citizen matters emagazine 2013jan26

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For a rooF over our head

For a rooF over our head

Averting future Ejipuras Pg3 Who’s scared of ward

committees? pg4 Flower show, a brilliant work of

art pg5 Bengaluru’s CA sites are

‘Crorepathi Amenities’ pg6 CAG’s indictment of HDK and

Yeddy is gory in detail pg 9 Time to move out of caves and

itoilet train? pg 13

Pg14

Bulldozers and pipes – life takes a different meaning Pg23

Youth pour out to help Ejipura demolition affected Pg20

26-Jan-2013 CITIZEN MATTERS 3

OpiniOn

What can we do to make sure the kind of tragedy that we are

witnessing in Ejipura does not come back to haunt us again and again? Nothing short of a comprehensive review of the housing market will suffice, because there is a fundamental problem - the cost of land is so high that too many people are priced out of home-buying. Here are some things we can explore to overcome that.

1. Can the impact of 'land value' in housing projects be reduced?

The biggest stumbling block in cities is the scarcity of good quality land. As a result, land prices are extremely high relative to affordability levels. What are some of the ways in which land value can be reduced, or made a relatively small factor in overall property prices?

What is the feasibility of converting non-fertile (or even non-cultivated) agricultural land into land banks for housing? Can encroached land be reclaimed? Can land pricing be made more transparent?

2. Can 'rental housing' play a role in ensuring pucca homes for all?

The vast majority of the populace dreams of owning a home. But affordable housing doesn't only mean home ownership. In the absence of property ownership, could renting be a satisfactory option? Currently, there are over 11 million homes lying vacant in urban areas in India. What are the reasons for this? How can this situation be ameliorated?

3. Can housing guarantees be topped up by debt finance?

Governments at the central and

state level offer various sc/hemes such as VAMBAY and Rajiv Awas Yojna for guaranteed housing. In many cases, the houses on offer are not accepted by families. What are the reasons for this? Could alternate funding models be worked out, for example, that instead of the provision of a physical house, the government can provide cash, topped up by home loans provided by banks or other financial institutions?

4. Can innovation in construction help?

The construction industry has traditionally focused at higher-end segments and has not been very concerned about construction costs. With the real estate market undergoing a downturn, developers have been forced to look at affordable housing and consequently, how to innovate in terms of construction cost reduction. What are these innovations? And how could they help in lowering the costs of construction?

5. Can mandatory social housing investment by private developers create new options?

Can government create mandatory social housing programs involving private sector developers, incentivized suitably? What could those incentives be, and what form could they take? Could slum redevelopment measures be undertaken in conjunction with the private sector?

6. How can existing unused parcels of land in the city be tapped?

Can large tracts of urban land be identified and used? Do government

organizations have unused land banks that can be used for housing projects? How could these land banks be optimized for use in the creation of affordable housing?

7. How can government intervention help?

Could the government (at the central, state and local levels) use some of the following levers to improve the housing situation?

Permit higher FSI (Floor Space Index)

Tax land that is lying unused and undeveloped Improve land-use planning Enable the judicial system to solve land disputes quickly

Lower taxes for construction materials

Subsidize new technologies used in affordable housing

Lower taxes based on employment generated

Lower loan rates for developers undertaking affordable housing projects

Provide exemptions or lowering of duties (eg registration) for customers of affordable housing

Provide single-window facilities and quicker clearances for affordable housing projects

These are the contours of the approach I'm taking to solving this problem. I've been talking to both the Central and State governments to see how many pieces of these can be moved, so that we begin to work on a long-term solution, which

at least has a chance of averting future Ejipuras.

Ashwin MAhesh is a member of Lok

satta Party, the views expressed here are his

own.

averting future ejipuras

4 CITIZEN MATTERS 26-Jan-2013

The ruckus over the formation of ward committees is exposing the failures of

city governance in a big way, and pointing to its main cause - the exclusion of citizens from decision-making. But that's not all. It is also exposing the hollowness of the legislative space, which also needs to be urgently fixed.

I am told that the Bommanahalli MLA opposes the formation of ward committees. I don't want to pick on one person, but let's look at the facts objectively. No BJP MLA should ever say that they're against ward committees. Why? Because they were the ones who voted for the law that created ward committees in the first place.

In 1992, the Government of India passed the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act, instituting a framework for city governance in it. The two most important aspects of this framework (separation of planning and execution, citizen participation in decision making) were ignored by the state governments for almost 15 years. Politicians at all levels were opposed to bringing citizens too close to government.

Then came JNNURM. Some people had the bright idea that they would dangle a big chunk of Central funds in front of city governments, in exchange for reforms in governance. But what actually happened? State governments wrote promisory notes to the Centre, agreeing that they would implement the reforms. The Centre in turn treated that promise as sufficient, and released all the money. And the promises to reform governance were quietly forgotten.

Then some of us in civil society pushed JNURM to account for the money that it has released so far, and to show what reforms have been carried out. That

worked to some extent - the Ministry of Urban Development at the Centre decided that it would 'withhold funds' from cities that did not fulfill their promises.

And under this threat, the Karnataka government also decided to pass the Community Participation Law (it is formally called Karnataka Municipal Corporations (Amendment) Act, 2011). That happened in January 2011. The idea of ward committees and area sabhas, similar to gram sabhas in the panchayats became enshrined in law. But there was a catch - two catches, actually.

One, although the law was passed in the name of 'community participation' it included a clause that gives 'veto power' in all ward committtee meetings to the corporator. This is completely contradictory to the JNNURM guideline, but once again the Centre went ahead and released funds, wink-winking at the goal.

The second catch was simply blatant. Even after passage of the law, the government did not constitute ward committees. The law is clear that ward committees are to be constituted within two months of the BBMP election, that happened in March-April 2010. We are almost three years away, but still we don't have the ward committees in place.

Then came the Solid Waste Management crisis, and the public-interest litigation, in which I have impleaded myself too (on behalf of Loksatta party). During the ongoing hearings in this case, the judges were informed by the lawyers that if the ward committees had been in place, it would have been so much easier to educate citizens about the advantages of segregating waste at home. The judge did a bit of probing, figured out that BBMP and the Urban Development Department had simply been delaying this exercise,

Who’s scared of ward committees?

ideas at WOrk


and came down on them like a tonne of bricks, ordering the ward committees to be constituted within a week.

That's why we are in the scramble. As for MLAs who oppose ward committees, they should be able to explain a few things. (a) Why did you vote for it, then? (b) Did you place your opposition on record at the time the bill was moved in Assembly? (c) Considering that the law requires ward committees to be established, what does it mean to say that you don't think it's necessary? Is it not necessary to follow the law?

I know the answers even as I raise the questions. In political parties, it is no longer permissible for individual members to have their opinions and vote accordingly in Assembly or Parliament. They have to follow the party line, or they will be expelled - that is the anti-defection law, as it stands. By equating all differences of opinion with dissent, the parties have killed off the meaning of the legislatures. (This is one reason why Loksatta's party constitution does not allow the use of the party whip in legislatures - we believe that elected representatives should have the right to use their judgement too, and not be bound by a single party line on all issues).

What is the solution? Political parties can reform themselves, if they choose to, by allowing their MLAs and MPs to vote their conscience on all bills (except confidence motions, perhaps). In parallel, we are pushing for this in the courts. Only when the elected representative is freed to act on behalf of his constituents can we really have meaningful democracy.

Ashwin MAhesh is a member of Lok satta Party, the views expressed here are his own.

Flower show, a brilliant work of art

A Bangalorean visits the Lalbagh Flower show and finds much joy and photo ops.

I would like to share my joy and happiness on visiting the

Lalbagh Flower Show organised by the Horticultural Department of Government of Karnataka.

Every year, they focus on a theme - this year the idea was to celebrate Republic Day and the 150th Birth Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda. The department has put in a great deal of hard work in the excellent arrangement of flowers, vegetables and potted plants.

The show was inaugurated on January 18th and is open till January 28th.

Feel free to share the pictures

with your friends and relatives so that everybody enjoys the beauty of Mother Nature seen at Bangalore twice a year.

This year, there is a parking problem as no vehicles can enter the garden area. Visitors have to park their vehicles elsewhere and walk to the venue. Despite this, the visit is worth as such flower arrangements are rare. Congratulations to the Horticultural Department team for such a fantastic show.

srinivAsAn s is a resident of Chikkallasandra.

Pic: S Srinivasan


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If the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) goes into a

government authority's books, you might expect a hundred scams to emerge. This, especially if it has to do with a land authority in Bengaluru.

Bus stands, schools, hospitals, markets and other public amenities in the city usually come up on Civic Amenity sites. Such sites are allotted by BDA to Trusts or government agencies, for development. But many of these sites have been misused for personal profit, or allotted illegally. This was revealed by a report last month by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), Karnataka. Many CA sites remain abandoned or misused, leading to lack of civic amenities in many areas.

During the first week after the CAG report came out, the dailies carried several individual stories from the report. This Citizen Matters article is an indepth look at the overall scale of BDA's wrongful CA allottments, as exposed by the CAG.

Cases in the report show how easily BDA has helped select groups benefit, to the tune of crores of rupees. This is the same BDA which

makes the general public wait for decades for a site. Those who illegally benefited include religious and educational trusts to media houses.

One glaring example is that of Siddharth Vihara Trust, whose Founder-Chairman is Mallikarjun Kharge, Union Minister for Labour and Employment. The Trust was

caG repOrt On Bda

Bengaluru’s Ca sites are ‘Crorepathi amenities’The scale of the Karnataka government’s wrongful allocation game with capital’s land chunks is mindboggling. Hundreds of crores of rupees were lost to the exchequer in recent times.

Some of the cases of violation marked on the map. The size of each blue marker corresponds to the estimated loss.


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leased prime land - a 8125 sq m CA site in Banashankari 6th stage - to start an educational institution.

The trust had to pay Rs 2.03 cr as lease amount (for a 30-year-lease), but it asked for concession on grounds that it was managed by SC/ST members. BDA Commissioner at the time, Bharat Lal Meena, agreed, and halved the payment.

Actually concession could have been given only if the Trust works exclusively for SC/ST community, and not because it is managed by SC/ST members. Besides, the concession was given to the Trust even before government brought in this provision. BDA lost over Rs 1 cr in this case. BDA further obliged when the trust asked for an alternate site saying that the current site was in an underdeveloped layout. Though there is no provision to give alternate CA sites, BDA gave a new site - this too with 50% concession - in the well-developed BTM 4th stage.

In another case, BDA gave a 5151 sq m site to Bennett Coleman and Co (which owns the national newspaper Times of India), for a corporate office. This site, in Manyatha Promoters Layout in Rachenahalli, was allotted based on directions of the then-Chief Minister B S Yedyurappa. Allotting CA site for a private corporate office is illegal. It was also done slyly, without notifying public. Thirdly, government cannot order an allotment directly; only a committee called CASAC (CA Sites Allotment Committee) - headed by BDA Chairman - can allot sites.

New Cambridge Educational Trust, Rashtreeya Shikshana Samithi Trust (which owns RV Group of educational institutions) and Suchitra Cine Trust in Banashankari, are others who got illegal sites or financial favours from BDA.

Here is a roundup of the different ways in which CA sites were misused:

No justification for allotting sites

The CASAC should have a reason for selecting one allottee from among many applicants. In all the CA site allotments made in 2007-12, CASAC did not give any reason for selecting allottees.

Sites misused for commercial purpose

Only from a sample that CAG looked at, it found misuse in eight cases. All violations had been reported long back by BDA's own engineers, but no action was taken.

In Vasanth Nagar, a 1100 sq m CA site was allotted for a school hostel. Now, in addition to the hostel, there is a commercial complex here. The allottee is getting revenue of about Rs 5 lakh from this per month, while paying monthly lease of Rs 12 (twelve) to BDA. Other cases include building a gas godown in the site allotted for a Kannada medium school, building a Kalyana Mantapa instead of a temple, etc.

Lease on sites not renewed

Out of the total 1234 CA sites, lease was not renewed for 71 sites

for many years. Sixty of these are occupied by private organisations; among these are organisations that have not renewed lease even 32 years after its expiry. BDA is supposed to take back the land in case of non-renewal, but this was not done. BDA's loss in this case, is Rs 43 cr.

Not allotting sites at all

BDA lost another Rs 192 cr by not allotting CA sites at all. The oldest of these sites is in HAL 3rd stage layout, formed in 1975. Some 9 lakh sq m land is remaining unused in the city this way. Not allotting the sites also led to lack of civic amenities in these areas. The highest number of unallotted sites are in west division. About 1.45 lakh sq m land (spread across 29 CA sites) are stuck in court cases, but BDA did not even have details about how long the cases had been going on.

nAvyA P K is senior staff Journalist at Citizen Matters.

For more details on the cases goto

www.citizenmatters.in/articles/view/4815

1) BDA illegally leased CA sites for Rs 4.8 cr to a builder in Yeshwanthpur, who then refused to pay up. Builder had relinquished these sites in the complex to BDA as per rules, but later asked the land back to build a club house, in 2007. According to the rules then, CA sites could not be given back to builder. But based on Yedyurappa government’s order, BDA allotted the land to builder. After getting the land, the builder decided not to pay. BDA could not demand payment as allotment itself was illegal. The case is in court now.

2) BDA allotted CA site of 720 sq m to a Society, but later found that this site had been previously allotted to someone else. BDA offered an alternate site, which the Society refused saying that the site was too far. BDA then gave new sites in two layouts, which combined, was 32% bigger than the first site. Later it was found that one of these sites had been marked for a hospital; the Layout Association there has asked BDA to cancel the allotment again.

OtheR gOOgLieS BY BDA


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caG repOrt On Bda

CaG’s indictment of hdK and Yeddy is gory in detail

You get a BDA site after years of waiting. You build a house. Then, suddenly, the chief minister takes sites away and returns land to the former owners who then sell it to get rich. Welcome to Karnataka, where Bengaluru is our politicians’real estate playground.

"We've waited 16 years and it's with several attempts that we've been allotted the

site. We've also also availed of bank loans for construction of houses and have been regularly paying property taxes to BDA", was an appeal made by a plot owner to the then chief minister B S Yeddyurappa. This appeal was made by a number of BDA site allottees in December 2010, requesting Yeddyurappa to cancel denotification of the land on which their sites stood, in JP Nagar VIII phase.

Bangaloreans swear by BDA sites and it would not be an exaggeration to term it as an aspiration for many to own a BDA site. If you are cheated of property by a private party you have the government and the law to turn to. But if you have to stand up against the chief minister itself then you could be assured that it's not going to be a 'happy ending'.

In a report released for Karnataka last month, the CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General of India) has documented cases of illegal and irregular denotifications of land acquired for layouts by BDA. In all cases mentioned in the report, BDA has had to give in to the powers of the ruling state government and suffer huge losses. CAG reviewed cases of irregular denotification

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by successive governments of Karnataka between 2007-12. In the same report, CAG also exposed the wrongdoing at BDA and the state government on Civic Amenity (CA) sites in Bangalore.

The CAG's indicting report has documented case after case of formerly acquired land being returned to original landowners through wrongful use of the denotification process by chief ministers B S Yeddyurappa and H D Kumaraswamy. The returns have happened after BDA has often developed the land into a layout, allotted sites to citizens, and roads laid. Once returned, the original landowners have turned around and sold the land.

During the first week after the report came out in December, city dailies carried several individual stories. This Citizen Matters story on the CAG's denotification expose is an in depth look at what the CAG found out. In the process, we illuminate the so-called ‘denotification' process, which was much in the news when former Lokayukta Santosh Hegde went after former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa.

To understand why the CAG has called this illegal, irregular and plain wrong, a little explanation on the land acquisition process and the government's use of its notification and denotification powers is necessary.

Land acquisition

Once a parcel of land around Bengaluru has been identified by BDA for developmental purposes, the process necessary approvals and acquisition begins. Acquisition of land is governed by the Land Acquisition Act, 1894. Compliance with section 16(1) of the Land Acquisition Act (see box) signifies the start of layout formation on site.

‘Notification' is part of the acquisition process. It begins with

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The legal framework provided by the BDA Act for acquisition of land for developmental schemes is shown below:

Sec 15: Vests power in the BDA to draw up a Development Scheme for the development of the Bangalore Metropolitan area.

Sec 17: When a development scheme has been prepared, the BDA is to draw up a notification (preliminary notification) specifying, inter alia, the land which is proposed to be acquired and the land in regard to which a betterment tax may be levied.

Sec 18: BDA shall submit the scheme to the Government for sanction and the Government may sanction the scheme after considering the proposal.

Sec 19: Upon sanction of the scheme, the Government shall publish in the official Gazette a declaration (final notification) stating the fact of such sanction and that land is required for a public purpose.

Sec 27: Where within a period of five years from the date of the final notification, BDA fails to execute the scheme substantially, the scheme shall lapse.

Sec 36: The acquisition of land under the BDA Act shall be regulated by the provisions, as far as they are applicable, of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (LA Act). After publication of the final notification under the BDA Act, the acquisition will be governed by the provisions in the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (LA Act). The

following provisions in the LA Act deal with the subsequent stages of acquisition of land by BDA.

Sec 11: Requires the Deputy Commissioner to make an award of compensation for the land acquired after hearing objections, if any, from all the persons interested in the land.

Sec 16(1): Empowers the Deputy Commissioner to take possession of the land after making an award under Section 11 and the land shall thereupon vest absolutely in the BDA, free from all encumbrances.

Sec 16(2): Requires the Deputy Commissioner to notify in the official Gazette the fact of such taking possession.

Sec 31: Requires the DC to tender payment of compensation to the interested persons entitled thereto or to deposit the amount of compensation in the Court in cases, where the interested persons have not consented to receive it or where there are no persons competent to alienate the land or there is a dispute to the title of the land etc.

Sec 48(1): Empowers the government to withdraw acquisition proceedings of any land of which possession has not been taken. Thus, if possession of land has been taken following the due procedure under the LA Act, Government has no power to withdraw from acquisition proceedings. This position has been upheld by the Supreme Court and the High Court of Karnataka.

BDA's process of layout formation and the Land Acquisition Act


BDA identifying a piece of land and submitting its proposal to develop it (for public purposes, like a residential layout) to the state government for its approval. With the government's sanction, the district's Deputy Commissioner (DC) makes the required compensation for the land after hearing objections, if any, from all persons interested in the land. The DC also ensures that land is clear of all court cases if any (Section 11 of LA, Act).

At this point, the land stands ‘notified' and is regulated by the LA Act. BDA has now taken possession of the land. BDA is the final authority on the land, and the law protects this. After notification, the government cannot reclaim the land or the land cannot be returned to the original land owners even if the land is not used for public purposes by BDA. BDA

retains final ownership.Subsequent to this, section

16(2) of the act requires the Deputy Commissioner to notify in the official gazette the fact of such taking possession. However, note this: the government cannot quote the non-fulfillment of this section in order to reverse the acquisition proceedings. In any event the scope of notification under Sec 16(2) was to recognise that the land had

been acquired and possession taken and thereby vesting of the land in the government was complete, i.e., there was formal closure of the acquisition process. This is the crux of the matter in many of the cases of wrongdoing the CAG has found.

Denotification

Denotification of land means that the government can withdraw the acquisition proceedings and the

land returns to its former owner. As per law, this needs to happen before the DC awards the compensations and announces the change in ownership of land to the BDA.

In addition, denotification decisions are taken through a ‘denotification committee', which will investigate the case and advise the government on the steps to be taken.

The CAG has pointed in its analysis that as per law, denotifications cannot happen after acquisition has proceeded and land ownership has been vested in the BDA.

What successive chief ministers have been doing

The CAG has exposed that though the state government had constituted a denotification committee for every case in and around Bangalore, the government went ahead and denotified land measuring 610 acres and 16.5 guntas during 2007-12 without referring the cases to the committee.

Not only that, it gets worse. In

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CAg had placed its report before the legislative assembly, at the winter session in Belgaum held on December 5th-13th. Opposition parties - Congress and JD(S) - had demanded that the session be extended by a day to discuss this report and other issues. But Speaker K g Bopaiah had turned down the request, and because of this Congress and JD(S) had boycotted the last day of the session.Pictures of layouts prepared by

BDA. Src:bdabangalore.org.

Pic: yeddyurappa.in


seven cases, the state government irregularly denotified 16 acres and 15.2 guntas in four layouts between October 2007 and September 2010 after land had been taken possession of and developed by BDA. "These denotifications had been to follow orders of the incumbent chief ministers who disregarded the well settled law that land, once taken possession of, could not be denotified", says the CAG in its damning report.

There's more. The CAG exposed that in three of these cases, denotifications had been done in layouts where sites formed on the denotified land had already been allotted to the general public. In four cases, the denotified land was subsequently sold to other persons. This is "subversion of the acquisition process culminating in the denotifications had been done only to facilitate the sale of the land acquired for public purpose", says the CAG.

Catalogue of crafty wrongdoing

The nation's supreme auditor did not stop there. CAG took the trouble to classify the government's illegal decisions further.

Quick denotification, quick resaleIn six of the seven cases

denotification happened within a short span of about 1-3 months. The speedy process meant that the credibility of the parties (previous landowners) in whose favour the denotification was done or the reasons for denotification were not duly investigated, says the CAG.

In four of the cases the

landowners sold their land to other persons, almost immediately after denotification.

Legally invalid reasonsIn four out of seven cases,

the CM demanded and issued d e n o t i f i c a t i o n order stating non-compliance of section 16(2) of the LA act. However the law itself makes it clear that section 16(2) is only a formality and has no legal bearing with respect to possession of land. I.e., the chief ministers' use of non- compliance on a formal clause, even though

acquisition was completed, and land transferred to the BDA, was found malafide by the CAG.

Develop the land with public money, then return it!

Former landowners submitted representations to the chief minister requesting for denotification in 6 out of 7 cases, nearly 7-10 years after BDA legally acquired land (passing of the section 16(1)). In effect, the denotification handed over the developed land with facilities like electricity, roads, water connection etc put in place by BDA, back to original owners.

CAG has been very detailed and legal in expose in the report. The choice of language has been clear. "Once land notified for public purpose has been taken possession of under Section 16 (1) of the LA Act with the recording of a memorandum or Panchanama by the Land Acquisition Officer in the presence of witnesses signed by him/them, the Government has no powers to withdraw the acquisition

proceedings under the LA Act, even if publication under Section 16 (2) had not been issued", says the CAG.

In effect it has termed all the returns of lands in the cases it has investigated as illegal and unlawful.

shAMALA KittAne is a Bangalore-based writer.

Pic: facebook.com/hdkumaraswamy

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OpiniOn

If kids could learn their ABCs from mummy's smartphone,

communicate with Talking Tom and hone their drawing skills with innumerable doodling apps, could this be far behind? An American firm has unveiled a new gadget at a tech meet called iPotty. Yes, it is very imaginatively named that, lest parents miss the point. iPotty is basically a potty seat with an iPad holder and waterproof cover, which gives the whole game of toilet training a technical spin. Using books to divert your toddler's attention while you make him stay put long enough to do the job? Or are you still one of those dinosaur-age parents who play games like Pat-a-cake and Peek-a-boo when they wish to engage or distract children?

Well it's time to come out of the caves clearly. The iPotty promises to be your saviour in this long winded and not very exciting task. I mean how many re-reads of Goldilocks or reruns of "I'm a little teapot" could you do anyway? iPotty would relieve you of the drudgery and entertain the child with games and fun stuff. Who knows, it may even teach your child to identify one to ten before he's learnt to tell you he has to go to the loo.

Since I'm clearly of the dinosaur variety, I decided to ask some people with kids that age if they'd ever consider an iPad-friendly potty seat. Or if they have ever taken the help

of a gizmo or Smartphone app to get their toddlers to do something.

Turns out when it comes to the iPotty, most are dinosaurs like me. Apps are a different matter altogether and depend on the parents' interest and need and parenting philosophy. A friend with a six month old thinks that in future she would be willing to use an app that makes her life simpler than one that teaches her kid to do things. She's all praise for the ‘WhatToExpect Log App' that tracks the time and duration of her son's feeds and naps.

A cousin adds that while she diligently used the same app in the first few months of her baby's life (despite her mother's sniggers), over time, instinct and not the app, is what took over.

Some prefer to stay away. As long as they can. "I always fight these conflicting emotions of practicality, love for the old-world and materialism, where I feel a natural and unobtrusive way of learning that helps the child focus is the best way to develop. Dependency on any gadget can break a child's focus and may distract her/him," says Bhavana, mom to an energetic toddler. "Mental multitasking is inevitable," she feels, "but why 'teach' it?"

No one is saying no either, because there are times when apps and gadgets do make your life comfortable, distract baby and give you that much needed break.

It's better to have a silent baby on a three-hour flight than a cranky one. And no, I'm not going the ‘TV as babysitter' way. You don't need to make phones and iPads and electronic devices his only friend. Mix it up with books, a few crayons and paper instead.

In fact, if you Google the topic and read what experts (paediatricians, counselors) have to say, most think that gadgets and apps are interactive and can therefore engage the child and work as excellent learning supplements. However, when it comes to thinking, questioning and encouraging creativity in a child, there are varying opinions, mostly not in favour of too much iExposure!

Most people I know, still seem to teach their children basics like numbers and alphabets the old fashioned way. But as one of them very practically puts it, technology is a part of our lives and it's going to be incorporated in some way or the other, in our children's lives too. The question we need to ask ourselves is how soon, how often and for what? Now that is a long thread for another day altogether.

reshMi ChAKrABorty is a features writer and mother of a

6-year-old and a one year old. she lives near Bannerghatta

road.

For a generation of kids adroitly handling mummy’s smartphone, gadgets could well help with life skills training, but are there enough takers? Reshmi Chakraborty shares her findings.

GadGets FOr parentinG

Time to move out of caves and itoilet train?


Pic: Julie McGuire

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Hundreds of tin-shed slum homes in Ejipura near Koramangala were razed down in two days. Shattered residents have been promised houses 15 km way, though that project itself is yet to start.

eJipura eWs Quarters saGa

hundreds of ejipura slum residents thrown out of homes

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A BBMP demolition drive that began on Friday January 18th at Ejipura's EWS slum quarters, near Koramangala in south

Bengaluru has driven up tensions and trauma. Around 200 people protested at BBMP head office on Saturday morning. The protesters included around 25 EWS quarters residents, along with residents from slums across the city who came to pledge support, most of them women. Around 30 Dalit organisations supported the protest. The quarters are a ramshackle bunch of tin-sheds.

On Saturday noon, five activists from among the protesters met BBMP Commissioner H Siddaiah. The activists say that Siddaiah gave them a verbal assurance that demolition would be stopped temporarily, for about two months. "We asked for two months because children in the slums have to complete their annual exams," said one of the activists, Rajendra Prabhakar. The activists claim that Siddaiah called BBMP Engineer-in-Chief B T Ramesh right in front of them, and had ordered him to stop the demolition. No written order was issued though.

The protesters went back to Ejipura, only to find that demolition was continuing. Ramesh, who is monitoring demolition in the site, told Citizen Matters that demolition cannot be stopped without a written order. At the time this article was published, the activists had gone back to the BBMP office to get the written order, but Siddaiah was not available in his office. Meanwhile, demolition is continuing in the slum in full swing.

Protests had intensified in the morning at BBMP office, after police action and violence escalated further at the EWS colony. On Saturday morning at around 8.30, women and children were detained when they sat on the road leading into the EWS quarters, to prevent demolition. Two activists who were leading the protest - Kaveri Indira and Gee Ameena Suleiman - were dragged into the police van. After this, other women who were protesting, courted arrest.

While police said that only around 25 were detained, residents and activists said that some 50, including children, were taken. Officers at Banashankari women's police station, where the women were taken, refused to give information.

BBMP Engineer-in-Chief B T Ramesh said that 500 houses were demolished on Friday, and that the rest may be demolished on Saturday. Overall, 900 families are going to be out on the streets.

Tensions began earlier in the week

Earlier, January 18th, Friday morning started with a shock for residents of the slum. On Thursday, local MLA N A Haris had come to the quarters and announced that all houses were going to be razed down. He had said that the residents have only 48 hours ie., by Saturday morning they should vacate.

But bulldozers came to the quarters without warning, on Friday morning. When residents resisted, they were beaten by the police. Seven residents - five women and two men - were detained and sent away in a police van. They were released in

in FOcus

Pic: Julie McGuire


in FOcus

the evening only.Over 1000 families staying here have to make way for a EWS

quarters and a mall to be jointly developed by BBMP and Maverick Holdings (which owns Garuda mall near Brigade Road). Of the 15 acres of land here, almost one half is reserved for EWS flats, and the other half will have a mall. While some residents are legally qualified to get flats in the new EWS quarters, 900 families are going to be out on the streets.

At least a hundred policemen were in the area on Friday morning, chasing hundreds of men and women who dared to resist. While buildings were being demolished, police wielded their lathis and forced residents to retreat to a corner.

Initially residents were told that only the houses of those who had willingly vacated, would be demolished immediately. But in some cases, the families were asked to collect their belongings and move out quickly while their houses were being pulled down. B T Ramesh, BBMP Engineer-in-Chief, told Citizen Matters that "such things could happen in one or two cases".

By Friday noon, all residents were told to collect their belongings and sit outside their houses. BBMP and the police told Citizen Matters that the demolition will continue until the entire area is vacated, and that no extra time will be given to residents.

Residents' main concern is that they have nowhere to go in such a short time. They have been promised houses in Sulekunte village along Sarjapur Road. Sulekunte village is outside city limits, in the southeastern outskirts of Bengaluru, some 15 kms away from EWS quarters. The long distance means that residents would have to spend a lot for their commute to the city daily, for work. Karnataka Slum Development Board (KSDB) is supposed to build apartments for the 900 families in a 5-acre plot there.

B T Ramesh says that the Sulekunte project will be ready in the next one and a half years only, and that until then residents will have to stay somewhere else on rent. But residents earn too little, and finding a house for rent means that they would have to shell out Rs 4000-5000 as monthly rent, and around Rs 50,000 as advance

UpDAteD 20th JAnUARY: Of the

protesters detained Saturday, 21 have been

remanded in judicial custody. This includes

two activists, Kaveri indira and gee Amina

Suleiman, and 19 women residents of

eWS quarters. Babu Rajendra prasad, ACp

Bangalore South, confirmed this. All

21 are in parappana Agrahara Central Jail

now.


in FOcus

payment.Most families here earn about

Rs 150-200 per day, and there are at least four members in most families. For them, the monthly rent would be almost equal to or higher than their earnings, and there is no way they can pay the advance amounts. Currently some residents are not paying any rent, while others are paying Rs 1000-1500 as rent to original house owners.

Moreover, residents say they are not sure if the Sulikunte project even exists. They have no details about it, and are skeptical that the project would be completed in stipulated time even if it is taken up. But now that there is no option, many are ready to take the offer. "There is no place to go, and I don't

know what to do. If I don't agree to go to Sulikunte, I may not get any housing at all," says Yasmeen, 49. Until recently, most residents had resolved not to vacate. Many are not so sure anymore.

Residents' case in court

To readers unfamiiar with the Ejipura EWS saga, all this talk of quarters, residents and the new Maverick Holdings' project may seem confusing. It all began with the promise of new housing in 2004 to the original residents here (allottees). Construction of that new housing is about to begin now.

There are two categories of people in the present quarters - one, those who had originally bought the rights to the new quarters from

BBMP, and second, those who paid original allottees to get power of attorney or are staying on rent. It is the second category of people who are being forcefully evicted now.

Some people in the first category - i.e., original allottees - had filed a case earlier in High Court. HC ruled last August that BBMP and Maverick should go ahead with the project and that only original allottees should be given the new flats. Court also ordered Maverick Holdings to pay Rs 30,000 to the original allottees still staying in the quarters, as compensation. Maverick has paid around 100 people already and says a 100 more may be paid.

This order did not recognise those who are staying on rent, and hence they have no rights on the

Pic: Julie McGuire


in FOcus

land now. These residents have filed a case in High Court recently saying that their issues were not mentioned in the earlier case, and that they should also be given flats in the same area. Many of them had been staying here for long, some for over 15 years.

They point to BBMP Council's resolution in mid-2000s saying that both original allottees and other residents will be given new flats. BBMP had issued ‘guruthina chittis' (ID cards) to the non-allottees living here as proof of residence. Residents have been holding dharnas over the last few months, and have been trying to get a stay order on the eviction, through their case in the HC.

Rajendra Prabhakar of the

activist group PUCL (People's Union for Civil Liberties) claims that BBMP's sudden action now, is because it has received notice from the court yesterday to appear on the residents' case. PUCL had helped residents file the case.

BBMP officials have tried to evict residents from this land many times, after court's earlier August order. This time, while Haris asked residents to move out on Thursday, Slum Board officials had brought biometric cards with them. These cards are given to those who have guruthina chittis. Non-owner residents can use the biometric card as proof, to get flats in Sulikunte later.

Coercion to collect cards

On Thursday, at the end of the day, only 41 residents out of 900 had collected their biometric cards from Slum Board. This is despite the ultimatum given to residents, that they will lose both their houses plus claim to the Sulikunte flat, if they do not collect the card.

The houses of those who had collected the card, were soon demolished. Most residents were worried about what to do, while BBMP officials seemed to inflate the numbers of those who had collected the cards.

While only 41 had collected the cards as per Slum Board's list, Ramesh told Citizen Matters that 100 had collected the cards and that their houses were demolished. When the discrepancy was pointed out, Ramesh gave another version, that the other 60 houses were demolished because they were vacant. G S Balaji, Maverick Holding's CFO for this project, who was at the site, gave another version - that all the demolished 100 houses belonged to original allottees who had vacated earlier.

Ramesh said that BBMP will contribute 10% of the cost of

the Sulikunte project, and hence residents will not have to pay anything to the Slum Board, to get those flats. (10-12% of the cost is what residents usually have to pay Slum Board to get a house). Ramesh says that central government is also contributing to the project, and that the project is awaiting central government's approval now.

The biometric card drive is continuing. Residents say that they want more time at least, but are scared to speak to officials. "They are not giving us the opportunity to talk. We don't want to go and get beaten by the police. If I was given a week's time, I could have tried to find a house," says Babu, 46, an auto driver.

A few residents support eviction

There are a few residents supporting the eviction, who are supporters of MLA Haris. Ajmal Pasha, 30, a car driver, says that residents should have moved out much earlier. Pasha himself has moved out. "The activists here fooled the people saying that they can get back land through dharnas and the court case. Now it has come to this. The MLA fought so hard for us and got us the land in Sulikunte." He says that residents should have saved money instead of complaining that they have nowhere to go now.

Another supporter of Haris, named Riyaz, said that he already moved out to a house in Lakkasandra. Both Pasha and Riyaz have collected their biometric cards and plan to move to new flats in Sulikunte. However there seemed to be very few people like them, who could vacate as they were financially better off.

The fate of those who are being forced out, is a big question mark now.

nAvyA P K is senior staff Journalist at Citizen Matters.


Aruna Chandrasekhar's phone hasn't stopped ringing since

Tuesday evening. Her desperate call for relief for people at Ejipura had actually reached a significant number of people. This, thanks to involved citizens reaching out through their personal and social networks.

Aruna, in her twenties, is a freelance photographer and writer has long been involved in social activism, particularly in environmental and mining-related issues. On the morning of January 18th, her friend and activist Kaveri Indira Rajaraman, a post-doctoral fellow at the Indian

Institute of Science, called her. Kaveri has been fighting for the rights of those residing in Ejipura EWS (Economically Weaker Section) quarters for quite some time. Ejjipura is adjacent to Koramangala in south Bengaluru.

Aruna rushed to the site immediately and has been there throughout the traumatic developments, coordinating relief efforts near the razed site where the EWS Quarters once stood. The people who have not been able to find any alternative settlement are now spending their days and nights in the open.

BBMP's demolition drive of last

week, which has seen thousands from Ejipura's EWS slum quarters near Koramangala rendered homeless overnight, has sparked off a humanitarian crisis of immense proportion. As the debate continues over the legitimacy of such a drive and the brutality of the state, despair and utter dejection is the dominant mood not just among those affected but among many who wonder aloud if this is all that the economically weak can expect from the state by way of their fundamental right to shelter.

However, if there is any glimmer of hope in all this, it comes from the completely spontaneous and

Features

BBMp deMOLitiOn driVe at eJipura

Youth pour out to help ejipura demolition affected

The youth in Bengaluru have shown that they do not come out only for protesting against corruption or gang-rape. This time, Ejipura’s slum dwellers, dumped in the streets by BBMP, are getting their support.


Features

Pics: Sang Tombing Thomte

voluntary outburst of support and relief efforts undertaken not just by social activists but also organizations, student bodies and ordinary individuals moved by the plight of hundreds of women and children without access to food, drinking water, sanitation facilities and medical attention.

People from all walks of life have poured in at the site to help in whatever way they can and volunteers have been working tirelessly since Saturday to ensure that basic necessities reach the displaced. Simply ensuring that all these families can have two or three meals a day has been a huge exercise in logistics and coordination and it is only because citizens have joined hands with the volunteers on site that this has been possible so far.

"We have been trying to arrange for food


packets, water and blankets and have received a huge response. Organizations like Akshaya Patra had also pitched in for the first few days but such is the dimension of the crisis, that no matter how much we get, it is not enough," says Aruna.

Deeply affected by the abysmal conditions in which the evicted have been living, and especially by the death of an old woman on Tuesday, possibly from cold and prolonged lack of nutrition, Aruna sounded desperate when we first spoke to her on Wednesday morning. "People don't have drinking water here, women don't have access to toilets, students can't go to school or college, many fear losing their livelihoods as they haven't been able to go to work; it's a crisis of unimaginable proportion. We desperately need blankets to battle the night chill. Otherwise there may be more casualties..."

Clearly, the call for help did not go unheeded as by Wednesday night, the volunteers had received close to 400 blankets from various quarters - residents of Defence Colony, groups of IT professionals as well as individuals. A few doctors were also on the site, attending to many who need medical attention. Aruna also mentions a group of 50-60 students from St Joseph's who have been visiting over the past couple of days, helping with distribution and other needs on the ground.

The extent of student participation in volunteering efforts has also been a pleasant surprise for Arati Chokshi, an activist with the Karnataka People's Union for Civil Liberties who cannot hold back her emotion as she talks of the plight of the people and the brutal indifference of the state. But in the gloom and despondency of the situation, what gives her hope is the significant number of students that she has met at the site, who have

been milling around, volunteering to help in whatever way they can.

One such student from the Azim Premji University, who had initially come with her friends only to gauge the realities of the issue, said that the condition of the people and the sheer amount of work and help needed on the ground has stirred her so much that she cannot stop herself from coming back repeatedly.

Arati also gushes at the relentless efforts of activists like Venkat and Arif, who have devoted every moment of the last few days, trying to help the residents. "It is not just their work in arranging for funds for rentals or relief material, their deep personal involvement and connect with the affected is what gives me hope for humanity," says Arati.

However, despite the show of support and active volunteering from people across the city, the crisis is far from resolution. "We still need help with food and medicines, for these are not one-time needs. The challenge of continuing to provide meals for the 700 odd people who still haven't found any place to go to is a huge one," she points out.

Another volunteer, Mayank Rungta, a tech professional, who has been striving untiringly to mobilise people support and voluntary efforts echoes the need for continued monetary contributions for food and blankets as well as for physical presence, especially during lunch and dinner hours.

Arati is more concerned about the larger issue at stake - arrangement of alternative accommodation for the displaced. With the state unwilling to bend in the least, and many of the families entirely lacking in resources to arrange for rentals, funds mobilization is a huge challenge.

While a group of people, whose identity is yet to be confirmed, have pooled in money and are

donating it through the mosque to people who have found rental accommodation, there has been some hesitation on the part of many to accept this. Arati is working hard to see what can be done to garner more funds. "I desperately appeal to Bangaloreans to donate for this," she says as she fears that persistence of the situation could take a grave humanitarian toll in the long run. As a High Court hearing on the petition filed by a section of the occupants comes up next week, a lot of advocacy and legal research is also underway, says Arati.

While the obligations of the state and the legal rights of those displaced from these quarters will continue to be debated and discussed, the pressing need for humanitarian and monetary assistance cannot be overlooked at any cost. Ejipura needs more Samaritans, and now.

Those interested to contribute or help in relief efforts may contact: Kaveri Rajaraman:77602 35234 / Aruna Chandrasekhar:9886198482 / Mayank Rungta:98481 55447

sAtAruPA BhAttAChAryA

Features


diary

People slept under the very bulldozers that destroyed the

community, curled up inside huge circular pipes, while using each other and all of their belongings to generate precious warmth in Bangalore's bitterly cold nights. Some burnt anything and everything expendable to keep tiny

fires going. Smoke billowing up from these fires, personal belongings strewn around here and there - the occasional lovely mirrored wooden dressing table lying amidst a sea of rubble, steel almirahs popping out of nowhere like mini skyscrapers - the Ejipura EWS quarters resembled a badly devastated war-zone.

And yet, people laughed. Cried. Some cried more than they laughed while some others, notably children, played like they owned the world. The world's probably our stage for politics and greed, but still remains the child's play-ground. Whether it was the kid who was letting his little ball go round

eJipura eWs Quarters crisis

Bulldozers and pipes – life takes a different meaningSpending time with the evicted community of Ejipura’s EWS quarters, observer Karthik Ranganathan poignantly captures their lives and voices today.

Some family's furniture piled together at the demolished EWS quarters. Pic: Karthik Ranganathan


and round inside the huge pipes, or the kid who tried becoming the very ball by climbing up and then sliding down the circular pipe on his tummy with unimaginable joy, or the sprightly girl, who even while preparing for her exams later in the day, remarked to a friend that the whole place felt like a picnic to her, with the unbelievably open spaces, non-existent boundaries and unimplemented rules.

They were grateful to a fault when we handed them tea, biscuits and buns bought from local tea stalls and bakeries even after they probably realised that people like us would frequent the mall that destroyed their very houses. High-school kids from the remaining families volunteered to help distribute the food as soon as they woke up, doing their best to augment our rather meagre volunteer strength in the mornings. One man had to leave for Chennai, for his sister's wedding. Yet he took the time to help out with the food distribution till it was very nearly time for him to leave.

They were frustrated too, and rightly so. Some bluntly rebuked our attempts to provide relief, some openly discouraged by these pitiful efforts. An irate drunk man's words, however, were closest to the truth. Heavily drunk, and disgruntled with the simple rice and sambhar that was being served for lunch, he took it out on me -"Neenga mattum Imperial Hotel-la saapidareenga, aana engalukku verum sorum-sambharum-dhaana? (You folks have lunch at Hotel Imperial, while all we get is just plain rice and saambhar?) Engalukkum 50-roobai saapaadu kudungalen. (why don't you give us 50-rupee meals?) Kaasu dhaan vechurukeengalla? (You can very well afford it, can't you?) Neenga veetula methai-la thongareengaa. Naanga inga pipe-la kuLur-la thoongarom (You folks

sleep on comfortable mattresses inside your houses while we sleep in these pipes, out in the cold). His words hit me like a sledgehammer. Even while I had a resigned smile on my face, my mind was racing along indignantly, tempted to retort, no doubt spurred on by my empty stomach, starved of that day's breakfast and lunch. But I kept quiet. As I type these words in the comfort of a sofa at home now, even as he is probably sleeping outside, freezing in Bangalore's winter, those words come back to haunt me.

Over the last five days, I have been witness to many a scene that I have never encountered before. I have seen my friends brutally dragged into the police van for protesting against the demolitions and also seen other women bravely court arrest even in the face of police intimidation. I have seen unreciprocated kindness and honesty among the affected residents. During a blanket distribution drive yesterday at midnight, one old frail lady told us she had already received one for her family and pointed us to some families that had not received any. Other residents chose to safeguard all the blankets in one place while the distribution went on, not touching even a single one till we realized that they had received none and gave them some. All this happened in the same area where, just the previous day, an old lady had succumbed to the cold and died.

Selfless students from St Joseph's did their best to help out in the afternoons by conducting surveys, distributing food, water and even administering first aid, as did other concerned citizens who helped in arranging and distributing food daily.

Unfortunately, I also witnessed first-hand the brusqueness and intimidation that our politicians are

famed for, as the local Congress MLA N A Haris and his entourage refused to answer any questions regarding the status of the proposed project in Sulikunte, even as they questioned my right to be on the site.

Most of the families have now moved out. Based on our food and material distribution, we now estimate around 500-600 people who have not moved out yet. But they have been forced to the fringes of the site and are fearful of being evicted completely with their

Tinsheds at EWS quarters demolished. Pic: Karthik Ranganathan

diary


belongings. Some even admitted to me yesterday night that they had received messages from policemen telling them they need to vacate the site by today (Jan 24th), even as conflicting messages were being conveyed to the media by the State Government and BBMP regarding possible temporary accommodation at the site till the end of the academic year. But not many have the means to relocate and don't even know where they can go. The bandages that we, the

civil society can apply, will do little to heal the fractures caused by the inhuman way in which their lives and livelihoods have been destroyed.

Two days back, while distributing food, I could not help admire a tiny idol of Jesus sitting rather beautifully between two slabs of stone, even as the rest of the wall and house had completely collapsed around it. Going back a little later to catch it on camera, I could no longer find it. It meant more to somebody than just

a pretty photograph.

Life goes on.

KArthiK rAngAnAthAn has been documenting the events

at the ejipura ews Quarters demolition site since Jan 19th

2013.

diary


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