Nice reply! You sound like a lawyer :) (Please take that as a compliment).
When you say labourers come to Delhi and other places where they find work because they dont have anything to live on back home you are right. I dot know if they migrate because of harassment from upper class. Yes they do migrate for work. But i dont agree that the plight of labourers is the way it is because they had to migrate. Yes they had to migrate for lack of work but when they found work in Delhi or Guaragaon or elsewhere their plight could have been better. How? If the State was doing its job.
Thats why I said 'the state is nowhere to be seen in such a setting'. State often either just caters to the upper classes (i.e. ppl who can afford bribes) or is just too ineffective to deal with such major issues (for various reasons such as lack of initiative).
Interesting that you bring up
Art. 21 of the contitution (one of the most hotly debated sections in the entire constitution of india). Actually it doesnt guarantee anything, it protects. It just says that no one can take away any persons life (which under its broader meaning includes human dignity - basic nutrition shelter clothes etc. like you said). So this basically means the labourer can file a writ petition in High Court (Art. 226) or Supreme Court (Art. 32) against the person employing him since his employer is in direct violation of a fundamental right.
And I am on your side when I say State doesnt play the role it is supposed to.
I say we can bring change through our actions because indirectly we are the ones who provide job opportunities for people. We pay taxes. We elect the govt. We elect the muncipality board. If we actively participate in these processes, pay our taxes honestly and make sure our vote is not wasted then it will mean people with vision and ethics taking up offices of local and regional power and more money in the govt. coffers to take up new projects.
How can you and me ensure a fast and fair justice system? Well having had a ringside view of the Indian legal process, half a dozen lawyer friends and such like I came to the conclusion as have many people that our legal system is faulty.
And its people like you and me who file cases for no reason which take up court time the only aim being to drag it on so that the problem gets delayed by some time which will allow things to remain as they are. Only a few lawyers will discourage a person from filing a case.
Secondly stop bribing the court people not only to get work done but also to swing interim orders and final judgements their way.
Thirdly by understanding the concept and power of PILs and knowing our basic rights so that it can be used to bring change within the judicial system.
Finally support pro-bono legal support groups and charities and if possible do some voluntary work with them.
The current image of the judiciary is that of a lone warrior fighting the corrupt political and legislative in India. But that is a very wrong image. Judiciary is a warrior which picks its fights carefully keeping the audience and opponent in mind so as to give the best impression.
It is common knowledge that India is a source of cheap labour for all kinds of jobs..
and sadly that is one thing keeping India on track to achieve the target GDP growth.
Labour is cheap not coz it is a buyers market. Labour is surplus as we agree mostly people from villages come to the cities looking for work. Where the State is supposed to support them they get none. Thus when they come to the city due to presence of surplus labour they get exploited.
Exploitation is there in all forms and all jobs. It is just relative.
Wouldn't you say a call center employee gets his Art. 21 violated when he is forced to entertain a rude American or British caller who is often openly racist that too for pocket money wages. The call center owners know that demand is more than supply thus employees get exploited.
In UK for example racism is a criminal offence and if you even as much as raise a hint about it people get the fear of god in them. Here in a call center you can disconnect the call after giving the first warning. In India things are very different
It is needed to fuel the growth of the country at this stage because we need money, businesses etc coming into India. As the money starts coming in a part of it (hopefully) is being channeled towards rural development and helping set up support services (see later in this post).
You say the contractor should pay right wages to the labourer. I agree but the contractor is more likely to reduce labour intake and bring in more machines. Then what will happen to the labourer who now gets atleast some money? Since the State is not there currently to support him he will be left without even the meager salary he was getting. I say it cannot happen overnight because these are things with deep links to lots of factors...
You see it is an improvement for that young boy you talked about. The ball has been set rolling. At least he went to school. His parents probably never even went to one. And thats the point I was trying to make about gradual improvement. While I dont agree with you it can happen overnight you are right in saying it shouldnt take 20 years. I mean just look at the changes taking place in Delhi for the Commonwealth Games. Similar thing happened during the previous C Games held in Delhi.
Did anyone question why we cannot have the same speed of progress without an major international sporting event taking place? So there you are right it shouldnt take 20 years... and if you notice I didn't say it should take 20 years either. I just said it takes time..and that the process of change is often slow (especially at such a large scale).
H
ow easily you romanticize. They make sure their kids get a better deal, all parents want to do that. But that which is better for them is it enough? What is their means afterall after we have made them into cheap labour? The laborers child went to school yes but I also said he left school when he was barely 10. What importance of learning did it instill in him? Change is slow but the ball has to be set rolling. The change would have been put into process if the State had ensured he stayed in school and the slow change would have materialized when he could give his own kids a better deal because he did much better for himself than his father.
I dont romanticize.. I think you are basing your assumptions on a small sample. I have tried to look at life from all angles... let me tell you a story of 4 women. They are christians from Bihar. They arrived in Delhi not knowing a word of Hindi or English. Worked as maids in posh houses... now they educated (a bit), married and have kids (who go to english medium schools). Let me tell you a story of one of my friends in school he was the son of one of the sweepers in our school (DPS Mathura Road). Our school has a policy that all staffs children study in normal classes and full education/books/uniform etc is provided by the school. I can go on.. but the important point is that change is in the air.
Did you ever think to gather some people (even doing it alone!) and offering to teach that boy at home and provide help for them? Maybe if going to school for some time didnt instill the importance of education in him you could have done that?
You didnt specify but since you know the details of their case then I will assume that you did help them out in whichever way possible since you seem like a person who would help.I did say: "In the short term it seems quite cruel and heartless... but in the long term we shall see these labourers as the heroes of a new India who (maybe unknowingly) sacrifice their today so that you and I can get what we have and in the long run the country can grow."
Who are we to sacrifice them? Why did we decide to sacrifice them? Who gave us the right to sacrifice them? Who told us they want to be heroes and martyrs. They just want to live. And it’s their right to live.
It is, of course, in every parents nature, like u said, to make sure their children get a better deal. Often we don't choose to sacrifice ourselves.. it is chosen for us. In any battle the general decides the fates of thousands of people (not just soldiers.. but also civilians!) who gave him the authority? It is a mixture of situation and his duty. He has no choice but to sacrifice for the future good. Think of this as a battle against poverty.
No one decides about sacrifice, it is fate. Heroes are created. Did anyone decide that the people who died in the Union Carbide incident were to be sacrificed and thus make the world aware of how MNCs exploit poor countries? If we treat their lives as sacrifice we elevate it above the normal day to day events. Its not just another '100 people dead..' story to be forgotten after a week.
Did someone choose the people people caught in the middle during the Partition? Did people choose to be born in British occupied India?
Also you know if everyone just wanted to live the world would be a happy place :) for one thing wealth would be more equally distributed and not hoarded by people.
Like I said since many people in India do get a raw deal it is better to refer to them as heroes. That ways we give due respect to their circumstance, maybe people can learn to respect them and thus fight for their upliftment. You see basic economics says 'you have what you have coz someone else doesnt have it' and that 'creation of wealth' is a slow process. So treat them as heroes and accept their sacrifice. That ways even if you cant help them directly you will help them through their children or through other indirect means. If the sacrifice of people like Bhagat Singh and war heroes can inspire people to be loyal to their nation and die for it.. maybe the sacrifice of the poor man can inspire people to be loyal to their fellow human beings? So that like we dont forget the people of the armed forces coz we keep hearing of the sacrifices made to protect the country... the same way we dont forget the face of the laborer toiling away down the street building a home for someone yet never seeing the inside of one.
You really think you, me and cheap labour are at the same level??
While I never included myself at same level as cheap labour and I dont know about you but certainly u cant say a person working graveyard shift at a call center, talking to idiotic customers, handling calls like machines just coz thats the only job they can do to support their family (I personally know 3 such people) is having a merry time doing it.
Having a proper work environment, dignity, self-respect and quality of life are surely not any less than food, shelter and clothes are they? Many call centers in India are nothing but glorified sweat shops. While they might have clothes and shelter and food... their lives are still not normal. They suffer mentally for their job. I don't need to tell you the issues with disrupted sleep cycles and elevated stress levels. The exploitation is there just that its nature changes.
Surely they should protest using Art 21 or some Labor Act against say night shifts. But what will happen then?
Forget people in India. People providing support in UK (from India on work permit) get paid less than graduate students and have to work 24/7. They have special cellphones which have to be kept on all the time. They can get things to do at 3 am. Again I know 4 such people personally.
India is all about cheap labour... both technical and non-technical kind that is the sad part.
The sab bit is also something which I have commented on before
http://amachwe.blogspot.com/2006/03/sensex-at-11k-theory.html...
the profits being generated by Indian companies are not being put back into the improvement of the country and the sacrifice of the common man is being disregarded by many.
Finally
would like you to shed more light into is why you are so inclined to think that our talk is worthless discussion.
Where have I said that our talk is worthless discussion. :)
I said "
Often change does start with talk but how quickly that talk turns into worthless discussion is amazing."
My basic meaning was without an open mind and willingness to BRING CHANGE (THROUGH THOUGHTS AND ACTIONS) intelligent discussion turns to usless talk quickly.
Going deeper:
What I meant was twofold. Firstly.. when we talk on a blog like this.. and post our views... it becomes worthless if people dont act on it. Maybe not immediately but in time words do loose their importance if not acted up. If it brings some fundamental change in our thinking process then I will say discussion is worthless. But I don't know how many people actually read this and understand the meaning behind it. And the way you and I are intereacting.. this may be the seed for future change. Maybe I can make you see things from a diff. p.o.v. and maybe you can do the same for me. But if say discussion keeps happening without translation into action or a change in thought process then we can just keep on discussing till the cows come home yet nothing would have changed outside.
Secondly referring to talk with respect to formal discussions within and between govts. there is ample proof for that happening... take the Kashmir issue... how many talks have started and gone no where. There are such beautiful results from talks in the UN like the agreement which you site along with things like the human rights agreements. But are they any use? Was all that discussion any use when the States participating in it are not willing to implement it and attend the talks with a closed mind (or worse an indifferent mind)?
:)
P.S. Please excuse any spelling mistakes and my obviously faulty grammer.
