[Sci-tech-public] Fwd: TimeOut Editorial

Tue Aug 16 10:39:55 EDT 2005

>Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 10:37:32 -0400
>To: sci-tech-students at mit.edu, sts-fac at mit.edu sci-tech-public at mit.edu
>From: Michael Fischer <mfischer at mit.edu>
>Subject: Fwd: TimeOut Editorial
>Cc: ssly at mit.edu, jjackson at mit.edu, jhowe at mit.edu, sgh2 at mit.edu, 
>cwalley at mit.edu, ejames at mit.edu, ssilbey at mit.edu, 
>orkideh.behrouzan at orthopaedic-surgery.oxford.ac.uk
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>from Shekar Krishnan (shekhar at crit.org.in), one of our new graduate students
>
>
>>
>>Here is my latest editorial, based on the piece I wrote for DNA 
>>last week, this time for the upcoming issue of TimeOut Mumbai.
>>
>>See the earlier essay on 
>>http://www.crit.org.in/members/shekhar/floods and please send your 
>>comments and feedback on this essay.
>>
>>Best,
>>
>>
>>Shekhar
>>______
>>
>>Some Reasons to be Optimistic
>>or
>>Mumbai and the Global History of Urban Disasters
>>
>>by Shekhar Krishnan
>>
>>For TimeOut Mumbai
>>http://www.timeoutmumbai.net
>>
>>16 August 2005
>>
>>Whether you consider the recent floods in Mumbai to be either a 
>>natural disaster, or a man-made crisis - or a bit of both - most 
>>will agree that we have just been through the biggest social crisis 
>>to face the city since the communal riots and bomb blasts in 
>>1992-1993. It is not often in history that an urban disaster 
>>prompts wide-ranging public reflection and institutional changes. 
>>There are many contemporary lessons to be drawn in Mumbai from the 
>>global history of urban disasters, from floods and famines to 
>>terrorism and riots. Crises such as these prompt immediate action, 
>>but often the most sweeping and epochal changes they inspire happen 
>>once the original impulses to act are forgotten. These impulses are 
>>buried away in subsequent events and history, obscuring their 
>>effect in prompting wider, often revolutionary changes. The 
>>catastrophic earthquake which destroyed most of the Portugese 
>>capital Lisbon in 1755 and wiped out most of its population - and 
>>the philosopher Voltaire's satirical reflections on its causes and 
>>consequences in his novel Candide, or Optimism - inaugurated the 
>>Enlightenment in Europe, the tradition of thinking which questioned 
>>the divine right of kings and priests to rule.
>>
>>While continental monarchs were overthrown by the post-disaster 
>>polemic of Voltaire, three centuries later, disaster relief has 
>>become a golden opportunity for modern elected leaders to shore up 
>>their reputations, playing politics while appearing above it. 
>>Consider Rudy Giuliani's live calls to the media from the New York 
>>Mayor's Office hours after 9/11, and his constant and reassuring 
>>presence on live television in the days and weeks afterwards, 
>>constantly answering calls and questions from shocked and angry 
>>citizens. While George W. Bush seized this moment of crisis to 
>>repackage the his presidency as a permanent war on terrorism, 
>>Giuliani will probably now make a bid to succeed Bush in the White 
>>House in 2008, with the image of him in the days and weeks after 
>>9/11 still vivid in the public memory of 9/11.
>>
>>Compare the response of our leaders and officials in Mumbai in the 
>>days and weeks since the flood disaster. Unlike in New York, the 
>>common man's desire for symbols to assuage their grief, and faces 
>>to address their complaints, were conspicuously absent. On 26/7, 
>>the BMC shut its offices early, and its engineers and officers 
>>waded home, while politicians didn't emerge into the limelight 
>>until days after the calamity. By then they were too late to do a 
>>Giuliani. For lack of braver faces, that weekend the newspapers 
>>ended up featuring two men on their front pages, both tottering on 
>>inflatable boats in the water-logged lanes of Kalina, on very 
>>different rescue missions. While Shiv Sena chief Balasaheb 
>>Thackeray was evacuating himself and his family, Police 
>>Commissioner A.N. Roy was helping stranded families and overseeing 
>>relief operations. It is a strange paradox of our democracy that 
>>our institutions remain faceless at the times when we most need 
>>them to respond with a human touch. In contrast, our leaders reach 
>>out the most when we least need them, staring down at us with their 
>>vote-bank agendas, while our institutions continue crumbling under 
>>their populist promises. Why do our institutions respond in this 
>>way?
>>
>>During a visit to India last week, economist Amartya Sen argued 
>>that democratic institutions such as regular elections and a 
>>watchful media have banished the endemic threat of famine, a 
>>spectre which had plagued the Indian countryside since colonial 
>>times. By focussing pressure on politicians to act early to prevent 
>>such disasters, popular franchise and a free press have effectively 
>>regulated the performance of public institutions. However, Sen 
>>argues, while democracy has banished famines from postcolonial 
>>India, the state has been singularly ineffective in dealing with 
>>chronic undernourishment and malnutrition (in which India lags 
>>behind sub-Saharan Africa). Real development, according to Sen, 
>>means changing everyday conditions such as basic health, 
>>environment, and livelihood. The analogy with our own situation in 
>>Mumbai is instructive. For the public of the city, the monsoon 
>>flooding has provided an impetus to action, which could result in 
>>much wider changes. But while we can force action in the wake of 
>>crises like famines and floods, transforming our everyday life and 
>>infrastructure requires a much longer term effort at changing 
>>institutions.
>>
>>The plague epidemic in Bombay in the 1896, which prompted an exodus 
>>of half the city's population, and the demolition of most of the 
>>inner city north of the Fort and Native Town, gave birth to the 
>>Bombay Improvement Trust (BIT) in 1898. In the thirty years of its 
>>existence - before being absorbed into the BMC in 1933 - the BIT 
>>doubled the number of roads in the city, acquired and reclaimed 
>>vast lands for development, and laid the foundations for land and 
>>housing markets on which Mumbai still operates. Many of our 
>>best-known roads - Hughes, Turner, and Cadell - still bear the 
>>names of former BIT Chairmen and Trustees who had them built. The 
>>origin of such wide-ranging reforms, and the political will to 
>>develop modern Mumbai, was not in some lofty vision plan, or in the 
>>public spirit of prominent citizens. The BIT was borne of the 
>>paranoid fear of the city's elites of disease spreading to their 
>>bungalows from overcrowded slums in the inner city. The plague was 
>>an airborne disease, and the cure prescribed was to allow the sea 
>>breezes into the inner city, through new arterial roads and 
>>well-spaced building and plots. After ruthless demolitions of 
>>tenements and seizure of lands in the name of public health and 
>>open spaces, the BIT planned and developed most of what we still 
>>recognise as the Island City from Chowpatty and Lamington Road to 
>>Shivaji Park and Five Gardens. Crisis gave birth to change, and 
>>transformed the city in the decades that followed.
>>
>>There is reason to hope that the recent floods in Mumbai, like the 
>>nineteenth century plague, could result in similarly wide-ranging 
>>reforms, in a city which has been lately preoccupied in debating 
>>its future as a global metropolis. There has been much attention 
>>given the public interest litigation (PIL) recently filed by 
>>prominent film makers and socialites on the failure of the state's 
>>disaster management plan. What has not been pointed out is that 
>>three additional PILs, filed earlier this year on much longer-term 
>>urban development issues, are about to be given their final 
>>hearings by the Bombay High Court and Supreme Court - on land 
>>planning for the Mill Lands, on the protection of coastal mangroves 
>>and wetlands, and on redevelopment of cessed buildings as 
>>high-rises. The recent infrastructural crisis will give a much 
>>greater relevance to these judgements, which impact policies meant 
>>at regulating the abuses of private builders, land speculators, and 
>>corrupt local authorities. Also on the cards is the National Urban 
>>Renewal Mission, a central Government programme for local urban 
>>bodies to reform through better implementation of laws already on 
>>the books, of which most citizens remain unaware. Most important 
>>among these laws are the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments on 
>>decentralisation of local decision-making to non-party ward 
>>committees, which municipal corporators and political parties have 
>>actively prevented from forming in the past five years in Mumbai. 
>>Ward committees would have been a much more effective mechanism for 
>>immediate relief during the floods, and a persistent watchdog on 
>>the local elected representatives and ward officers before and 
>>after the disaster.
>>
>>Long-term changes such as these are often improvised in the wake of 
>>disasters, unaware of the historical script they may be following, 
>>or their origins in immediate crises. But there are real reasons to 
>>be optimistic. It was his horror at the 1943 Bengal famine, and the 
>>flood of refugees sheltering in his childhood home in Calcutta, 
>>that prompted Amartya Sen's lifelong academic work on hunger. This 
>>won him the Nobel Prize more than fifty years later, when he is one 
>>of the most influential voices in policy debates on social 
>>development. The plague panic in colonial Bombay set in motion the 
>>formation of the modern city, through the agency of the BIT. Today, 
>>while everyone is raising their voices, we have yet to find our 
>>Sen, or even our Giuliani. We can, however, take hope from 
>>Voltaire's post-disaster philosophy of Enlightenment. His own 
>>literary response to the destruction of the medieval city of Lisbon 
>>in earthquake and fires scripted the next two hundred years of 
>>political change in Europe, and the birth of modern democracy. The 
>>protagonist of Candide stubbornly refuses to accept the 
>>explanations of the ruling priests and aristocracy that the 
>>disaster was ordained by either or God or Nature, mocking them with 
>>the repeated question - "is this the best of all possible worlds?" 
>>It is our own answers to this age-old question that will determine 
>>the future of our shared institutions and everyday lives in the 
>>city.
>>
>>
>>SHEKHAR KRISHNAN is an independent researcher with CRIT (Collective 
>>Research Initiatives Trust), Mumbai and is pursuing his doctorate 
>>in the Program in Science, Technology and Society at the 
>>Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
>>_____
>>
>>Shekhar Krishnan
>>9, Supriya, 2nd Floor
>>Plot 709, Parsee Colony Road no.4
>>Dadar, Mumbai 400014
>>India
>>
>>http://www.crit.org.in/members/shekhar