The National news Channels on the idiot box yesterday had a field day, gleefully playing the tape over and over again of how an Air-India flight from Kochi to Bangalore just refused to take off because of ‘technical snag’ as the passengers were informed. Some of them, snoopy ones discovered that the pilot had ‘fallen ill’ and there was none to ferry them to their destination. What I liked best in this sordid drama was the anchor sheepishly throwing a rhetorical question at anyone who was idle enough to sit glued to the screen whether a large national airline could not find a SINGLE pilot to take the place of the ‘sick man’!! So I present one more failed attempt by rookies at the controls of a large aircraft after meeting the best qualification of all- their fathers were there before them…..
Reproduced is the following published in ‘The Indian Currents’
On the Wings of Hope and Prayer……
In a country like India where consumers routinely bear the brunt of official apathy without a murmur, rarely do we hear or read about incidents that should otherwise be making headlines. If consumers, passengers and patients raise their voices and speak of the injustices and unfair practices of the ‘Chalta Hai’ attitude of India, there is a ray of hope that things just might improve!
If you think that the Air-India Express crash in Mangalore has been consigned to the annals of History, you are sadly mistaken because the long term impact of it is still creating hic-cups in the air travel in that part of the country as seen in this incident I experienced. Apparently all official efforts at the time of the crash were directed towards a temporary cover-up, with no repair and restoration attempted till today. Mangalore airport cannot hope for more than its share of publicity for a day or two, certainly not any upgrading and now it seems to be a forgotten past with no future! This incident is placed in the public glare only to create awareness of the sad plight of air travelers.
The twelfth of June saw us safely in the skies once again, flying towards that picturesque city of my birth and childhood and the smells and sounds of wet earth, gurgling rivers, swaying palms and tiny tiled cottages seen from the air growing into huge sprawling homesteads on the ground. To cap it all, the ride into town in Chandra’s old Amby and finally a warm hug from the person awaiting my arrival so anxiously. Soaring into the clear skies at noon on that beautiful Saturday, any thoughts were far from any disaster or trouble but focused on the joys of forthcoming days. The thought of reunion with a treasured member of the family and the prospect of pitter patter of raindrops on my head as I walked under the canopy of green behind the house lifted my spirits sky-high. Flying into Mangalore is a thrilling experience as any ‘native’ will tell you!
When there is a picturesque airport like Mangalore coming into view like a patchwork quilt of greens and blues, even the most timid flyer forgets his fear of flying! But what happens when the picturesque patch of nature fails to turn up under the belly of the aircraft and all one can see is swirling mists of threatening clouds, a churning cauldron that seems to have swallowed the land below?
The landing preparation seems to go on for ages after the announcement. Sensing trouble, the murmur of voices within the aircraft gradually subsided into a deafening silence. The uncertainty seemed to stretch forever…….minutes into a half hour……neither landing, nor announcement. Ultimately we were told that we had been circling the city for the past half hour and no clearance to land had been given by the ATC, the reason being that visibility was down to 3,600 feet and the Instrument Landing System (ILS) at Mangalore airport was not functioning! We remembered that the same ILS was damaged by the wing of the Air-India aircraft during the recent crash! Was it still not attended to…?
An instrument landing system (ILS) is a ground-based instrument approach system that provides precision guidance to an aircraft approaching and landing on a runway, using a combination of radio signals and, in many cases, high-intensity lighting arrays to enable a safe landing during instrument meteorological conditions (IMC), such as low ceilings or reduced visibility due to fog, rain, or blowing snow. To cut a long story short we landed back in Mumbai nearly 4 hours after we had hopefully boarded for a one hour flight at the same airport!
Now it is reckoning time.
1. As announced by the captain if two earlier flights had been diverted from Mangalore to Goa and Mumbai, due to the same trouble, why did this flight take off at all?
2. How long will it take for the ILS to be repaired and get it functioning to aid landing during such inclement weather?
3. Knowing that Mangalore experiences such weather conditions during monsoon which had already set in, why was the ILS not attended to with haste?
4. Can any compensation reduce the pain, trauma, wasted time and resources of the passengers at Mumbai and Mangalore, and those waiting to receive the old and infirm at the airports?
5. What about the loss to the Airline incurred through such empty flights? Will the passengers bear the brunt of another fare increase shortly?
6. When insignificant developments regarding political leaders are given prime space, how come no media reported on the missing ILS in Mangalore?
7. Lastly it can be safely surmised that such incidents occurring with alarming regularity go unnoticed maybe till a tragic repetition of the air-India brings the lax system to its knees. But how many more lives have to be sacrificed for this cause?
Educating oneself about such incidents provides more options to the consumers/passengers. It is time we bonded together and arm ourselves with more choices……..
- Vera Alvares
Monday, August 30, 2010
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Published on 15th August, 2010- transferring it here for my friends on the facebook….
Thank you, Woody Guthrie, your musical genius gave the world that beautiful song- This land is your land, a much-loved classis sung with a lilt in the voice and a dream in the eyes ! But we in India only dare to speak of it in hushed tones, for what comparison can there be between a rosy picture of progress and prosperity and a dismal scene of plunder and pillage, of a country racing to the pinnacle of power and a land raped and ravaged by the powerful in the land?
We hear the tortured cries of this land of mine, pleading for liberation from the clutches of a motley group of people gnawing at it from within while they claim to rule it from without! My Motherland is up for sale! The flight of funds to foreign shores due to the abuse of power is killing this land and its people. Yet, we hail our great country on this day of its past liberation from foreign rule and hope for another Mahatma to secure us present freedom from the corrupt yoke of those who treat India as their personal fiefdom…..
This land is your land, this land is my land
From Himachal peaks, to the Vindhyan heights
From coastal ghat jungles to sonar Bangla waters
This land was made for you and me…...
From the rolling plains of Punjab to the seven streams of Sindhu
From the sacred hills of Utkal to the fragrant air of Kodagu
And the sparkling spreads of the Arabian sands
The shimmering dunes of the warriors’ Royal land,
This land is made for me and you……..
In the swaying fronds in God’s own country a lullaby lies,
Saffron sunsets over the Mannar bay, a sight for sore eyes
Among the Tehri Garhwal Sal forests, on banks of flowing Godavari
I see a land, a land of gold and silver, a land of milk and honey,
And I feel proud that this land is my land ………
Snatches of folk songs, blooming of the bamboo in sacred sanctuary
Where the tiger roamed free, the cuckoo called a sweet melody
From Chirapunji to Tiruchirapalli, from Darjeeling to Dhavalagiri
Swinging to the tillers’ song I walked through the fields of prosperity
And I saw before me the land of sages and selfless statesmen
Oh! This land was indeed made for me!
I walked the country roads to Chchatrapati’s fortresses,
Wind caressing my face, rippling the golden paddy fields
Woods thick with birdsong and fearless wilderness
The expanse of the Rann, the intricate maze of Sunderbans,
I marvel-when did this land cease to be mine?
As I walked I saw a sign there, and that sign read – No Trespassing
But the other side, I hoped that could be mine……..
The side that had said nothing before
Now painted in bold letters the order for sure
- Keep out all citizens, can you not see
This side is made not for you but for me?
I've roamed and rambled and I've followed my own footsteps
Through the once swaying fields in golden valleys that are no more
I passed bare mud-huts in dark hamlets, to the din of empty vessels
The dreams of my youth lay shattered in the bare countryside
And all around me a haunting voice sounds
It SEZ to me, this land was made not for you but and me.
The country roads have turned to highways of progress,
Hills and wilderness, swanky mansions of the rich and famous
All roaring has ceased, my land littered with choked streams,
Massacred groves, desecrated hillocks- spoils of the rulers’ games
Fields fallow, hills denuded, rivers breached and fewer
Nature, quartered and hung for sale in the corridors of power-
I scream- Who dares claim this land that once was mine?
The sun comes shining out, focusing on the plunder
On the sacred Utkal hills to the moan of the pillaged earth,
Vedanta gurus were chanting ‘Bauxite, Bauxite we plunder’
Death throes of poisoned rivers, heavy stirring of toxic air
Tribal cries rising to foreign shores- ‘Don’t Mine us out of Existence’
In the dark of the night Kudremukh tunnels rape the earth secretly under
In Maratha land, the King’s fort on auction block awaiting highest bidder
Was this land made not for me but only for you?
In the squares of the city - In the shadow of the steeple
Where painted grins on paper faces rule the skyline,
Hide the truth of the rape and ravage of this land of mine
Near the urban relief camps and in the stony stares of migrant masses
I see my people with despair on starving faces, aliens in their own land
With hunger in their bellies and disease in their bones, trembling and shaking
And some are moaning, some are grumbling and some are wondering
Was this land ever made for you and me?
- Vera Alvares
We hear the tortured cries of this land of mine, pleading for liberation from the clutches of a motley group of people gnawing at it from within while they claim to rule it from without! My Motherland is up for sale! The flight of funds to foreign shores due to the abuse of power is killing this land and its people. Yet, we hail our great country on this day of its past liberation from foreign rule and hope for another Mahatma to secure us present freedom from the corrupt yoke of those who treat India as their personal fiefdom…..
This land is your land, this land is my land
From Himachal peaks, to the Vindhyan heights
From coastal ghat jungles to sonar Bangla waters
This land was made for you and me…...
From the rolling plains of Punjab to the seven streams of Sindhu
From the sacred hills of Utkal to the fragrant air of Kodagu
And the sparkling spreads of the Arabian sands
The shimmering dunes of the warriors’ Royal land,
This land is made for me and you……..
In the swaying fronds in God’s own country a lullaby lies,
Saffron sunsets over the Mannar bay, a sight for sore eyes
Among the Tehri Garhwal Sal forests, on banks of flowing Godavari
I see a land, a land of gold and silver, a land of milk and honey,
And I feel proud that this land is my land ………
Snatches of folk songs, blooming of the bamboo in sacred sanctuary
Where the tiger roamed free, the cuckoo called a sweet melody
From Chirapunji to Tiruchirapalli, from Darjeeling to Dhavalagiri
Swinging to the tillers’ song I walked through the fields of prosperity
And I saw before me the land of sages and selfless statesmen
Oh! This land was indeed made for me!
I walked the country roads to Chchatrapati’s fortresses,
Wind caressing my face, rippling the golden paddy fields
Woods thick with birdsong and fearless wilderness
The expanse of the Rann, the intricate maze of Sunderbans,
I marvel-when did this land cease to be mine?
As I walked I saw a sign there, and that sign read – No Trespassing
But the other side, I hoped that could be mine……..
The side that had said nothing before
Now painted in bold letters the order for sure
- Keep out all citizens, can you not see
This side is made not for you but for me?
I've roamed and rambled and I've followed my own footsteps
Through the once swaying fields in golden valleys that are no more
I passed bare mud-huts in dark hamlets, to the din of empty vessels
The dreams of my youth lay shattered in the bare countryside
And all around me a haunting voice sounds
It SEZ to me, this land was made not for you but and me.
The country roads have turned to highways of progress,
Hills and wilderness, swanky mansions of the rich and famous
All roaring has ceased, my land littered with choked streams,
Massacred groves, desecrated hillocks- spoils of the rulers’ games
Fields fallow, hills denuded, rivers breached and fewer
Nature, quartered and hung for sale in the corridors of power-
I scream- Who dares claim this land that once was mine?
The sun comes shining out, focusing on the plunder
On the sacred Utkal hills to the moan of the pillaged earth,
Vedanta gurus were chanting ‘Bauxite, Bauxite we plunder’
Death throes of poisoned rivers, heavy stirring of toxic air
Tribal cries rising to foreign shores- ‘Don’t Mine us out of Existence’
In the dark of the night Kudremukh tunnels rape the earth secretly under
In Maratha land, the King’s fort on auction block awaiting highest bidder
Was this land made not for me but only for you?
In the squares of the city - In the shadow of the steeple
Where painted grins on paper faces rule the skyline,
Hide the truth of the rape and ravage of this land of mine
Near the urban relief camps and in the stony stares of migrant masses
I see my people with despair on starving faces, aliens in their own land
With hunger in their bellies and disease in their bones, trembling and shaking
And some are moaning, some are grumbling and some are wondering
Was this land ever made for you and me?
- Vera Alvares
One Day at The Times....
One day at the Times, gives one a hundred days of fodder for thoughts. If you have the passion for wandering like Alice in Wonderland, go off the tangent and colour the words you see on those pages. Join me as we walk the talk. Do you see what i see...?
Let us make an auspicious beginning, with the holy wisdom that is Vedanta.The locomotive thundering through the countryside rushing to the destruction of the sacred Niyamgiri hills, mowing down the homogenous tribes, has been denied a green signal by some sensible guys at the Center! And when the State chief rushed to the capital to advocate Vedanta and failed, he issues a subtle threat that no more investors will throng to India after this shabby treatment to our guests at Vedanta!Indeed, Take the tribals begging on the city maidan to task for doling out such shabby treatment to the State guests! Does this Indian have to side with the Vedantis from UK when he has the choice to join the team of his own people of Orissa? Shrill cries fall on deaf ears?
The Maharaja of the skies is getting loaded with human cargo, top heavy and pocket empty! Loaders take to the skies for free? Loaders too have joined the queue of freeloaders? No wonder, the Maharaja tangled in red tape and nepotism of its own making seems to be slipping... slipping into RED! Losing the race without a fight AI Singh?
Maharashtra is truly a maha rashtra.....i love my State, where the minds are without fear of wasting and getting caught in the nets, where the power of reasoning has dried up in the desert of greed and avarice, where the sons tilling the soil are turned away from their roots and the walls of class and creed are fortified in the city!Is it any wonder the honourable ministers impoverish the State further by their idleness?
The sparkling story at its best- Dubai, that jewel in the desert seems to be the last resort of scoundrels and scalawags. I wonder what do they see there? Safe refuge, lavish lifestyle, wine women and song? Or are they following in the footsteps many others before them? Our home-grown swindlers should hang their heads in shame...are they losing their touch? Mexicans are taking over their territory!
And the queen of the suburbs in the city that is the Gateway of India,is sinking into a state of disorder, chaos and crime with a ( not so)little nudge from the people's representatives themselves! Soon there will be less roads and more hawkers, only high-rises surrounded by shanties, runways at the airport will drown in the drainage from the onslaught of slums. Green will make way fro brown. Shanghai will turn into slumbai. This is YOUR city and mine. Time to decide all Corporators, MLAs and MPs - whose side are you on, the citizens or the agents of anarchy?
Let us make an auspicious beginning, with the holy wisdom that is Vedanta.The locomotive thundering through the countryside rushing to the destruction of the sacred Niyamgiri hills, mowing down the homogenous tribes, has been denied a green signal by some sensible guys at the Center! And when the State chief rushed to the capital to advocate Vedanta and failed, he issues a subtle threat that no more investors will throng to India after this shabby treatment to our guests at Vedanta!Indeed, Take the tribals begging on the city maidan to task for doling out such shabby treatment to the State guests! Does this Indian have to side with the Vedantis from UK when he has the choice to join the team of his own people of Orissa? Shrill cries fall on deaf ears?
The Maharaja of the skies is getting loaded with human cargo, top heavy and pocket empty! Loaders take to the skies for free? Loaders too have joined the queue of freeloaders? No wonder, the Maharaja tangled in red tape and nepotism of its own making seems to be slipping... slipping into RED! Losing the race without a fight AI Singh?
Maharashtra is truly a maha rashtra.....i love my State, where the minds are without fear of wasting and getting caught in the nets, where the power of reasoning has dried up in the desert of greed and avarice, where the sons tilling the soil are turned away from their roots and the walls of class and creed are fortified in the city!Is it any wonder the honourable ministers impoverish the State further by their idleness?
The sparkling story at its best- Dubai, that jewel in the desert seems to be the last resort of scoundrels and scalawags. I wonder what do they see there? Safe refuge, lavish lifestyle, wine women and song? Or are they following in the footsteps many others before them? Our home-grown swindlers should hang their heads in shame...are they losing their touch? Mexicans are taking over their territory!
And the queen of the suburbs in the city that is the Gateway of India,is sinking into a state of disorder, chaos and crime with a ( not so)little nudge from the people's representatives themselves! Soon there will be less roads and more hawkers, only high-rises surrounded by shanties, runways at the airport will drown in the drainage from the onslaught of slums. Green will make way fro brown. Shanghai will turn into slumbai. This is YOUR city and mine. Time to decide all Corporators, MLAs and MPs - whose side are you on, the citizens or the agents of anarchy?
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
InSearch of Justice
Injustice on Justice Sunday
As all Catholics know, this year has dedicated to ‘Care fro Creation’ by the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI. It is not for the first time that the Church reminds us that God the creator has left the guardianship of His creation in the capable hands of man, we are the custodians of this planet and its inhabitants. Good Catholics, Bible scholars, Theologians will surely take a new look at their Faith in the light of this new aspect – Care for Creation! Yes, it is time for each of us to ask ourselves- Am I doing enough to preserve God’s creation for posterity or am I helping to worsen the man-made disaster of killing the environment?
Generally we are hobbled by our age-old attitudes- Directions must come from the pulpit for us to follow. Any other directive however relevant or urgent is taken in our stride, or put on the backburner of our minds. Secondly we are the Faithful that leave everything in the hands of God. We have been told to trust in God and we take the trust to a new level with our prayers without actions. Is it not the Bible that tells us through St. James, that we need to act on the Word of God that we receive…..
The greatest Tenet of Christianity that calls for actions is difficult to follow. How can we show our love someone of a different class and creed, alien culture and language, living in a far away place, invisible to the world? Good question. I wonder how our Master would have answered it, back to the Bible……
However, the Church celebrates the Justice Sunday on the third Sunday of August to give us all an opportunity to familiarize ourselves with how the lesser children of God live and what injustices they endure, with none to support them in their hour of need. So, out of this obligation is born this sharing ……
The celebration of Justice Sunday on 22nd August, 2010 by the church in Mumbai failed to evoke much representation from the parishes, compared to other events like the Charismatic rallies, healing sessions, Youth Festivals etc. despite the fact that Justice Sunday reflects the Church’s concern for the weaker and marginalized brethren who have been victimized by the unjust policies and actions of the Governments and society as a whole. Yet, it seems to me that we as one community, clergy and lay people could attach more significance to the celebration of Justice Sunday in Mumbai, since it showcases the basic tenet of Christian Faith against the backdrop of recent events like the unprecedented floods in many countries, uncontrollable forest fires, cloudbursts, flash floods and landslide in a proportion never seen for a long time!
It should be of utmost concern to Catholics that this onerous task of caring for creation is becoming an obstacle race run against the industrialists and various governments that ignore the issue of environmental degradation with their faulty policies and indifference. This was aptly illustrated by the documentary, ‘Diamonds and Dust’ filmed at Kuchidih, a remote hamlet in Jamshedpur Jharkhand showing the plight of the land and its people. As shown in the film, the ‘Kohinoor Steel Pvt. Ltd.’, a sponge iron company has taken away most of the fertile agricultural land of the villagers and is ruining the remainder of it by flooding it with Fly Ash soaked with water! The once fertile land has now turned into slush, poisoned and acrid with drinking water becoming a scarce commodity.
The villagers mostly farmers bitterly narrated their tale of exploitation that has made them landless labourers or menial workers living in appalling conditions in mud-huts without electricity or water. The story of how their agricultural land was taken away in exchange for false promises of jobs, electricity, school and medical clinic, unfolded on the screen in agonizing detail. For us, it stood as a grim symbol of India’s rural story of umpteen such hamlets of tribals taken over by unscrupulous industrialists grabbing the only means of sustenance of the poor and giving nothing in return. Evidently these companies show no interest in the welfare or care of the land or the poor people in these hamlets, complacent that the victims are the illiterate poor with no recourse to justice. The truth that even the police refused to acknowledge their existence showed how the government machinery works!
A short search on the Net revealed that a Topography investigation had been made for twenty such mills in the surrounding areas mostly in Jharkhand and Orissa at one point in time- just the tip of the iceberg. Does it mean that all these villages too face the same fate that takes them to the edge of extinction? How many more are hidden from public gaze and quietly face the havoc in a similar manner? In Mumbai, cushioned that we are from the harsh realities of rural India, we could feel alienated from these poor souls. Unless more people dare to expose the misdeeds of these exploiters of the poor in the name of industrialization the country will remain in the dark about the dark side of this issue. Not surprisingly, the fine print at the end of the documentary was predictable- the filmmakers were forbidden to reveal these details or was it that the crew was threatened?
For some of us in one group the story became all the more poignant when a participant, a retired employee of Tata Company at Jamshedpur shared his own experiences of how the Tata House of industries had tackled the same issue differently in a more humane way years ago. He reminisced fondly that the locals were treated to employment, education, healthcare and to a life of dignity by the Industrialists when they took over the land. Hospitals, schools, playgrounds and all other amenities were built and handed over to the religious sisters, professionals in the field of education and health care. Apparently, compared to the earlier generation of pioneer industrialists, those in business now will soon spell the doom for this country and at this rate, by the time India metamorphoses into a super power, there will be no poor people left to enjoy the benefits!
The Church, through its missions is rendering yeoman’s service to mitigate the miseries of these poor people. But if the number of needy people increases rapidly a hundredfold, the way it is happening now because of the blinkered vision, ‘Industrialization at any cost’, will the humanitarian service of this kind be able to keep up with the times?
So now, the million dollar question- Why have we changed so drastically that neither the government nor the millionnaires have hardened theri hearts into reaching the poor to death's door?
As all Catholics know, this year has dedicated to ‘Care fro Creation’ by the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI. It is not for the first time that the Church reminds us that God the creator has left the guardianship of His creation in the capable hands of man, we are the custodians of this planet and its inhabitants. Good Catholics, Bible scholars, Theologians will surely take a new look at their Faith in the light of this new aspect – Care for Creation! Yes, it is time for each of us to ask ourselves- Am I doing enough to preserve God’s creation for posterity or am I helping to worsen the man-made disaster of killing the environment?
Generally we are hobbled by our age-old attitudes- Directions must come from the pulpit for us to follow. Any other directive however relevant or urgent is taken in our stride, or put on the backburner of our minds. Secondly we are the Faithful that leave everything in the hands of God. We have been told to trust in God and we take the trust to a new level with our prayers without actions. Is it not the Bible that tells us through St. James, that we need to act on the Word of God that we receive…..
The greatest Tenet of Christianity that calls for actions is difficult to follow. How can we show our love someone of a different class and creed, alien culture and language, living in a far away place, invisible to the world? Good question. I wonder how our Master would have answered it, back to the Bible……
However, the Church celebrates the Justice Sunday on the third Sunday of August to give us all an opportunity to familiarize ourselves with how the lesser children of God live and what injustices they endure, with none to support them in their hour of need. So, out of this obligation is born this sharing ……
The celebration of Justice Sunday on 22nd August, 2010 by the church in Mumbai failed to evoke much representation from the parishes, compared to other events like the Charismatic rallies, healing sessions, Youth Festivals etc. despite the fact that Justice Sunday reflects the Church’s concern for the weaker and marginalized brethren who have been victimized by the unjust policies and actions of the Governments and society as a whole. Yet, it seems to me that we as one community, clergy and lay people could attach more significance to the celebration of Justice Sunday in Mumbai, since it showcases the basic tenet of Christian Faith against the backdrop of recent events like the unprecedented floods in many countries, uncontrollable forest fires, cloudbursts, flash floods and landslide in a proportion never seen for a long time!
It should be of utmost concern to Catholics that this onerous task of caring for creation is becoming an obstacle race run against the industrialists and various governments that ignore the issue of environmental degradation with their faulty policies and indifference. This was aptly illustrated by the documentary, ‘Diamonds and Dust’ filmed at Kuchidih, a remote hamlet in Jamshedpur Jharkhand showing the plight of the land and its people. As shown in the film, the ‘Kohinoor Steel Pvt. Ltd.’, a sponge iron company has taken away most of the fertile agricultural land of the villagers and is ruining the remainder of it by flooding it with Fly Ash soaked with water! The once fertile land has now turned into slush, poisoned and acrid with drinking water becoming a scarce commodity.
The villagers mostly farmers bitterly narrated their tale of exploitation that has made them landless labourers or menial workers living in appalling conditions in mud-huts without electricity or water. The story of how their agricultural land was taken away in exchange for false promises of jobs, electricity, school and medical clinic, unfolded on the screen in agonizing detail. For us, it stood as a grim symbol of India’s rural story of umpteen such hamlets of tribals taken over by unscrupulous industrialists grabbing the only means of sustenance of the poor and giving nothing in return. Evidently these companies show no interest in the welfare or care of the land or the poor people in these hamlets, complacent that the victims are the illiterate poor with no recourse to justice. The truth that even the police refused to acknowledge their existence showed how the government machinery works!
A short search on the Net revealed that a Topography investigation had been made for twenty such mills in the surrounding areas mostly in Jharkhand and Orissa at one point in time- just the tip of the iceberg. Does it mean that all these villages too face the same fate that takes them to the edge of extinction? How many more are hidden from public gaze and quietly face the havoc in a similar manner? In Mumbai, cushioned that we are from the harsh realities of rural India, we could feel alienated from these poor souls. Unless more people dare to expose the misdeeds of these exploiters of the poor in the name of industrialization the country will remain in the dark about the dark side of this issue. Not surprisingly, the fine print at the end of the documentary was predictable- the filmmakers were forbidden to reveal these details or was it that the crew was threatened?
For some of us in one group the story became all the more poignant when a participant, a retired employee of Tata Company at Jamshedpur shared his own experiences of how the Tata House of industries had tackled the same issue differently in a more humane way years ago. He reminisced fondly that the locals were treated to employment, education, healthcare and to a life of dignity by the Industrialists when they took over the land. Hospitals, schools, playgrounds and all other amenities were built and handed over to the religious sisters, professionals in the field of education and health care. Apparently, compared to the earlier generation of pioneer industrialists, those in business now will soon spell the doom for this country and at this rate, by the time India metamorphoses into a super power, there will be no poor people left to enjoy the benefits!
The Church, through its missions is rendering yeoman’s service to mitigate the miseries of these poor people. But if the number of needy people increases rapidly a hundredfold, the way it is happening now because of the blinkered vision, ‘Industrialization at any cost’, will the humanitarian service of this kind be able to keep up with the times?
So now, the million dollar question- Why have we changed so drastically that neither the government nor the millionnaires have hardened theri hearts into reaching the poor to death's door?
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