Third Sack of Delhi

Thousands of factories, especially small enterprises, countrywide have already closeddown due to cheap, subsidised, foreign goods being dumped on India ever since thegovernment surrendered on April 1, 2000, to the new wto-supervised trade regime. Therecent sealing of yet more factories in Delhi on grounds of pollution control was thefinal straw for workers and owners. Starvation is apparently being sponsored by theauthorities as a substitute for pollution. So, it is no surprise that the threatenedworker-owners, many of whom operate their tiny industrial enterprises from within theirhomes, took to the streets recently in a mass display of anger and despair. They earned atemporary reprieve with the central government’s relaxation of ‘The MasterPlan’ to banish factories from so-called residential areas. Of  Delhi’s 1,40,000 industrial units, only22,000 are in the officially designated industrial zones. The remaining 1,18,000 units arein tightly compounded colonies where one can’t distinguish between workplaces andhomes. Insufficient land, lack of basic infrastructure and no provision for financialloans have already made a farce of attempts to relocate polluting factories to theoutlying areas of Bawana, Narela, Jhilmil and Patparganj.

In any case, most of Delhi’s air pollution is emitted by motor vehicles and notfrom factories. According to the Central Pollution Control Board, 64 per cent of thecity’s atmospheric pollution is from vehicles, 17 per cent from its three thermalpower plants, 12 per cent from industries and 7 per cent from households. Why have thesocial busybodies not sought judicial restrictions on Delhi’s multiplying sales, andrecklessly extravagant use, of private cars and government staff cars instead of pickingon public transport? Why are urban development authorities quick to demolish pettyhutments and banish cottage industries while being slow at providing low-cost housing?

Judicial pronouncements on public issues do not always help in solving complex socialand environmental problems. To take just one example: the Supreme Court order of July 8,1996, directing the relocation or closure of 168 hazardous and noxious factories in Delhi,actually resulted in 50,000 workers being thrown out of their jobs. Years later, many ofthem remain unemployed and without compensation, despite judicial directions to factoryowners to recompense their former employees. Thousands have become paupers. Desperateteenage male children of some of these workers have taken to burglary and robbery. Some ofthe sacked workers have found employment at minimal wages in hazardous, slum-yard metalfoundries and units for recycling plastic waste, adding to Delhi’s pollution woes.Civic problems should remain in the ambit of politicians and administrators who shouldclear their own garbage. Judges must not allow themselves to be used as municipal sweepersfor other people’s rubbish heaps.

The current trend of entertaining too many dramatic pils also requires self-correctionby the judiciary. pils are often foisted on the courts by relatively wealthy publicityseekers who divert precious time and mental resources of senior judges from their basictask of providing justice to harried and humble individuals.

Public pressure on politicians and bureaucrats is eventually the ultimate weapon inresolving social and economic issues. The ordinary Indian has over the past 53 yearsbecome democratically conscious. He’s no longer willing to accept mutely theself-serving cant by elitist charlatans who care more for the lives of trees and dogs thanfor the lives of their humble fellow-citizens. The street protests of the people last weekare a small warning. If this signal is not heeded and their just demands not met, norevolution is around the corner. No political group, Communist or other, has had thededication to organise any significant people’s movement. What may be in store forall of us could be much more terrifying: total anarchy which will be beyond the control ofall forces of the Indian state.

(The writer was with the research department of Amnesty International.)