim and I had to grope in the semi-dark to find my way down the rocking staircase. I knew the stairs pretty well so managed to keep going in the right direction. I had to jump over fallen bodies to reach the streets outside.

The quake was at its peak and taxis on the street were rocking and alarms were making loud noises. I reached a safe place away from possible hazards such as other buildings, electric poles and collapsing trees. I was scared and friends from the building held each other's hands. I think the quake lasted over two minutes but it seemed like the longest two minutes of my life. I was in a state of shock and felt disoriented.

We were fortunate that our building was strong enough to withstand the earthquake. None of us received any injuries except for minor bruises. Once the earthquake stopped my first instinct was to get back to my apartment. I gathered some courage and returned to my room to collect my cell phone and wallet and rushed out again. In the short time I was in my bedroom I had noticed wide cracks all over the walls and ceiling.

I tried to call my family in India and friends here but I couldn’t connect because the mobile network was down. Myself, four friends and five other Indian families headed off to find other office colleagues. I could see lot of people out in the streets with scared expressions, thanking God for saving their lives and that of their loved ones. When I reached my friend's place I saw them sitting outside their apartment. We hugged each other with relief.

Buses and vehicles had jammed the street. People were getting into their vehicles and moving out. Police sirens, ambulances and fire engines ciould be heard everywhere. Later, we decided to spend rest of the night in the lobby of our building. We were hungry so went to the nearest supermarket but the night guard was locked behind some electric doors due to power failure. The police had to break open the glass doors and let him out.

The next morning I went back into my apartment and tried to get some sleep. At around 7.45am there was another quake. I ran out and waited for some time before I returned. Once partial power was restored I switched on the television set. I heard the news that the worst place to be hit was Concepcion. Seeing live coverage of the destruction of houses and the loss of life made me thank God that I was lucky to be alive.

Here in Santiago the major problem was that the basic services were badly hit. Power, water and gas supplies were affected. My building power was restored on Monday evening. Shops remained closed until Sunday. The metro was closed for a day. Some restaurants opened on Sunday. The only one open near my place was a Domino's pizza outlet near Tobalaba metro station. There was a huge crowd gathered outside the shop.

On Monday the offices opened but the attendance were poor. Most of them decided to remain at homes with lot of aftershocks occurring repeatedly. Most employers had made it optional for employees to go into the office, especially in high rises. People resorted to working from home as much as possible.

The police here in Santiago are helping to provide relief operations to those affected. There was no looting at my place though I heard of looting happening in suburbs outside Santiago in places like Maipu and Talca.

I have still not fully recovered from the shock that I went through and badly need a break. I am lucky to have survived the ordeal and will be flying back to India next week to be with my family.

• Arnab Mallick was speaking to journalist Rajen Nai

Internet Censorship in China

Censorship has always been part of life in China. I began using the internet in 1997 and on a typical day I spend two to three hours surfing social networking sites such as Facebook and Kaixin001.com – a Chinese-language Facebook clone. I have faced many incidents where I found my access to certain websites blocked. If critical comments on government policy were posted in a blog, then it was deleted or "harmonised" (a euphemism for censorship). I get frustrated when the government curbs my personal freedom of expression.

I recently posted some comments on the Google incident as well as some news stories from major international media outlets on Kaixin001.com and soon discovered that all my posts had been harmonised less than half an hour after they were posted. It is frustrating to think that we are living in an Orwellian world.

Fortunately I can still access the New York Times or The Economist and view stories that are critical towards the Chinese government. It all adds up to a psychological effect, that spine-chilling feeling of Big Brother watching you.

On some of the websites I want to access, such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, I have to resort to ‘"scaling the wall", using VPN (a virtual private network) or other technologies to sneak in and out.

What is alarming is that there are many rumours that the government has funded people to post pro-government remarks on websites and that it is also deleting unsavoury opinions and comments. From the beginning of this summer, the government seems to have increased its censorship efforts by blocking Facebook, Twitter and YouTube; and, of course, there has been the climax of the recent spat with Google.

It is a sad development when I see so many prominent human rights lawyers and political dissenters getting prosecuted by the government, who might have hacked into their email accounts to get their names. I think my country is shifting into a more authoritarian and oppressive regime, similar to that in George Orwell's 1984.

Recently, the government has began curbing the activities of mobile communications companies such as Shanghai Mobile, the Shanghai branch of the state-owned mobile communication monopoly. It recently proposed that users who send pornographic messages should be cut off from the service. I think the government is using pornography as an excuse to curb freedom of speech.

In the past I was never politically active and was indifferent towards political issues and not particularly fond of opposition politics – but government censorship has radicalised me, virtually forcing to me to choose sides. My friends hate it too, which is why I suspect that government policy could backfire one day soon. Some protestors recently went to Google's Beijing office to pay their last tribute and this is the sign of things to come as there will be more such protest.

There is virtually no independent media in China but I can still go to my local coffee shop and loudly exchange derogatory, cynical or sarcastic comments on the government with like-minded friends. But I worry that China is following repressive regimes such as North Korea, Iran or Burma.

I know the risk involved if people like me raise their voice in protest against the government. I could be arrested for national security violations and sentenced to a jail term. Since there is no independent judiciary system in China I could not expect a fair trial in such a politically motivated legal case. Yet people continue to protest in their own way.

If you visit popular Chinese websites you might find bolder statements coming from citizens that are against the government’s repressive policy. Thanks to VPN technology I can reach out to people through access to Google but I wish more corporate giants – both Chinese and internationally – would use the Google example to help force the Chinese government to change its policy.

• Hong is a pseudonym. He was interviewed by journalist Rajen Nair.