Probably a hundred years old, thisdilapidated building hides a colonialstyle wooden staircase which leads upto a dark corridor. We had to be verycareful while climbing up, as thesteps made a creaking sound uponwalking, feeling as it would break anyminute. The stairwell led into a smallhouse. Inside the lobby of the housesat three shirtless men, surrounded byfour women. One of the men wasplaying with a child who must havebeen about eight months old. It wasaround two thirty in the afternoon,and it seemed like a cocktail partywas taking place in this brothel ofKamathipura.

We said pleasantries to an old heavy-set woman, who I assumed was theGharwali (The Gharwali managesday-to-day operations of the brothel).Those women were the sex workers,and the men, their regular partnersand pimps. Yet it looked like aSunday afternoon leisure session withfriends.

Inside the rooms, which werepartitioned with wooden boards, therewere other women. Every room wasjust big enough to accommodate a

901­15 December 2014IN Trans The Sabha

22.11.14 -Platform No 3Aboard the Chennai-MumbaiExpress:

Tout: Seat venumaa? (Do you need aseat?) Mupat kass per seat (It is Rs 30per seat).Passenger: Waah! Pudu (New)Business!Tout: It is an old business. Do youwant a seat or not?Passenger: I already paid Rs 300 forthe ticket. Along the way, beggarsand others will ask for another Rs 10-20. I am going all the way to the laststation. Why should I give you Rs 30?You and your men will get down aftertwo stations and I can have the seatthen. Don't worry. Till then, I willsearch in the other generalcompartments, it is only 14 bogiesdown after all.

23.11.14-Platform No 3Waiting for Coimbatore Expressin Pune:

First Hawker (FH): Haven’t seenyou in a long time. Where have youbeen?

Second Hawker (SH): I hadsustained a fracture. I have onlyrecently recovered. Do you want anytobacco?

Traveller to SH: Isn’t it very riskyto sell tobacco? But I think it must bequite profitable as well.FH: It is not risky. We all work for aseth (rich guy). He handles anymatters that arise with the police.Everyone has been designated aplatform to sell on.

Traveller: So, the Railway Police isalso in on it? They seem to be makingcorrupt money and never doinganything. They get their salary as well

as take bribes from hawkers.

FH: These bribes are nothing. Youand I have no idea where the moneygoes. These crimes are as organisedas this unorganised train will ever be.

SH: Even after working all my life, Iwill still be selling on this platform.

Traveller: Look at all these people.They get on the trains without waitingfor the cleaners to do their jobs. Howwill the PM’s Swachha Abhiyaanever happen? No one can educatethese people.

FH: Anyway, the Abhiyaan is onlyfor the Air Conditioned bogie. Thosebogies get even their windowscleaned while people in the generalcompartment sit in the toilets. Thegeneral bogies are always at theextreme end of the platform. Nocleaner goes there. Neither is there aclean water facility available so faraway from the platform. You canonly get fake mineral water.

Traveller: I have often wondered

why the railway doesn’t increase thenumber of general compartments?

FH: They would lose so much profitif they did.

SH: I think the amount of moneythey make from the general bogie,even with no facility, is much morethan from the AC bogie. Even if it isnot an actually like that, this railwayhas always meant to be for the public.

FH: But, it is nice in the generalcompartment. All the crime happensthere. It transports people and drugsand many other things. The ticket-checker too is comfortable sleeping inthe AC compartment and hardlybothers to inspect here.Traveller: I must leave. My train ishere.SH: Trains are always arriving butwe can and will never leave.

CHENNAI CENTRAL to

CST MUMBAI

bed, leaving hardly any space tomove around. These tiny and dingychambers are home to women wholive with their children and partners.Some of the doors were shut. Womenwere servicing the customers. Thereare no fixed working hours inKamathipura.

While we were in conversation withone of the women about her son’sschooling admission, there came atapping from her. She stood there,inebriated. She kept saying, “Madam,mera bhi ek boy (son) hai. Usko bhirakh lo na apne school mein. Paisa haimere paas” (Madam, I have a son too.Keep him in your school too. I havethe money). She smelled of alcoholand cigarettes. However, I found itdifficult to decipher whether the smellcame from her, or from thesurrounding rotted smell of thebrothel.

She had had too much to drink andcould hardly stand straight. Therehad been some difference of opinionbetween her and her lover, which ledto a furious argument and finallyturned into an ugly fight. The

outcome of the fight was very evidenton her face. A black eye, bruises onher arm and swollen lips. But themost striking of all wounds was theone on her nose.

She then narrated narrated the wholeincident. It started off like a usualday-to-day argument about money.The normal arrangement meant thathe would take all her money,sometimes denying her of even tenrupees of her own earnings. He wouldthen spend it on alcohol and drugs,come back in the evening and demandfor more. If she refused, she wouldget beaten.

This time, when it happened for theumpteenth time that day, she couldnot take it. She was drunk too andreturned it back to him.It might have really hurt his meekmale ego and in his fit of rage he bither, and pulled out a chunk of fleshoff her nose. It was a horrible sight tosee the bone of her nose, blood stilloozing out of the wound. She haddone little to patch it up either. Weoffered to take her to the clinic andget her medical assistance, which shedid not pay much attention to. Her

request about her son’s admissionwas persistent. Almost tearing up shesaid that she had finally decided topart ways with her full time partnerand stop being subjected to thisviolence. However, she did not forgetto mention that it’s difficult to livealone in this strange world, and theman has been with her for a long timenow. She might not leave him, butshe definitely wanted all the beatingand abuse to stop, though she didn’tknow how.

A weird paradox is what life inKamathipura is. Bodies are strippedand sold for the price of peanuts. Butwhat about the soul? Can it bebought? What lies beneath thehardened exterior of these women? Isthere love hidden underneath thesheets of lust? Is it even love, or justthe fear of being all alone in theswarming crowd? A woman herewould sell herself, bear children ofunknown men, dedicate not only herbody, but her life for what she thinksis love. And seldom does she get whatshe asks for. Love for love. It’s a rarething to find in these dubious lanes.Yet it is carried out like day-to-daybusiness. Only, the shutter never goesdown on this shop.(author works in Apne Aap women's

collective)

KAMATHIPURAFlesh off the nose

Lory

Alumni, Delhi University

In 2004, fourty fiveworking colonies inMumbai were demolished,leading to the formation ofGHAR BACHAO GHARBANAO ANDOLANunder Medha Patkar'sleadership. I was ahomeguard then, and I didnot bother to protest untilthe very next day when myhouse was demolished.

During the last 10 yearswe often went to Delhi,where we met UrbanDevelopment MinisterJaipal Reddy, KumariSelja, Ajay Maken, GirijaVyas and many otherleaders. Each time ourslogan was:

Hum Jahan Hain WahiBasao, Uskey LiyeKanoon Banao.

1001­15 December 2014Mumbai The Sabha

Rehabiltate us where weare, for that Make theLAW

In 2009 during Congressthen President PrathibaPatil’s governmentannounced the RajeevAwaas Yojana (RAY)which aims for SLUMFREE INDIA. Manyactivists from differentStates like Rajendra Ravi,Madhuresh Kumar,Gautam deenbandhu,Shaktiman ghosh,Simpreet Singh, RajuBhishe, Ulka Mahajan,Surekha Dadre, Geeta,Sister Cilia and manymore were involved inbringing out this yojana:

“Right to life also includesright to shelter andhousing. Without that, it is

meaningless”

Medha Tai's fast for 13days in Khar Golibar,which rallied in Mumbaion January 1st 2013 and2014 to implement RAYand pressurize BMC sideby side to provide basicamenities to the workingcolonies, has made thissurvey possible today.Now national parties arerelatively more activewhen they saw peoplefrom social movementsfighting in the elections inmany places in India. Thishas frightened them.Whether people fromsocial movements win orlose during the elections, itis not my concern, but atleast it has changed theattitude of politicians, andis still changing it.

RAY aims to give bothownership of land andhome to the presenttenants and owners inthese working colonies.According to theirlivelihood, this housingyojana will beimplemented. Thecontribution of the Centrewill be 50%, theMaharastra government

will give 25%, theremaining 15% and 10%will be provided by BMCand the individual,respectively.

In Maharastra, it wasdecided to implement thisin fourty five workingcolonies in Mumbai. Thefirst one will be in SatheNagar. We proposed thefirst project to beimplemented in Mandala,but it is still on hold by thegovernment. Slumrehabilitation AuthoritySRA was implemented totend to the buildingsthemselves, but this yojanais focused mainly onpublic partnership i.egovernment andcommunity. Here, peoplewill decide on buildingworks and participation ofCommunity BasedOrganisations (CBOs).Forthe survey, localcorporator Vithal Lokadehad invited tender, giving

it to a Kolkata basedorganisation. To do thesurvey, local organisationAnnabhav Sathe ManavVikas Sangh is givingsupport. The survey coversa period of 3 months andwill cover all thehouseholds in SatheNagar. Then it will bepassed on to the State andthe Centre for the review.

After BJP won theelection, in March 2014,Venkaih Naidu ,whiletalking to the leaders ofthe movement, supportedRAY and said that hisgovernment will continueit with minor changes, likepossibly changing thename. Now, with allparties involved, I hopethis will get on the fasttrack.HUM DEKHENGE! Wewill see ! - SantoshThorat (7th class dropout)(translated from Hindi byST reporter)

RAJEEV AWAAS YOJANASurvey started in Annabhav Sathe Nagar

We welcome the SwacchBharat campaign. Peoplewho have taken broomsinto their hands for 15minutes for the first timejust for the namesake, gotfull coverage onnewspapers, TV and othermedia platforms. Butpeople who have actuallybeen cleaning our countryfor centuries hardly gotany coverage in themainstream media.

Narendra Modi announcedthe amendments in labourlaws, which will cause lesspeople to be covered bythem, meaning that peoplewho were out-casted fromthe villages by Manu-Smiriti will be thrown outof the ambit of the labourlegislations by ourgovernment.

According to BJP's rules,

those working undercontractors who areemploying less than 50workers should not becovered by the ContractLabour Act. This meansthat these workers can notdemand permanency andother social securitybenefits by fighting in thecourts, once theseamendments are passed.

In Thane MunicipalCorporation (TMC),contractors and corruptofficers have eaten Rs5,00,00,000 of encashmentof paid leaves of contractdalit safai workers.Kolhapur MunicipalCorporation is not givingRs 3 Crores, 6 Lakhs ofarrears to contract safaiworkers. Workers from theMunicipal Corporations ofSolhapur, Jalgaav, Pune,Amravati, Nanded and

Nagpur are paid less thanminimum wages.Moreover, safai workers ofthese MunicipalCorporations are notgetting even single socialbenefit. In NarendraModi's Constituency,Varanasi and all over UP,Safai workers are workingas “Samvidha Workers”and are getting less thanminimum wages.

Today workers acrossIndia are getting less thanminimum wages. They arenot receiving paymentslips, attendance slips,safety equipments,Provident Fund, ESI, etc.In UP Samvidha, workersare given Rs 120 less thanminimum wages daily.

In Kolhapur workersformed an union andapproached court to getback their arrears ofminimum wages. The

court ordered KolhapurMunicipal Corporation togive arrears of Rs 3 croreand 6 lakhs to contractsafai workers but till now,after 5 months since thecourt’s judgment, workershave not received themoney.

In India, not even onesingle MunicipalCorporation is followingthe law. They can notemploy contract workersbut all of them areemploying contractworkers illegally and thustaking the lives ofthousands of dalit safaiworkers. But todayworkers can go to courtsof get their rights back,although this will be notbe possible after theamendments by Modi'sgovernment.Consequently, workers(citizens) who are in direneed of being protected

legally are being kept outof the ambit of laws by theBJP government.

In TMC on Reti Bandar,Mumbra road, one dalitwomen safai worker diedwhile cleaning the road.Also, another worker,Ranjeet Dwarkanath Patil,has been admitted intohospital. But they couldnot find any place insidethe media space. It is themost unfortunate period ofIndependent Indianhistory.

Regarding above matters,and to protest against theamendments in labourlaws, safai workers fromsix MunicipalCorporations ofMaharashtra marched amorcha from Rani Baug,Byculla on November 26thand gave theirmemorandum to the ChiefMinister of Maharashtra.

26 NOVEMBER : A WEDNESDAYBaljeet , TISS MPhil Scholar

1101­15 December 2014INDIA The Sabha

The massive floods havesubmerged 450 villages, while2500 villages were severelyaffected, impacting lives of morethan 1,75,000 across 12 districts.The floods have swept awayhouses of more than 30% of thepopulation on and across theriver’s path. While the rural pooris the worst affected, the urbanpoor and middle class families areequally struggling with basicamenities such as drinking water,safe hygiene, communicationsand accessibility.

No. of Families supported bySEEDS with

Shelter relief kits314

No. of Temporary LearningCentres Established by

SEEDS23

No.of children provided withschool kits

2566Districts of intervention

Poonch & PulwamaNo. of villages reach out

74

23 temporary learning centerswere established for schoolswhose buildings were eitherwashed away or severelydamaged. This involved settingschool tents up with floor mats,temporary toilets and fire

extinguishers.

Towards Recovery:SEEDS plans a ‘cluster’ approachto early recovery transitioninginto reconstruction andrehabilitation. Broadly, theapproach would fall under twophases: an early recovery phasestarting now till the first snowfall(expected at the end of December)and the reconstruction phase, thatwill start in April next year.

To start with we have taken an“all of village” approach. Animportant feedback that we havereceived from the field (mostlyfrom Pulwama, where we workedin 35 villages during theimmediate relief phase) is that allhouseholds in villages have beenadversely affected, and that withina village, the community as awhole is closely knit with strongsocial bonds. In such scenario,singling out only a few “mostneedy” families may not beappropriate, and could potentiallybreak the strong social capital thatcurrently exists. Hence, anyapproach that we need to designhas to benefit all families in the

selected village.

SEEDS intends to constructinterim shelters for 200 mostvulnerable families across 16villages in Pulwama district ofKashmir.

Type of houses built and whySEEDS is constructing interimshelters for 200 families ofPulwama District of Jammu &Kashmir, who had either lost theirhouses or their houses has beenseverely damaged due to thefloods.

The interim shelter design hasbeen developed to ensure quickconstruction, use of local and lowcost material, acceptable,adaptable and replicable by thecommunity and protected fromharsh winters. Factors like snowlevels and seismic safety werealso considered.

SEEDS proposed design has beenput together based on thefollowing guiding principles:

1. Quick construction process

2. Low-cost construction

technology

3. Locally available materials like

Timber, CGI roofing sheets,

Bricks and Stone

4. Doable using local

construction skills

5. Acceptable and adaptable for

local community

6. Size of shelter as per average

family size in the region

7. Structural design considering

seismic safety

8. Plinth height as per snow level

in the region

9. Slope and thickness of roof

sheeting to take care of snow load

10. Thermal comfort and

insulation for sub zero

temperatures.

SEEDS begun the interventionwith construction of prototypeshelter on September 17th 2014 inKisrigam Village.

The beneficiary identified for theprototype shelter is Mr.GhulamAhmad Dhar, with sevenmembers in his family. He is amason himself and has beenextending his services to SEEDSteam at site for construction.

The prototype has been finished.Layout for shelter reconstructionof shelters for another 21households has been finished.Plinth work has begun for 6shelters and CGI roofing for oneshelter is currently in progress.

SEEDS social team undertakes

house to house survey for

selection of beneficiaries based on

certain criteria.

150 beneficiaries identified as of

now and survey is in progress to

identify the rest of 50 families.

Villages to be covered includeKisri gam, Larow, Nama, Marval, Ukhoo, Khadarmuh ,Pahoo,Ratnipora, Kandizal, Bandipora,Hajibal, Hanjipora , Gulbugh,Mohanviji , Dougam , Reishipora.Community meetings anddiscussions are held to identifythe most vulnerable families.

Currently the challenge faced bythe team is the fast approachingwinters. The construction of 200shelters is to be completed beforethe first snowfall in the valley.With expected date of December20th as the first snow, SEEDSteam is racing against time to getthe shelters in place before thatday.

KASHMIRFLOOD

REHABILITATION

Shreeja

The author is employee of Seeds India

A finished Prototype

a recap

Venezuela : When TISSUE paperto wipe your arse becomes moreimportant than thestrength of the local economy andthe country itself.

George Cicceriello Mohe, who teachespolitical science at Drexel university inPhiladelphia, warned of the recent tendenciesof social media and tweeters in an interviewto Democracy Now in february this year.Tweeters retweet with sympathy every timethey see protesters on the street, withoutnecessarily knowing what the story is, headded.

He said that the opposition took advantage ofthe student mobilisations to oust ademocratically elected government, raisingissues of insecurity and economic difficulties.These economic difficulties have beensevered by the Obama Government, whichcontinues to fund the opposition more openlythan the Bush regime, in spite of their violentmeans of action.

According to him, to destroy the economy isthe preparation needed to overthrowgovernment. This distraction in form ofprotest is actually limited to the wealthiestareas of Carcas, which is like Beverly hills.

In huffington post during the same time onlive interview, some of them were crying outfor not having a tissue paper to buy from thesuper market, when the government wastrying to become self sufficient, trying to pushthe local economy against all odds of theeconomic sanctions from the United States.

But the Venezuelan revolutionary movementwas never about Chavez or now Maduro, orany individual. It was..is about millions ofVenezuelans who are building a betterdemocracy, a deeper and direct democracy,who are building social movements andorganizations, workers councils, student andpeasant councils and local communes. And,they are defending their government.

The protesters, who were mainly students,came from the university who excludedpoorer students. The government's new bus

system offering clean and safer travel at lowprices was attacked and 50 of them weretorched in one day. The Bolivarian university,offering high education to people excludedfrom the university system, was besieged.

At the same time, the Washington Posthighlighted a left leaning moderate LeopoldoLopez, a 42 year old graduate from Harvard,who actually represents the far right wing ofthe Venezuelan political spectrum. He wasrepresentative of the traditional political class,actually a descendent of first president ofMexico that was displaced when theBolivarian revolution came to power. He isthe representation of the intersection ofcorruption and US intervention in true terms.And this guy was the leader of the oppositionagainst Maduro’s inciting violence.

Studies produced by well-funded NGOs(usually with ties to powerful states) havebeen regularly cited by the western corporatemedia to paint a grim picture of the country.They over-represent the problem which doesexist and under-represent the success ofgovernment binging down poverty levels andincreasing the human development index.

1201­15 December 2014WORLD The Sabha

On meeting Vladimir Putin,Canada’s prime minister, StephenHarper, said: "Well, I guess I´llshake your hand but I have onlyone thing to say to you: you needto get out of Ukraine." DavidCameron and Barack Obamapersonally delivered similarmessages, in slightly less hostileterms. From many other sourceswe hear that the relations betweenRussia and a few western states(US and the rest of the NorthAtlantic Treaty Organisation -NATO) are near to a new coldwar level. Can we expect tanksand troops invading a satellitestate, high-risk military gamesinvolving nuclear bombers as inStanley Kubrick´s Dr.Strangelove, gas supply cut-offs,and angry diplomatic exchanges?Who would benefit from it?

Escalating tensions betweenRussia and western countries ledby the US are reminiscent of thebad old days. The cold war, aglobal stand-off of immenseideological, military and politicalimport, began in the late 1940sand continued until thedissolution of the Soviet Union in1991. What was good about thatera, as some western scholars say,is that the bipolar world system,

communism vs capitalism, wasmuch more stable in terms ofsecurity than the present system,which has become multi-polar(China, US, Brazil, India, EU)and less predictable.

Today the "battleground" wouldbe less extensive, the battle-linesless clear. The particular triggerfor the resurgence of cold warthinking was Russia’s suddenannexation of Crimea in March2014. The Black Sea region hasbeen historically regarded byMoscow as its own for a longtime. It is, in fact, part of thesovereign territory of independentUkraine. However the Ukraine isdeeply torn between two worlds.Part of its population desires toapproach the European Union, theother part, similar in numbers,prefers historical ties withneighboring Russia.

Since March, the trouble hasspread. Russian-backedseparatists in the Donbas regionof eastern Ukraine are fightingfor independence, or at leastautonomy, against the western-backed government in Kiev,whilst Russia is implicitlythreatening western energysupplies.

Putin complained that westerncountries, 'not him', were pushingthe world towards a new coldwar. He said that the extension ofNATO membership in central andeastern Europe since 1991 hadbeen a “geopolitical gamechanger” to which Russia wasforced to respond. That responseincluded resumed long-rangestrategic bomber flights, tocounter similar US activitiesaround Russia’s periphery.“NATO and the United Stateshave military bases scattered allover the globe, including in areasclose to our borders, and theirnumber is growing,” he said.

The question of borders isinteresting. In May 2014 NoamChomsky came to Czech republicand during a lecture he said: "Theborders of Russia are at theborders of Russia but the bordersof the US start at the borders ofRussia too." The cold war logic(containment) is clear andhopefully exaggerated. But thedouble standards used by themedia in evaluating Russian andUS foreign policy, interferencesand invasions of differentterritories and states, are apparent.

Russia is, according tomainstream view, economicallyweak, deprived of foreigninvestment these days, largelydependent on incomes fromenergy exports at a time when theinternational oil price is dropping.But, although it may be aneconomic dwarf, it is still asuperpower - in terms of nuclearweapons. Also, the country has

immense natural resources and itis not unusual that Russians thinkthat the US wants control overthem. Maybe the support ofseparatists in Ukraine is based onfear, rather than expansionistambition.

The invocation of the cold war isnothing new. Most probably someRussians and more than a fewwestern generals actually miss it.Looked at another way, it couldbe argued that the cold war neverended. Bilateral proxy contestsfor power and influence havecontinued, though in differentforms - almost in each regionalconflict (Kosovo, Serbia, Georgia,Syria, now Ukraine) Russia´s andUS support stand one against theother.

Some of the worst excesses of thecold war period, such as armsraces in nuclear and conventionalweaponry, are now hopefullyabsent. Or at least seem to be. Theparanoid days of doctrines ofMAD (mutual assureddestruction) seem unlikely toreturn. But any sign of morehostile international environmentwill encourage countries to investinto their security and politicians-hawks will have more listeners.The atmosphere and the sense ofinsecurity in the world, evenwithout real threats, will createfertile ground for militaryindustries of the two world topexporters - Russia and the US.

Sources: Denik Referendum, TheGuardian, Le Figaro

RED pil lorBLUE

Adam

Alumni­ Msaryk University, Czech Republic

NEOcold war