In the week that TOI is celebrating the soul and essence of Delhi as a part of the India Poised campaign with a series of spicy food festivals, music concerts, dance and drama; the Supreme Court has decided to pull out another rabbit from its hat and announced the ban on street side food vendors who cook on the spot and sell their wares hot to the hungry Delhites. They are the essence of the culture as it exists in Delhi today and all Delhites irrespective of their social status have enjoyed exercising their social networking skills over a plate of hot samosas and tea. From office gossip to dating to de-stressing everything happens over a plate of street side hot and spicy fast food. So, enjoying a plate of hot choley bathurey with your friends while enjoying the sun-shine in a bitterly cold day will not be as common a site in the future as it is today. So, Delhites will face a cultural shock. Imagine the North Delhi University devoid of its sumptuous food stalls and Paranthey-wala gali without its paranthas and jalebis. The impact of the shock is something that only time will tell.
The reason for the decision is easy to see. With its decision to seal the un-authorised and illegal business establishments it had started the process of cleaning Delhi of its various maladies. With the high profile people being hit by the now in-famous sealing drive it comes as no surprise that the hawkers who have their business establishments on a wooden table or a wooden cart will be the next target. Looking at the sequence of events that have taken place the Supreme Court has very neatly robbed the people in the lower economic group to raise their voices in protest. They have seen that the higher economic group had been hit before they had been hit and therefore that argument of partiality becomes null and void. They have also witnessed the un-relenting stance that the SC has taken with respect to the sealing drive and therefore are forewarned that there is a very high possibility their protests will also fall on deaf ears. This would force them probably to tackle the new ruling in a positive manner than a negative one.
The impact on cleanliness and health will be a very positive one. Gone would street corners piled with used dishes, plates, cups which more often than not attract a multitude of pests and prove to be a death knell for the drainage system contributing towards the high levels of pollution. The entire populations of rats, flies, cockroaches have to give up the luxury of going to their brand of 5-star hotels. Health concerns arising out of eating in greasy plates, eating food cooked in oil of dubious quality, eating food cooked and served with un-clean hands, eating food which is made tastier by the dust of the road settling on it would be reduced. This would also ensure that the general health factors governing the overall health of the Delhites will also improve since these delicacies would prove to a little more difficult to purchase and hence see a decline in the consumption frequency. So the early morning walks will suddenly start having a better impact on the health and the fat around the bellies will start melting with a little less effort than what it requires currently.
Amidst all the good that is being done because of the decision, there are a lot of concerns too. Suddenly, a man who makes a decent, honest living by cooking and selling his wares in a road-side cart will be without a job. He has to spend quite some money to re-establish himself in the alternative places that would be allocated to them by MCD/NDMC provided they do keep their promise of doing so. The time required to do it and the additional cost of bribing the officials for having the right to earn a living might as well prove to be a death knell for his intentions of earning a living by honest means. It might as well prove to be a major factor in deciding whether the man is able to continue sending his children to school or does he have to pull them out of school and put them to work; whether he is able to pay the doctors' fees for illness of a family member. So a family that might be just on the margin that defines poverty in India might be pushed below that line. So the whole vicious circle of maladies like poverty, lack of child education and lack of proper health care for the family will be fuelled further. And the gap between the rich and the poor will widen a little more.
So, the fine balancing act that has was being done between the wellness of a citizen vs. the wellness of the state as a whole gains a more sensitive dimension. The businessmen in the higher strata of the society were able to withstand the toughness of the Supreme Court albeit with a lot of loud protests. It remains to be seen what the impact of this decision will have on the lives of the people who have been at the helm of defining the 'Delhi Culture'. Only time will tell.
The reason for the decision is easy to see. With its decision to seal the un-authorised and illegal business establishments it had started the process of cleaning Delhi of its various maladies. With the high profile people being hit by the now in-famous sealing drive it comes as no surprise that the hawkers who have their business establishments on a wooden table or a wooden cart will be the next target. Looking at the sequence of events that have taken place the Supreme Court has very neatly robbed the people in the lower economic group to raise their voices in protest. They have seen that the higher economic group had been hit before they had been hit and therefore that argument of partiality becomes null and void. They have also witnessed the un-relenting stance that the SC has taken with respect to the sealing drive and therefore are forewarned that there is a very high possibility their protests will also fall on deaf ears. This would force them probably to tackle the new ruling in a positive manner than a negative one.
The impact on cleanliness and health will be a very positive one. Gone would street corners piled with used dishes, plates, cups which more often than not attract a multitude of pests and prove to be a death knell for the drainage system contributing towards the high levels of pollution. The entire populations of rats, flies, cockroaches have to give up the luxury of going to their brand of 5-star hotels. Health concerns arising out of eating in greasy plates, eating food cooked in oil of dubious quality, eating food cooked and served with un-clean hands, eating food which is made tastier by the dust of the road settling on it would be reduced. This would also ensure that the general health factors governing the overall health of the Delhites will also improve since these delicacies would prove to a little more difficult to purchase and hence see a decline in the consumption frequency. So the early morning walks will suddenly start having a better impact on the health and the fat around the bellies will start melting with a little less effort than what it requires currently.
Amidst all the good that is being done because of the decision, there are a lot of concerns too. Suddenly, a man who makes a decent, honest living by cooking and selling his wares in a road-side cart will be without a job. He has to spend quite some money to re-establish himself in the alternative places that would be allocated to them by MCD/NDMC provided they do keep their promise of doing so. The time required to do it and the additional cost of bribing the officials for having the right to earn a living might as well prove to be a death knell for his intentions of earning a living by honest means. It might as well prove to be a major factor in deciding whether the man is able to continue sending his children to school or does he have to pull them out of school and put them to work; whether he is able to pay the doctors' fees for illness of a family member. So a family that might be just on the margin that defines poverty in India might be pushed below that line. So the whole vicious circle of maladies like poverty, lack of child education and lack of proper health care for the family will be fuelled further. And the gap between the rich and the poor will widen a little more.
So, the fine balancing act that has was being done between the wellness of a citizen vs. the wellness of the state as a whole gains a more sensitive dimension. The businessmen in the higher strata of the society were able to withstand the toughness of the Supreme Court albeit with a lot of loud protests. It remains to be seen what the impact of this decision will have on the lives of the people who have been at the helm of defining the 'Delhi Culture'. Only time will tell.
Read the viewpoints of a BBC correspondent here.
PS: This article is in response to an article published in the TOI. To read the article in TOI click here.
1 comment:
Well written. I just wanted to add something which immediately struck me post the court order. Talking about stopping road side food dwellers from selling open food items and only allowing packed food stuff to be sold, wouldnt it be more hazardous? In open we can atleast see the hygiene and then decide whether or not i want to eat, whereas with packed stuff, how will i be able to judge the hygiene condition of the place where vendor has cooked the food or also whether product packed is stale or not? Or is it that the vendors would be stopped altogether and only biggies who can afford high packing costs will survive? Whatever be the case Delhite like me will definitely suffer as how will i gorge on those chicken momos... whaaan
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