Sanyukta Maharashtra: Talk Show 5
Duration: 00:18:20; Aspect Ratio: 1.333:1; Hue: 247.649; Saturation: 0.199; Lightness: 0.421; Volume: 0.077; Cuts per Minute: 2.345; Words per Minute: 88.187
Summary: The Sanyukta Maharashtra Movement in 1950s was the most important post-independent political movement in Bombay. The movement received active support from parties and groups whose ideological base ranged from radical left to the centerist. Popularly it is referred as a movement for assertion of the rights of majority language group - Marathi, and thus the inclusion of Bombay in the Maharashtra state is considered as the victory of the movement. But actually the historical period at which the movement picked up momentum was a junction between the existing vibrant trade union movement in the city and the beginning of identity politics in the region. We felt it is important to revisit the movement in order to understand the present social scenario. A discussion session was organized between various active members of the movement. Though the discussion initially went around the evaluation of the movement, by this time the discussion invariably zeroed down on the present situation of the city. The discussion moved to the mayhem around the real estate, demographic issues and development. The ideologues that were so articulate in assessing the movement of their days - Sanyukta Maharashtra Movement - became sort of rhetorical when it came to the present situation.
Anchor: Pushpa Bhave (PB), art and literary critic, teacher and social activist. Was a young student during the movement. (Unfortunately the footage with her image has got spoilt. So we only have her audio).
Participants: Prof. Sadanand Varde (SV): Samajwadi (socialist) leader, economist, former state minister of education. Was in the forefront of the movement.
Pushpa Trilokekar (PT): Journalist. Was part of the daily newspaper Maratha, which was considered as the mouthpiece of the movement.
Tara Reddy (TR): Communist, Member of CPI (communist party of India), also active in women’s movement. Was active participant of the movement.
Himmatbhai Zaveri (HB): Samajwadi (socialist) leader. Also part of the Gujarati community, which was largely against the movement.
SV: We have presented this scenario, as in where Mumbai is headed a certain way. now the prime minister has said that we have to make Mumbai like Shanghai...so now what exactly do we have to do, I really don't know. Now, half or more than half of Mumbai lives in slums and temporary settlements, where for human life to have even a minimum amount of peace in order to survive, even minimum arrangements are not available. Now, the way Mumbai is going, I sometimes get scared that it is a flashpoint.
As the city remain the only dream city with hope for possibilities more people come in everyday. The rightwing Shiv Sena call them 'outsiders' which is blasphemous. But the truth remains that there is a demographic crisis in the city and the infrastructure is collapsing. What is the solution?
Mumbai
Shanghai
amenities
city
civic amenities
dream land
el dorado
infrastructure
mumbai
outsider
population
settlements
shanghai
shiv sena
tension
Studio in Dadar
amenities
census
construction
demography
development
earthquake
flyover
government
infrastructures
jhopadpatty
living condition
politics
real estate
sanyukta maharashtra movement
skyscrapers
slum dwellers
slums
state
statistics. chawl
textile mills
town planning
united maharashtra movement
urban planning
water
workers
working class
Today, if suppose a train is late by even a few minutes, the entire place gets overfull and there is an immediate tension. I am, mind you, not speaking of communal tension. Instead of making a Shanghai out of Mumbai, where more than 50 percent of the population don't even get basic amenities, some other solution needs to be worked out. Basic amenities have to be provided, then only the conditions will improve. The term uprah or outsider, which was first coined by the Shiv Sena - to call people who come from your own country 'outsiders' is something really unique and terrible... but some solution needs to be worked out. In conclusion, I would like to say, how many people will live in a city, is there some limit to it or not?
SV: there was a limit set in 1995, which was removed. My point is, how many people can be assimilated properly, with all their daily needs and living conditions attended. How to have some sort of working model and a reasonable limit. I remember an episode, when I used to be a member of the BMC(Bombay Municipal Corporation), and how to improve the city was an issue - its development, and how to give it a vision was one of the discussions that was going on. One of the issues I had was that Mumbai had so very few open public spaces and green parks. So, I asked the engineer, what were the international standards. He said, for every 1000 people, 4 acres of open land/green patch should be available .i.e for playing, recreation, walking etc. So I asked him, if we implemented this in our island city, what would happen? So the engineer tells me, to incorporate that we'd have to raze all the buildings. This is the sort of open space shortage we face. and hence if we want a certain quality of life, these are the issues we have to take into consideration
bmc
bombay
municipal
corporation
buildings
daily need
development
games
green patch
international
standard
park
people
policies
public space
recreation
urban planning
PT: We are mostly talking about the outsider as being the person who lives in the hutments. If you go along the Link Road from Andheri to Borivali, you will see the skyscrapers that are coming up and the higher income housing that is being built. This housing is not for people who are moving out of Girgaon and the inner city precincts. These houses are being bought by people outside the city, who live in other cities and keep one home here. We trouble a Bihari, or some other person from a north Indian state, but what about these people?
Rich people are making investments by buying flats in the skyscrapers. Many of them don't even live here. The skyscrapers are sucking up the water and making the city more prone to earth quake. Shanties don't harm the city in any fundamental way. It is the big constructions..
Andheri
Bihar
Borivali
Girangaon Textile village
North India
cement
concrete
construction
dwellers
earth quake
hutment
investment
migrants
outsiders
settlement
skyscrapers
water
If you see the number of cars with number plates from outside states, there are so many of them. What about these folk? Who is keeping tabs on their activities? These skyscrapers require a lot of water. Where are you going to supply this extra water from? Building these skyscrapers requires so much water, for the cement, and conrcete. All these activities are using up precious water supply of the city. This water supply system has existed for thousands of years and now there is an acute shortage being felt on this waterbed. Hence the upper layer of the ground is not getting access to water supply and hence getting more susceptible to earthquakes. As we lie in an earthquake belt, from Gujarat to Goa.. if there is even a small jolt, this belt will fall like a strip of land into the water. Does anyone think about this? Shanties are just made of tin, what about skyscrapers? We only think of kicking out people living in hutments. what about the people who come from outside living in these skyscrapers? This is not right..
TR: I would like to elaborate on this a little further. There are two points,to be two absolute misunderstandings regarding this issue. First of all, everyone is talking about people coming from outside as being the reason for the number of Marathi people reducing as well as a wane in the culture. This is totally false.
Why are the old settlers selling off their land or dwelling to others? The root of the issue is somewhere else. It is the lopsided development and lack of urban planning. The working class is being erased from the city.
koli
marathi
Colaba
Girangaon
Girgaon
Nana Chowk
Vashi
census
chawl
culture
gujaratis
hutments
kamgar
land
population
punjabis
rent
sale
settlements
slum
workers
Let us consider Colaba.There used to be a huge Koli population there. Today most of the Kolis are gone and skyscrapers have replaced them. Who was responsible for this? The outsiders who came and made these skyscrapers? Or the people living there who sold them the land and went to live elsewhere? What about the Marathis in Girgaon? Why did their numbers reduce? Not because all the outsiders drove them out. Punjabis, Gujaratis etc all took their rooms on rent from them and the Marathis went to live in Vashi with the money they got from these business people. So don't blame the outsiders for reducing the numbers. Nana chowk was full of kamgar vasti (workers' settlement).all those chawls (community housing) and hutments have gone and skyscrapers with 45-55 story heights have sprung up. Now you talk about amenities.....
Why are the old settlers selling off their land or dwelling to others? The root of the issue is somewhere else. It is the lopsided development and lack of urban planning. The working class is being erased from the city.
If only we did some sustainable town planning instead of making populist noises against the outsiders.
TR: In Tardeo, people are up in arms about an acute water shortage. Why is there a water shortage? Because all these high rises are diverting the supply lines. And you say there are only outsiders in the slums? Go and do a head count. there are a lot of Marathi people in slums and you let loose bulldozers on them. They burnt the slums and the khatau mills, mind you... the rest of the mills were burnt, mind you...burnt. And now shopping centres and malls have sprung up. Who removed these people? Did they all leave because all these outsiders came in huge hordes??? This is all lies.
Berlin
Europe
Italy
Tardeo
amenities
apartment
buildings
arterial routes
bulldozers
city
electricity
europe
high-rises
housing
malls
marathi
metro
outsiders
shopping
centre
slums
textile mills
traffic
trains
tram
water
water supply
If only we did some sustainable town planning instead of making populist noises against the outsiders
If you want to oppose these people, then you have to do it on the issue of amenities, responsible housing and redevelopment , water, electricity etc. people are only making bridges. I have been to Europe, mind you, be it Berlin or Italy or any of those cities, they have not yet removed their tram systems. They are still very much functional. Their transport system or new train services run as in the metro, higher up. In their cities railway exists on that level, or underground. and so much of their traffic is through those arterial routes. if we had even half the planning done for our city, we'd be in better shape. To say that the outsiders have come and spoilt the city is not true.
A reference to the myth of slum and pavement dwellers choking the city's drainage system with their waste. It is the residents of the buildings who generate much more waste than the poor. But the fact remains the geography of Mumbai does not allow it to grow
sideways and thus rising high is an inevitability.
PB: The point that has emerged from what all the three panelists have said, is an important one. There is so much misunderstanding regarding who is responsible for this cleansing of the city that is taking place. One of our friends who is doing research on garbage, she said that people who live in skyscrapers actually generate far more rubbish than people living in slums. Using a simple logistic that they earn less and spend less; hence they tend to generate less garbage. Then there is the question of niyojan (planning). Basically Mumbai cannot grow sideways, it will only rise, hence the way the water entered inwards during the floods, well we are to blame for that
Mumbai
PB: This indiscriminate building of structures is not a result of just a need and of coercion of laws, but an inherent selfishness at some point. It is rather urgent that we need to sit down to assess this and the issues at hand. We need to not only discuss these issues but we need to reflect on what is our upbringing and legacy, what sort of traditions do we want to propagate and live by. He earlier spoke about progress, progress goes hand in hand with traditions and ideals. .It's why I took the exampleof Satyajit Ray. At this point when we reflect on the Sanyukta Maharashtra movement, this responsibility that we have taken upon ourselves needs to be shared with the youth, the individuals who think differently... and create a platform where identity politics can be discussed.
Social irresponsibility attached to all these issues need to be addressed urgently and citizens' consensus need to be built.
assessment
construction
development
ideals
identity politics
legacy
platform
progress
propagate
real estate
responsibility
satyajit roy
structures
tradition
upbringing
youth
TR: Those that live in Mumbai, those that contribute to Mumbai, and those who make sure Mumbai runs smoothly.... basically, active and contributing members of Mumbai, is whom Mumbai belongs to.
"A city, a land belong to who tends to it"
Mumbai
mumbai
Everybody needs to develop a stake in the city.
PT: I say Mumbai is mine, so I need to worry about her. If everyone think like that, then Mumbai will benefit. I am not saying this as an individual, I feel everyone should say the same thing. I should work for her, take pains for her sake, then only will Mumbai prosper. Some people say that I am a Mumbaikar, or its not mine, such attitudes will not work, everyone has to treat her as his or her own.
mumbaikar
prosper
responsibility
stake
SV: Mumbai does not belong to just one class or the upper echelons of society. Mumbai belongs to everyone. Whoever works hard to make a decent living in this city, has a right to it.
A right over a city right is earned through hard work and not by birth or class privilege.
citizens
city
class
living
rights
society
PB: In conclusion, what was said about "Mumbai being mine", should be a collective thought process. One trait of Mumbai is that however successful a man becomes, he should still behave as an ordinary man. Mumbai is a city that makes us join our past to our present and asks us to recognize who we essentially are. Mumbai is joined to Maharashtra and hence she also belong to all her villagers.
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