All must try to act in a more humane way

The Indian Railways’ recent demolition drive in Delhi’s Shakurbasti has taken a fierce political turn. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s grandstanding, that is par for the course given his animus with the Centre, led to the demolition being magnified into a national issue, more so as a child died either just before, during or because of the event. The autopsy report suggested death from trauma due to impact on the head and chest by a blunt object, raising doubts about the initial police version that it occurred before the demolition, that railway minister Suresh Prabhu repeated in Parliament. If we strip the issue of its politics, however, what we are left with is the core issue of whether the Railways was right to undertake the demolition drive in a slum area in the middle of winter, when shivering people had nowhere to go after 500 tenements were destroyed.

 

The larger question crops up of how humane we are in the treatment of the poor and homeless who live in our cities as these are the only places where they can find regular work to sustain themselves and their families. It is easy to dispossess the downtrodden as they have so little support, besides of course politicians who rush to them whenever they scent an opportunity to attract votes. This particular slum demolition comes at an inopportune time in the year, thus adding more poignancy to the principle of clearing land. The problem of squatters on public land is not one that is faced only by the Railways or any state or city. But if the Railways was clearing the area for a commercial complex, the question arises of whether the demolition was really necessary.

 

Encroachments aren’t easy to deal with in any populous nation where land is so scarce that it inhibits offering of any true alternatives in a comparable part of the city with easy access to places where the poor can earn a living. The Railways’ stand that proper notices had been served several months ago to the slumdwellers should not be brushed aside altogether. Encroachers also threaten the environment, living along waterways and on the banks of rivers or near railway tracks while contributing freely to open defecation. But the onus is on the authorities to carry out such demolitions as humanely as possible, also giving priority to relocation and rehabilitation, that are important elements of dealing with those who must make way for improvements or gentrification. The death of the child will not have been in vain if it teaches us the importance of humaneness in every activity that we undertake. This incident also demonstrates how politicised India can get, with almost any incident lending itself to some drama.