I'm continually amazed by a kind of public blindness to the obvious realities around us. I don't want to go into details, arguments, justifications etc. because they obscure the big picture. I don't want to talk about global warming, unsustainable growth, extinction of species etc. because they seem like distant theoretical stuff to us.

I'm stating a fact as bluntly as possible: our lifestyles are about to take a big hit.

The world economy -- and with it the India economy -- is coming unravelled. Please stop believing in bullish projections; the government and big businesses are just kidding themselves and kidding us that all will be well.

Our current world order, which we broadly refer to as our economy, has been built on too many untested assumptions. What we -- and our economists and governments -- firmly believe as solid bedrock is only shifting sand, and the sand is shifting uncomfortably beneath our feet. The superstructure that has been built up in the past two or three decades is far more than this sand will continue to bear.

We keep telling ourselves and each other that the shifting is only temporary, like a bit of stock market bearishness. But this shifting is not so temporary. Big adjustments are starting to happen which may take 60-70 years to completely settle down. These changes -- the collapse of an unsustainably tall tower -- will not end in our lifetime.

What does this mean? Firstly, it means that the kind of rich urban living that we take for granted is about to become impossible to continue. We cannot change our habits of living and thinking, but we are about to have them changed for us, most drastically and unpleasantly.

We can no longer live by intellectual labour alone. We are about to have a large amount of physical toil thrust upon us. Large numbers of us will die because they are unable to physically, psychologically or socially adapt.

Our children are growing up under the illusion that they shall live in a comfortable world like ours. I'm afraid that is not the case. Their lifestyle may resemble the lives of cotton farmers in Vidharba... and that is if they are fortunate.

Our living conditions will very probably resemble what is available in Afghanistan or Iraq. We shall all have to get used to living and dying with that level of daily discomfort, uncertainty and deprivation. Our cities will become largely uninhabitable due to a sudden drop in the level of infrastructure and of livelihoods. Jobs will vanish overnight, and so will power supply and water supply. Transportation will become patchy. There will be a huge drop in mobile, telephone and internet connectivity as well, and a huge rise in costs.

Savings will vanish overnight as markets and banks collapse. Galloping inflation will make currency almost worthless.

Our psychological and social skills will be the key determinant of of our continued survival. A vast majority of us, whose skills have wasted away due to easy living, will not make the cut. 

All this is set to happen within the next two or three years.

I make this deeply uncomfortable statement because I believe it is true. I hope that understanding all this will help at least a few of us orient ourselves, brace ourselves, our kids and our old folks for the hurricane of events that is about to unfold with terrifying speed and inevitability. Knowledge and forewarning is what enables us to adapt and survive.

And yes: admittedly, I am stating this because I am deeply anxious. Sharing my thoughts with friends helps me relieve my anxiety a bit.

I really want us all to come out of our comfortable mental burrows and face our future with open eyes and minds. Our response doesn't have to be catatonic; we don't have to freeze up like rabbits caught in the headlights, doing nothing but waiting for the impact. It doesn't have to be blind panic... but it doesn't have to be pure denial either!

There is a very tiny chance that we can all strategize the best way to face the impending crisis, provided we recognize it early enough to take action. It seems wildly optimistic to think that substantial numbers of citizens can get together, discuss and act intelligently, rather than getting caught up in ego-battles. It seems even more optimistic that they can convince the government at various levels to be truly proactive and do something truly different.

But I prefer to believe that such things can and will happen in the months to come.

Making Our Juduciary Accountable

Dear friends,

This is a difficult discussion to get into as it requires us to walk the thin edge of a sharp blade called Contempt of Court. But I believe that some macro-level truths need to be plainly and fearlessly discussed NOW for us citizens to hold our heads high. Let take some calculated risks to intelligently address issues of transparency at the judicial level.

Before beginning, let me share a few famous quotes just to remind you of what some great leaders thought about freedom:

'Our fear paralyses our thinking power.'

-- Mahatma Gandhi

'Democracy is not a state in which people act like sheep.'

-- Mahatma Gandhi

Justice will come when it is deserved by our being and feeling strong.

-- Mahatma Gandhi

The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.

– Thomas Jefferson

The jaws of power are always open to devour, and her arm is always stretched out, if possible, to destroy the freedom of thinking, speaking, and writing.

– Thomas Jefferson

I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.

– Thomas Jefferson

Freedom is the recognition that no single person, no single authority or government has a monopoly on the truth, but that every individual life is infinitely precious, that every one of us put in this world has been put there for a reason and has something to offer.

– Ronald Reagan

If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a small chance of survival. There may even be a worse case: you may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.

-- Winston Churchill

The lead item in The Times of India, page 10 (Nation Page), on 1^st May was headlined, "Blow to RTI Act from Legislature & Judiciary". A sub-heading said, "Not just CJI, all SC judges outside law".

Please do read this news item if you can find it, it is extremely worrying. Because as I understand, it signifies that the judges are not only unaccountable to citizens where their judicial functions are concerned, they are not even answerable regarding their adminstrative functions (such as the logic that determines on what date a case is heard) and their basic personal probity such as declaration of personal assets.

This should make us anxious because:

1)  The judiciary is the ultimate safeguard of our individual and collective Constitutional freedoms, rights and duties. If the judiciary is not accountable and transparent, then our constitutional rights themselves are in grave jeopardy.

2)  By virtue of the courts' power to try and punish a citizen for 'Criminal Contempt of Court', our Freedom of Speech, which enables us to freely discuss and debate such matters, is called into question. (Please correct me if I am wrong here… I would like to be reassured that we have at least the liberty to discuss this issue in public gatherings, on email and online forums without the fear of being hauled up for slighting the judiciary!)

3)  There are many questionable practices being followed at the interface of the police, the lawyers and the judiciary, which, if pointed out and corrected, can greatly improve the faith of litigants and common citizens in the judiciary. Conversely, if ignored, these practices are likely to cause erosion of faith in the judiciary and the entire system of governance.

Organizations of citizens or administrators should be empowered to "audit" some of the functions of the judiciary, such as the efficiency of processes by which cases are placed on board for the day's hearings, amendments are granted and copies of the judgements are delivered at the end of a trial. The audibility in courtrooms is rather poor, so much so that one is often left wondering what transpired during a case. Clarity is lacking.

Let me cite a couple of instances of faulty procedure that I have first-hand knowledge of. In the magistrate's court, some crucial rights of an undertrial are extremely unclear or absent:

1)  One is not routinely given a copy of THE CHARGESHEET. Unless an undertrial is very persistent, he does not receive this important document. (It may be worth meeting some undertrials who are in judicial custody in order to confirm this.)

2)  Even so, an undertrial does not get a copy of the chargesheet until long AFTER he has been charged, and has pleaded guilty or otherwise – in other words, until his options are closed behind him.

3)  An undertrial does not get a copy of HIS STATEMENT TO THE POLICE, which I'm told forms part of the evidence produced against him. Till date, I have not been given my copy despite repeated asking.

4)  An undertrial is given a sheet of paper that gives him yes/no options such as "I want to avail of free legal counsel" and "I have received a copy of the chargesheet." However, he is firmly told by the court clerk in the magistrate's presence to JUST SIGN and return the sheet WITHOUT tick-marking any of the options.

5)  In such an environment of intimidation, those who are arrested by the police on minor misdemeanors find all their fundamental rights suspended. Some unfortunate ones may spend several days or even weeks in judicial custody without being able to inform their near-and-dear ones of their whereabouts. Being abruptly cut off from communication, many are unable to arrange money to pay fines, arrange bail, surity, lawyers etc.

Dear Fellow Citizens, may I request that we organize meetings nationwide to clearly understand what acts exactly constitute the dreaded 'Contempt of Court'? Armed with this knowledge, we can proceed to intelligently discuss the 'Rights of Citizens to Protest vis-à-vis the Judiciary' without inadvertently committing contempt of court.

As citizens of the world's largest democracy, we need to strive for transparency and accountability in all spheres of governance. We cannot afford to let the judiciary – the watchdog of all our constitutional rights and duties – become a bastion of non-transparency and non-accountability.

With all the love and reverence that is due to our esteemed judiciary, we must nonetheless hold our heads high as citizens, and be neither arrogant nor cowed down by threats.

I eagerly await your suggestions for the date and venue of this meeting, and I hope substantial numbers of you will support this initiative.

Warm Regards,

Krishnaraj Rao,

Spokesman,

Sahasi Padyatri

sahasipadyatri@gmail.com

Dear Concerned Citizens, Civic Authorities and Mediapersons,
 
I want to talk about what we did on Sunday, 20th April, at Mumbai Central's Moreland Road, and why.
 
What we did: Debris Satyagraha at Moreland Road
 
Under the leadership of Md. Azim, a highly aware local citizen living in a chawl on Moreland Road and a taxi driver by profession, we organized over 15 activists and 3 handcarts. Among those gathered were ALM leaders, civic thinkers and newspaper columnists from areas from various parts of the city such as Tardeo, Kings' Circle, Vile Parle, Andheri, Malad and Borivli.
 
With the help of local volunteers, we lifted two sections of concrete pipes (weighing around 300 kg each) onto the handcarts, and tied them securely with ropes. In the remaining cart, we filled up stony rubble with the help of local boys where were playing cricket.
 
Then we hauled these pipes to the E-Ward office that is near Byculla Fire Station, about half a kilometre away by internal roads. When we started unloading the carts, the guards at the municipal gates were taken aback. But once it became clear to them that this was an action being held in protest by a number of citizens, they were peaceful and amiable.
 
After we unloaded the debris, we left some cardboard placards in English and Urdu with explanations and phone numbers of Mr Azim and myself. Some placards urged the Corporator and Ward Officer to keep the roads and pavements clear of the debris.
 
The event was well covered by Mumbai Mirror and DNA, whose photographers and reporters were present.
 
 
Why we did this: Moreland Road is a harbinger of the future of Mumbai 

Moreland Road, which is barely a kilometre from Mumbai Central, is a live specimen of all the things that can go wrong with Mumbai's roads. In fact, the entire network of roads in that area behind Maratha Mandir and BEST depot, which is near the YMCA and Salvation Army, is a huge mess created all together by the wealthy, the middle-class and the poor.
 
What ails this area is total neglect of:
 
1) Unorganized parking of private cars, motorbikes, bicycles and taxis over the roadsides and the pavements.
2) Construction debris and bad-quality roadwork. The road is literally caked in places with the dirt and stones that have not been cleared for many months and even years!
3) Fenced-off pavements that have been entirely occupied by the poor. Fencing off a footpath is an initiative that usually empowers hawkers and squatters by reducing the pedestrians' access.
4) Encroachments by shops and establishments, as well as hawkers with pushcarts etc. taking up 50% of the road in some places.
5) Large tracts of slums that have been built over the footpath and part of the road to such an extent that the footpath is totally invisible.
6) A total lack of law and order everywhere.
 
PLEASE NOTE: This is not a poverty-stricken or obscure neighborhood.
 
It is a well-known tree-lined bungalow locality formerly known as "thandi gully" (cool street)... but now, "gandi gully" (filthy street) seems more appropriate.
 
Some of the most well-to-do and influential citizens of the area live here!
 
And last but not least, this is right in the vicinity of E-Ward office, which I'm told is one of the key office of the municipal corporation.
 
My thinking is: The present day plight of Moreland Road is the future of Bandra Hill Road, Malabar Hill and other "nice neighbourhoods" unless we wake up now and take action. Through our Debris Satyagraha there, we would like to issue a wake-up call to the authorities and citizens there, and more importantly, the rest of the city.
 
I urge the aware citizens and civic authorities of Mumbai to take a walk down Moreland Road and other streets, and meet some of its residents who are steeped in ignorance, indfference and apathy. Let us clearly understand this phenomenon, this ugly disease. Then, through timely action, Let us heal Moreland Road and save the rest of our beloved city from this degenerating disease before it becomes critical and irreversible.
 
Warm Regards,
Krishnaraj Rao,
Spokesman,
Sahasi Padyatri

The rationale of our Satyagraha

A road is a road, a footpath is a footpath, a shop is a shop, and a bazaar is a bazaar. Is this really so difficult to implement dedicated-use facilities for citizens?

I understand that there are exceptions to every rule. There are times when one must be flexible and adjust. There are exceptional places where one simply cannot have a separate pavement for pedestrians, and therefore, one must come down to walking on roads. Also, there are times such as rush hours when no pavement will suffice, and therefore pedestrians must spill over and walk on the roads.

But what does one say to a city that has forgotten that there are norms of any kind? What does one say when a city's municipal corporation deserts its sense of maryada, and wilfully refuses to distinguish between road, bazaar, shop, mosque, temple and footpath? What does one say when the policing system has deserted its responsibility to safeguard the boundaries between roads, footpaths and bazaars?

Maryada is a sense of limits and boundaries. It is also a sense of shame -- of feeling ashamed when wrongdoings are committed. Sad to say, our "city fathers" as they are called have lost all maryada in both senses of the word.

Our "city fathers" (O, how shall I utter these words without bitter irony?) are the fence that eat the crops. It is an open secret that each hawker pays a substantial hafta to retain his right to loot public spaces. It is an open secret that these bribes go towards maintaining a huge parallel economy that involves both municipal employees and members of the underpaid police force, is it not?

Why then do we not join the dots and just proclaim that each and every hawker that we see is a symbol of corruption, a standing testimony to the power of money to overcome maryada and bend the morals of public servants?

A number of prominent citizens keep calling for a "war against corruption"... but they turn wishy-washy when it comes to the issue of hawking. Is it so difficult to figure out that as long as hawkers are crawling all over our public spaces, our collective war against corruption is going nowhere? Is it so difficult to understand that the any campaign against corruption is a complete non-starter as long as we are tolerant of visible corruption (a.k.a. hawking) roaming free on our streets and pavements?

In these confused, directionless and amoral times, I would like to propose a guiding principle, a simple axiom for governance.

Sahasi Padyatri's Principle of Civic Management:

Let roads be roads -- not footpaths and bazaars.

Let bazaars be bazaars -- not thoroughfare for vehicles.

Let footpaths be footpaths -- not bazaars, dumping grounds or gutters.

Fellow citizens, consider adopting this principle as a simple way to draw the lines and restore maryada to our public lives and public spaces.

Methinks that if we all resolve to treat the pedestrian's walking space as sacred space -- not to be encroached upon by hawkers, vehicle parking or any other obstacle -- we would immediately begin a return to maryada and an orderly, decent civic life. Can we please resolve to do so now?

Warm Regards,

Krishnaraj Rao,

Spokesman,

Sahasi Padyatri

Last Thursday, there was a very balanced news item about our entire Pedestrian movement in the Midtown Plus supplement of The Times of India. Check it out!

Here is another news item in DNA that speaks of how hawking and blatant corruption go hand in hand. Worth reading indeed!

Our Debris Satyagraha

Here is a brief report of the "Debris Satyagraha" that we performed on 30th March at Bandra H-West ward, with the cooperation and support of both local residents as well as citizens from other areas of the city.  The event was well photographed and reported by Sandeep Ashar on DNA 31st March, page 3.

Following up on a decision taken two days earlier, a small group of us decided to collect a few hundred kilograms of the stony debris that lay scattered all over Hill Road -- especially broken and displaced road divider blocks, paver blocks and interlocking tiles. (This rubble, which lies around everywhere unattended for months, is a glaring example of the neglect by civic authorities that we are all completely used to!)

Accordingly, we met at Bandra Bandstand. Between the seven of us assembled, we had three cars. We made a few cardboard signages in order to leave them as our calling-cards for the Corporators and Ward Officers.

The signages read as follows:

1) Get Hands on, Mr Ward Officer. This junk should not be on our roads & pavements.

2) Clean up your act, Mr Corporator, or the citizens will be forced to clean it up for you!

We set out from Bandstand at 4.30 pm and lifted the stones. We took care to select only those blocks that were NOT playing any useful role as road dividers, but were obstructing traffic, both vehicles and pedestrians. These have been lying around uselessly for months... and hence they deserved to be picked up to help clear the roads and pavements.

We picked up about 250 kg of these rocks and broken concrete blocks with our own hands -- no labourers employed -- and placed them in the boot (dicky) of our three vehicles.

Then we drove to the Ward office at St Martin's Road, which were closed for Sunday, and laid all this stuff outside the gates. The secutity staff were baffled by our actions, and so we handed over the pamphlets of Sahasi Padyatri, hung the signages at the gates which were already full of posters, and left. The signage had my personal phone number on it in case anybody was interested in pursuing the matter further.

This Satyagraha all took less than an hour from start to finish.

We decided that we would repeat this Satyagraha at brief intervals and at various places unless the municipal authorities started showing greater regard to public hazards like misplaced road dividers and public obstructions.

We believe that there is nothing legally objectionable in clearing public obstacles and laying them at the doorstep of the BMC for clearing away.

And if it is indeed objectionable as per the laws (causing public nuisance, for instance), then I would like the authorities to take action against us instead of just turning a blind eye. Because then I can ask the authorities how they are able to tolerate the public nuisance and blatant encroachments by hawkers and shopkeepers.

Meta tags: the brave pedestrian, sahasi padyatri, krishnaraj rao, santosh jangam, mumbai traffic, vehicular congestion, chaotic traffic, hawkers, hawking, pollution, pedestrian, citizens' movements, non-violence, nonviolent movement, gandhiism, gandhian, activism, good citizenship, citizen initiative, social enterprise, civilian efforts, governance in India, need of the hour

Our Fledgeling Efforts to Change the World

This post is in the nature of a log-book entry. Forgive me for being drily factual and boring.

On Monday, 17th March, we performed the proposed Satyagraha at two places -- Bombay Central (Moreland Road) and Bandra (Main Station Road, West). The second, which had great citizen participation, was especially successful. Both of these, by the way, were powered by women and senior citizens who were enthused by what they themselves could do.

After this, separate review meetings were held for two distinct groups of citizens at Khar and Bandra, on 19th and 24th March, from 6.30 to 8.30 pm. A total of 30 citizens discussed details of how to peacefully continue and spread the Pedestrian Satyagraha all over the city where they lived -- Mumbai Central, Dadar, Bandra, Khar, Vile Parle, Andheri, Malad, Borivli, Dahisar, Nallasopara, Vasai, Virar, Kings Circle, Matunga, Sion, Chembur.... About 40% of these citizens were from Bandra H-West Ward -- a group of wide-awake citizens who formed the core group of this entire movement.

We formally commenced shooting our documentary film on the state of the city by letting those present attest to the state of their locality on camera, and about what needed to be done by the civic authorities. In the next two weeks, we plan on touring all over the city and shooting this documentary, which we shall widely circulate on CDs to the media, citizens and civic authorities. Thereby, we shall create documentary proof that practically every kilometre of road in this city (including Navi Mumbai and Thane) has degenerated into slum-like conditions, causing distress to both motorists and pedestrians.

At the meetings, various measures were proposed for civilian participation in the policing of public spaces, and of empowerment of citizens to shame the administration for its continuing failure to protect public spaces from encroachment. The citizens present were all keen on taking on the cancer of corruption that manifests as theft of public spaces in various forms. They all favoured different methods of direct confrontation with the concerned authorities -- both at the ward and the Municipal Commissioner's level --  in order to draw attention to the fact that citizens are keenly aware of the many administrative lapses.

The citizens of H-West Ward and others decided to repeat the Pedestrian Satyagraha opposite Bandra Station. It was decided to continue demarcating a 12-foot pedestrian zone during the evening rush-hour from the Bandra Railway station to S V Road, with volunteers for enabling pedestrians to walk without mingling with vehicular traffic. The cooperation of the Traffic police department was noted with gratitude.

Accordingly, the same Satyagraha was repeated in Bandra on Thursday, 27th March. This time, it was better organized, with a large number of picket signs prepared in advance, large numbers of pamphlets for distribution among curious (and appreciative) onlookers, and two strips of 8-inches wide strip of khadi cloth totalling about 400 metres, which enabled us to form a 200-metre long human chain on both sides of the road with 19 participants.

Based on these experiences, we now have a working model for performing this Satyagraha for any locality that is troubled by excessive presence of hawkers, encroachments and chaotic traffic conditions.

One measure being considered by some of those present for highlighting the rampant corruption is to paint white lines around the spaces encroached by shopkeepers, hawkers and double-parking pay-and-park entrepreneurs, and to conduct mock auctions for these public spaces. The "proceeds" of the mock auctions will then be offered by citizens openly as bribe to the concerned ward officers and municipal corporators, in full view of the media and the public. It is proposed to begin this Auction & Bribe Satyagraha in coming weeks.

It is generally agreed by all participants in our Satyagrahas that while motorists had some legitimate right-of-way over the roads, the first right-of-way belonged to the pedestrians, as all citizens were born with two legs and not a set of wheels. The so-called "rights" of hawkers to earn a living by blocking up scarce public spaces was highly questionable, and odious to society as a whole.

We trust that our incestuous "City Fathers" and the media will take note of the lowered tolerance threshholds of citizens, and work towards bringing about rapid changes for the betterment of the city.

Dear Mumbaikar, I would like to know when we can perform Satyagraha (lasting about 2 hours) in your area. We need only the presence and support of 5-10 aware citizens who are in touch with the local civic authorities, and trying to solve local civic problems.

PS: A third kind of Satyagraha that has not been outlined in this article is about to be performed today afternoon – Sunday, 30th March. This has been spontaneously concieved by our tiny group (styled as Sahasi Padyatri, The Brave Pedestrian) and activists of H-West Ward in the last two days. It involves clearing up the stony debris with the use of cars as transport vehicles, including delinquent paving blocks and road divider-blocks in various parts of Bandra West… and where shall we dispose off all this rubble? Ah, that is the surprise element. 

To find out where and how, and to participate in our Gandhigiri, contact me on 98215 88114 at the earliest.

Otherwise, of course, you can read all about it tomorrow in one or the other newspaper. But is that the best you can do? Be a curious bystander? That’s for you to decide.

Links to recent press coverage:

Nice holistic article

A lotta peepul are joining in!

A blogger's take on this

Let us all launch a Pedestrian Satyagraha

(Civil Disobedience Movement)

will start on Monday, 17th March.

to participate, Please call us on 9821588114.

We shall not endlessly wait for authorities to create pedestrian lanes. With paint and brushes, we ourselves shall start demarcating the lanes as a Satyagraha, and PEACEFULLY, NON-VIOLENTLY reclaim space for fellow pedestrians, road-by-road, area-by-area, kilometre-by-kilometre. This initiative will begin on the evening of Monday, 17 March, on approach roads to suburban railway stations.

Warm Regards,

Krish

Meta tags: the brave pedestrian, sahasi padyatri, krishnaraj rao, santosh jangam, mumbai traffic, vehicular congestion, chaotic traffic, hawkers, hawking, pollution, pedestrian, citizens' movements, non-violence, nonviolent movement, gandhiism, gandhian, activism, good citizenship, citizen initiative, social enterprise, civilian effort