The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Manipur blockade
No group should be allowed to hold people to ransom

THE small northeastern state of Manipur is once again in the news for a marathon blockade that entered the 66th day on Wednesday this week. Blockades and Manipur are fast becoming synonymous as no year seems to pass without one group or the other imposing a blockade on the national highways connecting the state to the rest of the country. Last year too a blockade had lasted all of 65 days before it was withdrawn at the intervention of the Prime Minister. This year the blockade began on July 31 to press for the creation of a separate district, where the Kuki tribe would be numerically superior to others. This provoked a counter blockade three weeks later by the United Naga Council, which opposed the creation of the district while accusing the Okram Ibobi Singh government of surreptitiously dividing the Nagas. As if this is not confusing enough, a fresh 120-hour bandh call from October 8 has been given by people who want the Jiribam subdivision to be elevated to a district.

The muscle-flexing by different groups would have been comical but for the hardship it has forced on the people. The failure of the government to keep transport moving on the national highways for the last two months has resulted in shortages and an abnormal price-hike. Reports say that in some places people are being forced to buy petrol at Rs 200 a litre while LPG cylinders are not available even where people are willing to pay Rs 1,500 for one. The Manipur government has reacted by admitting at the outset that the demand for a separate ‘Sadar’ hill district is genuine, which was followed by the formation of a district reorganisation committee to look at the boundaries. This at the moment appears unacceptable to both the warring groups.

Appeals already made by different groups and intervention by New Delhi may temporarily douse the fire and help lift the blockade in the near future. But the inability of the state government to deal with the issue for such a long period is a poor reflection on governance. Surely, New Delhi should have intervened much earlier.

Films as educators
Bringing cultural richness to Haryana

EVEN Haryanvis don’t shy away from admitting that their land, though agriculturally rich — is barren — culturally. Among the highest per capita income generating states, Haryana, has so far not even bothered to have state chapters of the three cultural Akademies. Senior artistes, of the likes of Pandit Jasraj, have mourned the fact that the state government has not made any effort to pull it out of its ‘agriculture’ tag. Cultural bankruptcy of the state has resulted in its sociological backwardness. The highly caste-ridden patriarchal society, with its pathetic sex-ratio has resisted winds of change — at societal level — that are brought in by unprecedented economic growth of the state.

Since the government has not paid heed to the cultural evolution that should have kept pace with the economic growth, private bodies have mushroomed across the state to plug the gap. So, while the government is still busy making plans and setting up nigams and boards to facilitate renewed jobs for its retired babus, two committed persons in a small town of Yamunanagar have done something innovative to change the way Haryana’s cultural landscape is perceived. Susuma Arya and Ajit Rai, an educationist and a thespian, started Haryana International Film Festival in a town which did not even have an auditorium for film viewing, four years back. It must have been the power of sheer conviction that they were able to rope in accomplished film makers, involved deeply with the art of film making, rather than the business of it. For, they could offer only business class tickets and most invitees were put up in the guest house of the college.

In its fourth year, HIFF Cinema is doing what sociologists have failed to do — to bring the youth back to their cultural moorings. The fed-on-consumerism generation— that fails to respond to life beyond the latest gadgets is brought to serious debates on human relationships; the purpose of life — its struggles and victories and failures. Cinema is used as a tool to sensitise the youth to aspects of life, hitherto untouched, unexplored. In the land of khaps and female foeticides, the festival with its careful selection of films offers fresh insights, raises new questions and provides different perspectives on life. The state government should also get involved in such endeavours.

Thought for the Day

“Everything that we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not see.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

ARTICLE

Playing fast with facts
Cost of ‘development’ in Gujarat
by Justice Rajindar Sachar (retd)

THE fast by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi got excessive media coverage, which defies logic. Modi’s critics rightly called it a self-image building exercise to project himself as a prime ministerial candidate and, under the cover of the slogan of sadbhavna, as an attempt to wash off his sinful conduct in post-Godhra period.

I am clear in my mind that in the matter of government’s complicity in gory happenings like 1984 genocide in Delhi and 2002 Godhra genocide in Gujarat, there can never be a question of forgiveness. There are certain crimes and human rights violations which can never be forgiven or forgotten, though, no doubt, we must learn from them and so modulate our political and social programming that such like events never shame us again. But that process can only happen if the perpetrator of crime is seen as genuinely contrite, which alone can create confidence in those who suffered untold miseries. That has not yet happened.

One is sad and amused at the carnival-like response of the Congress in purporting to observe a fast at the same time. I wish the Congress, instead, had brought out the unspeakable condition in Gujarat camps where a large number of Muslims are still living in misery. Also the Congress leader Shankarsinh Vaghela would have done well if he and his colleagues had chalked out a definite programme to create an atmosphere so that hundreds of Muslim families which are afraid to go back to their villages could go back with dignity and assured safety.

The media, though somewhat critical of Modi’s sadbhavana/secular pretensions, has unfortunately swallowed the propaganda of development- oriented programmes in Gujarat, ignoring its perversions which have in fact led to greater pauperisation of masses, possibly because those policies coincide with the neo-liberal and anti-farmer policies of the corporate sector. All this information, which is uncomplimentary towards Modi, was placed in a public hearing when Anna Hazare visited Gujarat in May 2011 (in a report prepared, among others, by PUCL (Gujarat), Socialist Party and other concerned citizens of Gujarat).

Thus, 30,000 farmers walked nearly 350 km to protest against the cement plant being set up at Mahuva, which will lead to a total loss of 25,000 bigha land on which 1,25,000 people survive. The cement factory would provide direct employment to only 498 persons.

One of the biggest scandals and violation of human rights is taking place in the much-touted Narmada Dam. Even at present, hundreds of families are still displaced though even the award postulated the complete rehabilitation of the oustees. Modi’s claim that Narmada was to supply water to the farmers in belied by the established fact that only 29 per cent of the canal work has been done. As recently as 2009, there was the Rs 260 crore scam pertaining to National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.

As for Right to Education, a fundamental right, the Gujarat government is ironically closing 3,000 primary schools on the unacceptable plea of lack of attendance. In fact, the plan is to lease them to private bodies.

One of the biggest scandals highlighted was the allotment of land at throwaway rate to private industrialists in capital Gandhi Nagar, without holding a public auction. The beneficiaries are big builders, construction companies and other corporate houses with not-so-good public acceptability. This has resulted in a loss to Gujarat state, as per market rate allotment, of Rs 51,97,16,22,317 (rupees five thousand one hundred ninety-seven crores and sixteen lakhs and twenty-two thousand three hundred and seventeen.)

Labour disputes have increased by 600 per cent in last five years, but instead of 100 per cent increase in the staff dealing with them, the government has reduced the staff by 40-60 per cent.

Regarding expenditure for social sector by 18 large states of India, Gujarat embarrassingly stands at 17th, according to the Monthly Bulletin of Reserve Bank of India, February, 2007.

Gujarat stands 14th in infant mortality rate (IMR) for 0-1 year and 13th for 0-5 years. There is 47 per cent malnourishment among 0-5 year-old children. About 67 per cent women are anaemic and of them, 80.1 per cent of girls aged between 6 to 35 months are anaemic.

India is 66th on the global index on hunger. Gujarat ranks 69th, which is actually as low as Haiti in Africa, according to the International Food Policy Research Institute’s report (2008).

I unreservedly accept some positive features of Gujarat, like it has 90 per cent paved roads to villages, 98 per cent electrified villages with 80 per cent electrified homes and 18 hours of electricity every day, 86 per cent piped water supply compared to other states. Unfortunately, we cannot overlook that amidst all this, poverty, hunger, lack of sense of security among minority thrives.

To gave an instance: to overcome the Muslim deficit at different levels of education, the Central government has launched a nationwide scholarship scheme since April 1, 2008. All states have responded favourably, with the only exception being Gujarat, which has not implemented even the pre-matric scholarship scheme for minorities. There are 55,000 scholarships allocated to Gujarat of which 53,000 are to be given to deserving Muslim candidates, but Gujarat has not even cared to implement this program.

Modi proudly proclaimed at his sadbavana jamboree that he did not recognise doing anything especially for the minorities but that they are to be treated only as Gujaratis. Modi apparently has not been properly coached about Indian Constitution. Of course all six crores residents living in Gujarat are Gujaratis. That is their one identity. But the minority has also other identities — they are Indians and Muslims just like majority — they are Gujaratis, Hindus and Indians.

As emphasised by Noble laureate Amartaya Sen, each one of us has multiple identities and each of it deserves equal recognition and protection. Somebody must tell Modi that our Constitution, as interpreted by the Supreme Court, has loudly proclaimed that: “The purpose of law in plural societies is not the progressive assimilation of the minorities in the majoritarian milieu. This would not solve the problem; but would vainly seek to dissolve it.”

It is axiomatic that in any country the faith and the confidence of the minorities in the impartial and even functioning of the state is the acid test of being a civilised state — this is accepted wisdom, and was expressed succinctly by Lord Acton thus: “A state which is incompetent to satisfy minorities condemns itself; a state which labours to neutralise, to absorb or to expel them is destitute of the chief basis of self-government”. Can one hope that Modi will modulate in his future policies in the light of these constitutional and wise pronouncements.

The writer is a former Chief Justice of the High Court of Delhi.

MIDDLE

Tractor (son) of a farmer
by Archit Watts

A tractor is not just a tool to irrigate the farmland. It is more like a son to almost every farmer and there are a number of stories related to it.

It was a quiet, cool and breezy Sunday morning of summers in 2005. I was then a B.A. (Hons) final year student in Government College-11, Chandigarh. I and my friends Manreet, Gagan, Amninder, Dilpreet and Nitin were discussing how to get success, name and fame in life.

Suddenly, Amninder got a call from his father on the cell phone. All of a sudden, he disappeared from the scene leaving us all clueless. His absence disturbed us to the extent that we started a manhunt. After a long search, we found him sitting outside the swimming pool in a pensive mood.

When we asked him the reason, he broke into tears. Without giving any second thought to the matter, Manreet snatched his cell phone to know what actually was disturbing him.

Had his girlfriend broken up with him? That was the only question cropping up in our minds. After going through the call details, we came to know that the last received call was from his home and not from the 'estranged' girlfriend, much to our relief. Then one of us offered him a glass of water to soothe his nerves and again started thinking over the possible reasons troubling our dear friend.

On our repeated attempts, he broke his silence and disclosed that his father had earlier sold two acres of land (in Sangrur district) to ensure his studies in Chandigarh. Now, it was the time for his younger brother to get admission in some private college to join the MBA course in Chandigarh. His family had no other option but to sell off their old tractor —which was just like a family member to them — so that his younger brother could also realise his dream.

Nowadays, when I switch on my television set, a famous song: “Jatt Ne Ford Tractor Vechya Ro Ro Ke” (Jatt sold off his Ford tractor with tears in his eyes) reminds me of the plight of my friend's family.

The song not only presents the true picture of the "grim and gloomy faces of farming community" but also reminds me of Amninder, who went to Australia on a student visa like most of Punjabi youngsters who prefer to secure a job and citizenship abroad to live a decent life.

OPED the arts

Le Corbusier laid stress on the functionality of living spaces. The Modulor Plan that he introduced in Chandigarh, now confronts a dilemma – to adapt to the pressures of growth or, to become a living museum of architectural genius.

The Chandigarh Conundrum
George Jacob

TO Change or not to Change...is the conundrum facing many an urban planner grappling with the challenges of growing population, finite bandwidth of amenities aiding civic functionality and the larger issue of nurturing the elusive soul of a potentially vibrant city— in this case the City Beautiful. Layer this prospect of its benign acceptance with its mediocre and often sub-par living conditions, taken for granted elsewhere in the world along with connotations of ‘heritage’ qualifiers impeding change, while bucking responsibility!

While residents, visitors, bureaucracy and investors all have strong differing views about what Chandigarh exemplifies, the common denominator is the need to adapt to changing needs of communities within a seemingly finite framework of plausible alterations to a concrete induced urban dwelling. According to the Governor`A0of`A0Punjab and Chief Administrator, Chandigarh (UT), Shivraj V. Patil, in order to meet the growing demands of development, traffic and population growth, the city would go sub-terrain instead of a tempting vertical skyscraper driven model. Maintaining Nehru’s vision and Corbusier’s design is vital to preserving its quality of life and aesthetic, believes Patil, who also serves as the Chair of Experts Committee on Chandigarh Heritage, and is acutely aware of seeking holistic regional solutions to the pressures of economy, jobs for youth, commercial enterprise and challenges of mass transit.

October 6^th marks the 124^th birth anniversary of the Swiss-born modernist architect Charles-Edouard Jeanneret-Gris, popularly known by his adopted French pseudonym Le Corbusier (1887-1965), whose work, now more than ever, has to grapple with neo-urbanism and the visible lacunae of smart-growth, amply evident in the poorly conceived cacophonous chaos of adjacent Zirakpur, Mohali, Panchkula and Mani Majra.

Caged in Concrete

Corbusier believed in reinventing ideas, concepts and spaces, even his name! His dream project was to plan a city— after receiving several refusals, which also included a plan for the city of Jerusalem, Chandigarh was his last chance to prove his genius. And he gave his best. The plan for the much celebrated Capitol complex included four ‘Edifices’ — the High Court, the Legislative Assembly, the Secretariat and the Museum of Knowledge and six ‘Monuments’, laid out in an invisible geometry of three interlocking squares marked by ‘Obelisks’. The first three elements of the complex are meticulously planned with an incredible eye for detail down to the furniture, lighting fixtures, tapestry and enamel doors. While the complex offers a desolate sense of monumentality with its concrete slab-tiled vast access platforms, obtuse to the environment and the unforgiving summer temperatures and winter winds, the fourth edifice (initially Governor’s Palace) of the futuristic Museum of Knowledge, is yet to be realised.

On the residential side, the oft-repeated critique to this functional city neatly divided into sectors on a grid is that it alienates people living in it. Enabling movement, circulation, locational ambivalence and seldom nudging people to engage in a collective celebration flowing into a central piazza for a melding of minds vital for sustenance of organic growth within cities.

Citing Cliché

As the first planned city post-independence based on the Master-Plan of the American architect Albert Mayer, Chandigarh does offer better infrastructure, fore-thought, relative ease of circulation and residences tinged with modernist brutalism of a machine seeking to fulfil a function in concrete. It is also statistically, the cleanest city in India.

Corbusier retained most of Mayer’s organisational features but did away with its adaptation to the landscape, its allowances for unplanned growth, and its use of vernacular building practices and materials. Replacing these with a rectangular grid based on metaphor of a human body in an ode to Leonardo’s Vitruvian man, he placed the Capitol Complex on top resembling the head, reflecting Nehru’s conviction that government should rule a city as the head rules the body. These notions still remain largely unrealised and disconnected in the minds of the residents oblivious to this thought process.

The industrial and educational belts on either side of the city symbolised the limbs. The city centre with commercial buildings, shopping, and offices represented the heart. The 70 sq.km historic core of Phase 1 completed in 1965 was starkly separated into inward-looking self-sufficient sectors measuring 800 by 1200 meters based on dimensions taken from Paris. A seven-tiered hierarchy of road types de-linked pedestrian and vehicular traffic- from V1 for the fast-moving inter-city traffic to V7 for pedestrians within the sectors.

Le Corbusier’s philosophical thrust, as outlined in Vers Une Architecture was about standards and perfection—values incorporated in design and utility. With literacy rate in the UT at 81.9 per cent, the question to be asked introspectively by the city planners, administrators and residents alike, is, whether the later sectors built in the 114 sq.km. adhered to those principles and whether those high standards are presently reflected in the shoddy neglect all around— be it the Sector 17 shopping complex strewn with junk in the upper floors, jumble of electrical wires stringing dangerously or the pervasive crumbling neglect with growing peepal trees from countless crevices, haphazard signs and billboards against the backdrop of an ever-increasing pathetic parking nightmare? The British architect Maxwell Fry who was on the core Corbusier-Jeanneret team, noted that the very construction workers, who built the City Beautiful remained "underpaid, un-housed and uncared for..." with nearly a third of its economically weak population of domestic servants, construction labour, drivers, vendors, tailors, cobblers, janitors and others, living in squalid conditions juxtaposed with gigantic mansions in affluent sectors designed ironically on socialistic notions of equality of needs.

Creativity Crises

In an alarmingly myopic brusque observation justifying disregard for Indian aesthetic sensibilities, Corbusier once questioned "...what is the relevance of Indian style today, if you accept machines, trousers and democracy?"

As harsh as Corbusier’s statement may seem, one wonders why is it that a country rich with finest artists, sculptors, craftsmen and makers of stunning landmarks like the Taj Mahal, Ajanta & Ellora, Red Fort, Palitana, Konark, Jantar-Mantar, and the BahaTemple, has difficulty in creating living environments that rise above mediocrity and glide upon the wings of excellence? Why is design regarded or disregarded as a viable commercial, ergonomic and aesthetic investment? Why can’t a civilisation that draws its roots from the well-planned layouts of Mohenjo Daro and Harappa, produce a single charming city that epitomises beauty, cleanliness, public amenities and culture that globe-trotting Chandigarh residents marvel at every little hamlet, town, city and metropolis in Europe and elsewhere?

There is a need to inject elements of creativity in bold and subtle ways to energise and rekindle its celebration of form and function. Rethinking its visual appeal while retaining the capital assets, is an exercise worthy of an international challenge involving urban planners, designers, sculptors and champions of change and environmental anamorphs. Improving baseline functionality, creative use of technology, integration of ergonomics, introduction of efficiency metrics in parking, commute, signage, round-abouts, sectoral markets et al needs to bristle with a flood of ingenious adaptations and reflect the ethos of a model city built in the post-independence era. With Indian minds excelling in almost all walks of life, this vacuum has many solutions waiting to flow in, once the valves open.

Cultural Connect

It is gratifying that all`A0urban and architectural development in Chandigarh continues to be regulated under the Punjab Act No. XXVII of 1952 that was formulated to preserve concepts and ideas addressed in Le Corbusier’s original Master Plan. In the process of adherence and preoccupation with construction, Chandigarh, though efficient and functional by comparison to vibrant Indian cities bustling with colour, energy, economic enterprise, spontaneity, dynamic bazaars, allure and ingenuity, has remained sterile and lacking in "soul." The Corbusian motifs of the Modulor and the 12.5 meter wide open hand made of beaten metal that spins with the wind rising 27.8 meters above ground have little meaning for local inhabitants, despite sporadic attempts by those engaged in imposing a semblance of brand identity. The symbols seem to hardly resonate with what they represent symbolically and aesthetically. Corbusier’s culture complex originally included a museum, a temporary exhibition pavilion, an Audio-Visual Training Centre (now Government College of Art) and a ‘miracle box’.

Perhaps it is time to rekindle Corbusier’s notion of the Museum of Knowledge and extend it into a lifestyle that infuses the current void with a sense of renewed resurgence and self affirmation. A much needed Miracle Box where dreams transcend to reality.

The writer is a city based museologist whose work spans several countries.