Beautification – 11/5/14

                I know I briefly mentioned A Fine Balance in one of my earlier posts, but I would like to just take a second and explain the book a little more. My comment that I was reading AFB was sort of off-hand, but really the book has had a fairly large impact on both my group and me. Christy-ji was the first to read it and then I the second, and we both campaigned really hard for everyone else to read it (as of now, only Ben P, Alex, and Caleb still need to read it). The book is incredibly relevant to life in India today, even though it is a piece of fiction about India in the 1970s. It is written very well and I seem to find a connection to the book every single day in something I see, learn, or do. I would highly recommend it to anyone (well, mostly adults. The book can be somewhat graphic at times). One of the topics it covers is the “beautification” of cities in India by the local governments. In other words, programs that are well-intended, but often carried out in such a way that they do more harm than good. I’ll leave it at that so as to not spoil the book for anyone who wants to read it, but today I saw firsthand the effects of a similar “beautification program” going on in Banaras.

                Prime Minister Modi is arriving to Banaras on November 7^th and the whole city is getting ready for his arrival. Part of the pre-arrival plans includes cleaning up the streets. In some ways it is really helpful – giant heaps of rotting trash have been picked up by huge trucks and a few of the many potholes have been filled with asphalt. On the downside, the beautification process also has destroyed the business of the local dobi (one of our newfound friends in Banaras). Now, this issue is a complex one and I’ll try my best to give due credit to both sides.

                Starting from the beginning, there are laws in place in Banaras that forbid people from creating structures on their properties that obstruct the road (a quite reasonable law). This law, however, also goes unheeded for 99% of the time. Tons of businesses from subjiwalas to hotels to the local dobi have “structures that obstruct the road” and the police just turn a blind eye to them. During this beautification process, however, local law enforcers have really cracked down on most of the traffic laws, this one included. The local government sent giant trucks/bulldozers around the Assi Ghat area to enforce the law, taking signs/advertisements off the road and throwing them into a truck and bulldozing anything “illegal.” The catch? Businesses could pay a 5000 rupee bribe to the police so that their illegal structures would go untouched, resulting in only the poor people having their (technically illegal) property destroyed. The dobi previously had a stand outside their house where they ironed clothes that was reduced to rubble one day and the subjiwala stand across the street was torn apart. Meanwhile, the ramp for the nearby hotel was allowed to stay because the hotel owners could pay the bribe.

It’s hard to find blame for these kinds of situations – is it the dobi’s fault for having created the illegal structure in the first place? Is it the police’s fault for not enforcing the law earlier? Is it the corruption’s fault for not treating everyone equally? Talking to local people, most say that what happened to the dobi’s platform and subjiwala’s stand needed to be done, after all, they were illegal. And they admit it is sad for these people to lose their property, but also say that they didn’t have a right to it in the first place. We see injustice, they see law enforcement. No matter which side is “right,” it was heartbreaking to see the usually bubbly dobi family morose after the destruction of their platform, to see the dobi grandmother screaming with all her might at the bulldozer as it tried to collect the broken bricks and bent rebar (she convinced it to move on and the whole family came together to salvage what they could of the mess). The USA has a lot of problems, but when I see things like this happening in India, I am always reminded of how thankful I am to come from a place with less corruption.