Our city needs inclusiveness
Vinod Shetty
It gives me great pleasure to introduce Vinod Shetty. Shetty is a human rights lawyer, practising in the Industrial court, labour court and High Court of Mumbai. He has been actively involved in social movements since his college days. In his legal practice, he represents the marginalised sections of society, and has stood for Greenpeace and the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal, in Mumbai. He is the honorary director of ACORN Foundation. The Foundation’s Dharavi Project organises waste collectors and rag pickers, who are the backbone of the city’s recycling industry. Shetty also conducts workshops on waste management in schools, colleges and offices. I would like you to put your hands together and welcome Vinod Shetty.
– Rtn. Sameer Tapia
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for inviting me today and honouring my work. You have truly shown Rotary cares and that “service before self” is ingrained in the Rotarians. Every task you take up is a step forward for mankind because we, as a civilisation, are showing our humanity. We are in the Taj Mahal hotel, where 26/11 happened five years ago. And today, we are back here. This shows our spirit and the fact that we are not going to allow a couple of bullets or terrorists to cow us down.
In the same way, we are not going to allow our society to crash. We are not going to allow our city to go down the drain. We will always try and change society because the will to change what can be changed shows the depth of one’s spirit and knowledge. We need to use the privileges that we have been blessed with for the upliftment of mankind. This sums up all that the Rotarians have been doing internationally. I salute your work.
I will now talk about our city, which I feel needs a lot of inclusiveness. We have created barricades, gated compounds and SUVs that separate us from the poor. I wish to point out here that nearly 50-60% of our city live in slums. We need to acknowledge this. However, civil society doesn’t seem to care. Those who seem to care are the politicians who are only out there to pocket their votes.
We feel people living in slums are dirty people. They don’t deserve the SRA flats. Bacche paida karte, raste par chodte hai. They are crapping on the streets, much to the embarrassment of our guests from abroad. We are embarrassed as Indians to show that our people are out on the streets. We are embarrassed by poverty. We don’t like the smell, we don’t like the people. We want a world without poverty.
And I say it is possible to live in a world without poverty. But for that we will have to face poverty, and open our doors and windows to those smells. As long as you are inclusive, those people will let you have your houses, cars, clubs and five-star hotels. Whenever the rich stopped caring for the poor, there have been revolutions. Our country has not seen the turmoil faced by countries such as Russia, China and Latin America. Hence, we have become a little complacent. There is growing anger out there.
I go to Dharavi every day. There are about 1.5 million people living there — that’s nearly 10% of Mumbai’s population. Dharavi is a worker’s colony. If you see the kind of production that goes on there, you will realise it is tremendous. Who subsidises labour in this city? Where does that labour come from? We forget that our liftmen, drivers, auto rickshaw drivers, taxi drivers, some of the constables and security guards come from the slums. There is no proper housing for them. Even the limited SRA flats that are available are being gobbled up by builders and politicians. Have we, as society, bothered about whether the laws are in place? Have we bothered about making that law sustainable and human?
It is important for us to scrutinise those laws. We need to see if money from the government is reaching the poor. It is time we start understanding and looking at the Dharavi redevelopment plan. The plan is going to cause one of the largest displacements in modern India as nearly 5-6 lakh people are going to be displaced. These people earn the equivalent of 2 to 4 dollars a day. And for that they work on a daily basis. If the plan is implemented then the floating population of 4-5 lakh people will spread to other parts of the city.
Now let us look at the recycling of waste. This city generates 10,000 tonnes of waste a day. Out of the dry waste, nearly 40% goes to Dharavi and these people recycle it out of desperation. They work in hazardous and polluting conditions. But they do it because it is their livelihood.
And now that they have found work, the state wants to dispossess them without creating alternative livelihoods. This would be very dangerous for our city. Hence, ACORN Foundation is trying to speak to the government. We are trying to tell the civil society that you have to create employment and housing for the poor. If you don’t then these people are going to be on the streets.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a document that is ratified by our country. But we have forgotten about it. Article 25 clearly emphasises health as a human right. Poverty and social exclusion are the most important drivers of ill health. But look at what is happening. Are we protecting those people? Is health really a human right?
Article 26 says everyone has the right to education. Today, ACORN Foundation runs a small school in Dharavi. We have a small community centre and a library too. An American school has donated the books. We also have a classroom allotted at the Xavier’s College in Mahim for conducting classes. Those classes are run by volunteers. We have had tie-ups with organisations such as Bloomberg and Blue Frog, a jazz club. Blue Frog sends its musicians to teach music to the children. We have a band called Dharavi Rocks. I hope one day you call us for your programme. These kids will give you a fantastic time. They play on junk, i.e. recycled material. The idea is to spread the message that you can make music out of everything and you need to understand the importance of recycling. Dharavi is a large hub for recycling. We have more than 1,000 units there, which recycle everything from plastic, paper and glass to cardboard and cloth.
I was invited to a conference by the Swedish Government, where various companies told me to give them the waste of this city. They said that they will create fuel out of it. I pointed out to them that lakhs of people are employed in the recycling industry. If they even take away the garbage then what will be left for the poor? Instead, I asked them to speak to these people and create employment opportunities. We have to tell our government that there are people who are surviving on this waste.
The nice thing about working for the poor is that we can wake up with a smile every morning and go out in society feeling proud. We are in the same boat and we are going to change society. In fact, my faith is in the next generation. The children I talk to believe what I say and they are willing to come to Dharavi. Children from big schools come to Dharavi and see the poverty. They bond well with the children who live there. This is their way of bridging the gap. And this is the way we have to extend our hand to those who are underprivileged. Thank you very much for inviting me and the ACORN Foundation.
Excerpts from a Q&A session:
Q: You forgot to mention that Dharavi Rocks was invited by the Rotarians to the South Asia Summit last year in Hyderabad. The kids did a wonderful job!
Vinod Shetty: Thank you very much.
Q: You have shown us a picture that not many of us know, even though we live in the city and Dharavi is not very far. What you are doing is laudable. But my question is — where will all this go, say, after five or 15 years? Is there a futuristic plan to transform society in a reasonable way and bridge the existing gap?
Vinod Shetty: I think it is very positive. And believe me, the slums are slowly being transformed. The SRA buildings are coming up. One day, the whole of Mumbai will be slum free. Of course, for different reasons a lot of people are going to benefit from that. The fact is that the poor are ready to talk to civil society. They have not reached the Brazilian stage where no one can enter a slum. In Brazil, there are some slums where people sit with sten guns on top of the huts. Our cities are not like that. You can walk in without fear. I have friends who have been there with cameras that cost R2-3 lakh. My friend who works for the History Channel told me that she could walk with her camera fearlessly in Dharavi. She said that they did not have the same confidence abroad. This is the same confidence we have to show in our people. People are willing to be included in the development for progress. But we will have to
be inclusive.
Q: I heard that the Dharavi Project will provide homes for these people. Is that not correct?
Vinod Shetty: Yes, it is correct. The Dharavi redevelopment plan was started with the whole of Dharavi in mind, all 600 acres. Huts were to be broken down. There was an architect named Mukesh Mehta who came in and established his office. I met him, as he wanted me to propagate the Dharavi redevelopment plan. But the more I read his plan, the more absurd it sounded. Finally, the Sukthankar Committee was formed. The Sukthankar Committee had people such as Shirish Patel on it. It also comprised architects. They critiqued this plan and showed that it is not possible to do it the way they had envisaged. Demolishing all the huts to put up housing was not going to happen. That plan now has been scrapped by the present Chief Minister. It has been handed over to MHADA, which has started the plan in Sector 5 but in a limited way. It’s basically a political hot potato. No CM wants to take on the whole job. They’ll wait for the next election.