The well-fed sections of the society have discovered a new pastime to spend their excess leisure, variously described as seminar, symposium, round table and what not and they have started any number of platforms to have such a discussion : Rotary club, Lions Club. Tigers Club, Bisons Club, etc. which are also meant for such fruitless discussions. We are mostly concerned with the problems of the Untouchables, who are the poorest of the poor in India-the socially lowest and economically most deprived. In what way the well-fed sections are interested in the problems of the Wretched of the Earth ? What we thought was that the discussion would be mostly about the problem of housing faced by the well-fed. A company executive takes up a job in Bangalore and even if he is prepared to pay Rs. 2,000 a month, he is not getting a house. At every elite gathering of women, you will find the discussion centering on housing problem and the “servant problem”. We, therefore, made it plain to the organisers of today’s discussion that we are not interested in such problem faced by the well-fed sections creating problems where there is none. We are not denying the fact that the rich of this country are also facing problems. In fact, they face more problems than the poor. This is because those who create problems to others will have to face more problems themselves. We told the organisers that we would not be interested in participating in a talk that would be interested in solving artificially created problems. The real problem of housing is faced not by the rich who invariably belong to the high caste, but by the poorest of the poor, who are none other than the Untouchables and the tribals. The Wretched of the Earth always belong to the lowest caste in India. It is only when we were assured that the discussion would embrace the slum dwellers also, we agreed to participate on be half of the Karnataka Dalit Action Committee. We visited the house of a friend in a Bangalore fashionable locality. He took us to the balcony of his house and showed us two huts right beside his house and said that these dirty eyesore huts had sprung up only the previous week “Look, how these dirty people are spoiling the beauty of this place ?. Why you newspapermen (I was then in the Indian Express) are not bothered about this problem ? The Corporation and the police should not allow these people to create a slum in Palace Orchards.” He said this with great sincerity and feeling. We can understand his indignation. We are sure that quite a number of you would nave also felt the same thing when a shanty house comes next to your doorstep, spreading filth and noise all round. Such a feeling of indignation is natural. But did you ponder over the question-who creates.slums ? There is another aspect to this problem. Our friend felt that it was the duty of newspapers, corporations and the police to prevent the poor from encroaching upon the pleasures of the rich. He is right, because these agencies are meant to protect the rich. That is why he had taken their support for granted. Why the poor and, particularly the Untouchables, are migrating to the cities and creating new and newer slums ? We don’t want to enter into this subject as it is not part of our brief. In 1972, Bangalore had only 175 slums. In another ten years the number will cross 500. This will happen despite efforts of leaders like Antulay trying to drive out slum and pavement-dwellers. The migration of the poor and particularly the Untouchables will speed up in days to come because of the increasing number of caste atrocities, bet- ween the Hindus and the Untouchables. All these slums are inhabited by Untouchables (over 75 per cent) and Muslims. And these two sections constitute the poorest of the poor. And that is why they reside only in the slum. The number of the poor is growing and that is why the number of urban slums is also growing. Dharavi in Bombay, Asia’s biggest slum, is mostly inhabited by Untouchables from TN. An urban slum is like a boil on your body. The boil comes because something is wrong with your blood. So there is no point in going on applying any amount of ointment to cure the boil. The medicine may temporarily cure the boil but it may come back. To get rid of the problem of the boil you will have to get your blood purified. The same analogy applies to slums as well. The Government has established Slum Improvement and Development Corporations. No progress has been made. On the other hand, new and newer slums are springing up daily. Why ? Because the Govt. is only trying to cure the boil but no effort is made to purify the blood. It is like trying to cure the symptom leaving the disease as it is. Slums only prove that the health of the nation is very bad, critical. There is no point in slum improvement or development as long as the nation itself is sick. We are a sick nation with a bad blood running through our veins. That is why, slums spring up all over like the boil on the body. It is very simple. It does not need a social scientist or a housing expert to tell this
China became indendent two years after India We had an occasion to tour that country as the leader of a goodwill delegation in 1980 We did not find a single slum even in Shanghai which is the world’s highest populated city. Everybody is housed. There are no slums in China. Nor are there ten bed room bungalows. To each according to his needs and from each according to his ability. China is socialist. We are feudal. The politicians particularly those belonging to the ruling party like slums and want it to continue because in these slums reside their cheapest vote bank. Will anybody kill the goose that lays the golden egg ? Another reason why the Untouchables – and Muslims prefer slums, because they do not get houses outside. Hindus do not give houses to these two sections. The Karnataka Dalit Action Committee is daily getting complaints from Untouchables facing problem of eviction after their caste identify is discovered by the landlords. So the problem of the slums. which in turn is nothing but a part of the city’s housing problem, is closely linked with the problem of untouchability which is part of the Hindu caste system. We cannot solve the problem of slums alone without solving the problem of, untouchability and caste system. One is linked to the other. However, a beginning can be made it all the enlightened citizens take up the issue seriously. The best method of making a big break through is by conferring ownership rights on those tenants who have been occupying a house continuously for six years. To enable such a measure which is on the lines of the “Land to the Tiller and House to the Dweller””, the Government may be forced to bring an Ordinance staying all current eviction proceeding in the courts We had an occasion to preside over such a conference of “”House to the Dweller” in Bangalore three years back and the conference was a big success.
