Pro-poor development for Dharavi Slums?

To know what I have rambled on in this post, unfortunately you will have to take the extra efforts of reading this BBC article.It is not a very long article, so don't worry.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7558102.stm

Now...assuming that you have skimmed through it at least,I shall proceed.See now this article is a brilliant example to debate upon. While reading this article, I could almost predict what the next paragraphs are going to be about n they were! Look at this line in the article like, "The poor get a home in a block in a prime location, the companies make money and Mumbai's residents get a posh new city quarter. Theoretically at least, everyone wins”. This in itself is portraying the unsustainability of Mr.Mehta's plans. His intentions might be genuine as well for the re-development of the poor, but in reality, I am cent percent sure that the end product is not going to what it was ought to be. It is a known fact that Dharavi is a BIG industry. The world's best quality leather is made in the dharavi slums and that these people would rather make profits out of their industry and choose to stay in a slum.

Re-development , giving them new homes is an excellent and a theoretically proved solution for pro-poor development. But hey...we're talking about Mumbai here. Every living soul in that city knows the meaning of the word-business(and probably just that). He'll sell off the allocated home and get a profit in return, just as its mentioned in the article, coz that’s what’s been happening for years now. These have been small-scale industries alright, but they are probably the biggest testimony for the fact that India is almost governed by Privatization. This intrinsically runs counter to Developmental approaches like an RBA process (rights-based approach) bcoz it’s not a government (which at least has a constitutional law-framework for the citizens to refer to and use for their rights) that is then deciding the direction of our society's development, but corporations. And my oh my! Let’s not even get started about what Corporations do and what they dont!! Yes you can oppose my resentment towards corporations by saying 'Shut the f@#k up! We now have corporations adhering to CSR (Corporate social responsibility)’.To that I would just say one thing...'Oh….really?' Point is, even if they change 'some' of their business strategy in order to do some 'good deeds' for the society, they're still the ones making all the money!

For example; Coca-Cola making money out of selling products like the Coca Cola drink itself, which requires about 2 liters of water for every 1 liter of Coca cola, and by launching a product like Aquafina (How much water must be used up in the process? U do the math) As far as what I have seen/heard (Mark Thomas, documentary on Coca Cola,youtube) if u own a portion of land anywhere in India, you own the water resource therein as well. So u aint paying tax or any kinda money for it. So let’s get some perspective here shall we? Coca-cola buys this huge land outta the massive amounts of capital that they make by creating a market for generations of foolish youngsters (& maybe adults) buying harmful (pesticide) drinks like Coca-Cola of course.(People just don’t love themselves anymore these days do they?!) So they have the land, and all the water that comes with it. But they’re making mineral water for the ‘bisleri-class’ people and selling it to earn unimaginable profits. Why? They aint paying tax for it, but they’re selling it and makin money. Whats worse? We’re talkin about WATER…a precious resource for us now and this OMG-so-scarily scarce resource is being manipulated by one simple Private organization to create a kind of development that aligns only with the screwed up definitions of a class of people which considers having Pizza Huts and Mc’Donalds or even maybe tissue paper to wipe their asses in a multiplex , as ‘development’. It doesn't matter if Coca Cola steps upon a farmer's irrigation resource then aye?And what could be worse? they're still the ones who are dictating and manipulating the direction of development. How on earth is that righteously fair?

At this point you might wanna resort to lines in the article such as "Although Mumbai's transformation is being closely modelled on Shanghai, China's glitzy commercial capital, India's democratic system means the demands of the slum's myriad opposition groups cannot be ignored" ……….Genau ! So if we’re talkin about the rights of the poor, we obviously turn in the direction of a Rights-based approach. But we just saw who holds the power in our political system. So ….hmmm… what kind of a political system DO we exactly have? A democracy disguised as Oligarchy really? If there ever was a reason why I probably would develop a sort of an allergy for privatization, its only because of this very reason, that it nurtures Oligarchy in a very subtle manner. What I see before my eyes, is a country, that constitutionally offers lip-service to democracy, is fundamentally run by Oligarchy and when it comes to the people… Man it’s all about anarchy! One would think then, that being a Republic State would be the ideal thing wouldn’t it? But I won’t make the mistake of jumping to that conclusion as much as I’m tempted to, because If Satan had his way, he personified all his political wishes through the eyes of the United States of (f@#*@n) America. How successful are they as a republic? That is a HUGE topic for debate and maybe I will leave it for individual pondering when u have nothing better to do.

AT this point I am compelled to wonder, how realistically is it possible for ‘researched’ solutions’, that come right outta the academic journals, to prove themselves as sustainable in a business (selfish)-minded society like ours? Hitting the bottom of the sea, I’d say, how do we deal with the word ‘selfish’ which has worked its way up amongst us so fast , by emerging as the prime tool for achieving progress/success/development? What is the one thing that is so universal in nature that it is liable to impart a genuinely good school of thought ?

There is one word that takes center-stage as a response to all our evil, cruel self-destructive human notions of development. And that word is Education. What we have become today, is nothing but a by-product of a mixture of religious and moral views which then went on and shaped our social and civic views to create this society that we’re living in. Education, the broadest ever concept that it is, can very easily be subjected to a lot of criticism in being able to carry out such a big responsibility of creating a universally good, righteous and democratic school of thought. But movements in this direction have begun already, and since the past 50 years in fact.

I could be terribly and I mean…. TERRIBLY wrong in my notions and I welcome all possible criticism, suggestions, advice, etc with open arms (pls do so, else I won’t learn more and I’m damn greedy u know!). But I do know, that no revolution took place without severe criticism, that no leader really died a martyr’s death, and that it takes a transition from ‘me’ to ‘we’ to bring about a change. I’m not trying to be a Napoleon , Alexander or a Gandhi. I’m just trying to spread a thought.

Child participation for democratic schooling.

IMPORTANCE OF CHILD PARTICIPATION

In the words of Verhellen, “the usual adult-centric construct of the child has been questioned”. Verhellen believes that the perception towards children is now changing. They are no more seen as objects, but as subjects, that also possess human rights just like all other adult human beings. In the articles 12 to 16, the United Nations Convention on the rights of the Child, talks about the right to express an opinion, freedom of expression, freedom of thought, conscience and religion, freedom of association, protection of privacy. When the CRC is ratified by any country, it becomes the obligation of schools to carry out three main tasks: the right to education; rights in education; and rights through education (Verhellen, 1993). These tasks would have important and serious effects on the school ethos. What is stated in the articles 12 to 16 implies human rights in education. Teaching human rights and making children aware about them cannot be achieved only through theoretical lessons in the class. Infact they are of no use if they are not put into practice.

The school is the one place where the children get their initial peer interaction. This is where they build up their personality and learn about human values by interacting with their friends and peer group. There are numerous situations that a child faces in school and how he would react to these situations depends upon the value-system he has created for himself. For example, in one study made in two inner city schools, it was observed that students showed with their support for other disabled children, how only they can make “inclusion work”. (Alderson, P and Goodey C, 1998)

A head teacher who has been dealing with issues of participation has rightly pointed out the importance of child participation, to which I agree wholeheartedly. The opinion, that if we want young people to learn how to improve the quality of their lives, we must let them practice, comes across as a common argument until the reasoning of this opinion becomes clear. The reasoning that letting students practice would allow them to make mistakes and in turn lead them to coping with their mistakes, is an important element in participation because learning from mistakes is equivalent to learning from one’s own experience. And self-experience is a well-acclaimed teacher for all. (Cunningham, J)

Some of the reasons why children themselves feel that they need to be involved and that they need to participate is because it gives a chance to:

1. practice active citizenship
2. boost their confidence
3. develop their communication skills
4. create positive relations with teachers and other staff.

(www.nya.org.uk/hearbyright)

School councils are a big step towards children’s participation. These councils comprise of elected student members and representatives, who put their views before the school. There are a number of reasons why schools now want to have school councils.

1. Responsibility for the norms and values of the school enables children to cooperate more with the functioning of the school and try and stop unwanted behavior or behavior going against the ethos of the school.
2. The teachers will never know the ‘inside story’ when it comes to children. There are a number of issues within children that need to be addressed, and which can be done through student representatives. Like issues about discipline, codes of conduct, staff-pupil relations, extra-curricular activities, etc.
3. Learning to speak on issues concerning their daily lives can teach pupils about the workings of democratic or consultative structures. They learn transferable skills necessary for their future professional life, like conducting debates, taking minutes, framing proposals, establishing committees, etc.
4. Financing and resources is another important aspect of school functioning. When student councils get involved, they learn how to prioritize activities they are demanding from the school as they get a clear picture of the school’s finances.
5. In his research on school effectiveness Rutter (1979) it became clear that schools that encouraged more active participation had better exam results, better behaviour, attendance and less delinquency.

As Patrick, J.J (1999) says, “If there is a government of the people, by the people and for the people, then there must be education of the principles, practices and commitments of democracy.” In a democracy, no government is considered as perfect and the way it operates, its ideology and its decisions are always questionable. If the government itself can be questioned, then in a democratic school, the children definitely have the rights to question decisions being made about their lives.

Gerzon (1997) states that, “to learn democracy, students must do democracy. The skills associated with social and civic participation encourage children to take an active and informed role in society.” Students should be able to become good listeners and react appropriately to the views of others.

Albert Shanker (1998, 5) believes that if we want our children to believe in democracy and preserve it for generations to come, then we must introduce them to the practices and cultures of democracy.

In reference to this now, I am questioning myself, where India primarily stands,being a nation that has ratified the United Nations Convention on the rights of the child in 1992. How often did we practice our rights as children when we were in school. Or rather, were we given opportunities to practice those rights? Did we have any awareness of an existing platform given to us called the UN CRC? Why are most parts of India unaware of the CRC whereas in some parts of India, such beautiful and effective use of the CRC was made, that it led to reforming the structural implications of the Panchayats' policies for the children. It’s time we start thinking about this……………

(To know more about the UN CRC, which I strongly recommend, you can google it. If you are unlucky, simply pop in an email to me, I will send you a copy of the whole convention)

Why this?why now?....an Introduction to my world....

I never thought that someday I would be owning a blog. But my contradicting experiences with Education as an independent entity, education as politics and education as empowerment, have led me today to present myself before you guys and organize my thoughts, so that they can be effectively put into the framework of 'action'.

Like any other student living in one of the cosmopolitan cities of India, I was the regular Indian. Going to college, chilling out with friends, watching movies, pursuing my hobbies and following an educational system that dismissed my existence as a passive object and made me an inactive part of a system of "Banking education" being followed in our country. Not to say that I am something extraordinary right now, but in the words of Paulo Freire, I was a 'receptacle' or a 'depository' just like all other students, which would be filled by a depositor-the teacher, and I no longer consider myself to be that.

Not that I was then completely satisfied with the way things functioned within the framework of higher education , but I never thought that those experiences would matter so much to me. But hell no!..I was wrong! Before I even realized it, these experiences and the anguish, hatred, frustration related to these experiences and more than anything, the realization of my rights being stamped upon robbed me of a good nights sleep. I became restless. I felt as if this whole new person had emerged out of despair and more appropriately put, out of the desperate outcry for 'change' in our educational system, who could not take anymore of the "shit" happening around me.

I rebelled...I fought for my right. In what technically should have been a collective fight by 40 people of the same department for their rights in Education, the fight witnessed only two participants. One of them was me and the other; a dear friend. We went up to our authorities and demanded our rights. But to our frustration, not surprisingly though, this whole system turned out to be nothing but a heap of crabs, pulling on each others' legs and sharing an expertise in playing the 'blame-game'. Our questions were left unanswered; our demands unfulfilled. Helplessness dragged us to our examination halls and compelled us to write a final TYBA examination. I felt like a puppet...a guinea-pig being tortured, harassed and experimented on without any regard for my existence as an end in itself.

There came a point and time in my life, when everything around me had started becoming unbearable. I fell in my own eyes, each time I saw and experienced ‘ignorance’ to be the third-party winner in a battle between the priorities of my fellow colleagues (today’s youth) and their willingness to do something for their rights. All my encounters, all my experiences and all my hatred only surmounted to give birth to the path of life I am now following...and to give birth to a new identity that I am now nurturing.

Hi….I’m Namita Joshi, a student at the University of Leeds, UK, currently pursuing an MA in Education and Democracy. Why I changed my academic path from Psychology to studying something as inter-disciplinary as this course, can only be explained by the restless and sleepless nights of anguish, frustration and guilt. Citizenship education, Democratic participation, Higher Education and student participation, Politics, Good Governance, Pedagogy, Consensus decision-making, “Awareness”, Multi-culturalism, Philosophy and ethics, Meta-physics, Generalism, Reasoning, Science and Rationality are entities that I shall talk, advocate and debate about in this blog and entities which I believe are fantastically intertwined. My efforts shall be directed towards providing relevant, research-based, verified, rational data and links between these entities to create a unanimously agreed upon theory of Welfare. A theory which can lead to an elevated status of India economically and socially if we all join hands and free ourselves from the self-inflicted obstacles standing in the way of a ‘harmonious life’ in India.

India has achieved excellence in the functioning of technical minds….but excellence in the functioning of its citizens as ‘human beings’ is yet to be achieved. I’m making a start…..I hope you guys join me!