Employment And Civic Sense

Cattle herders were the experts in herding cattle. Not any more. It is the judiciary of India which has stepped in to impound stray cows roaming around the streets. And in Delhi, it has an added attraction. Catch one and you are rich by 2,000 rupees ($46). If the courts have got fed up directing the authorities issuing orders, imagine the plight of those using the roads. Delhi alone is estimated to be the heaven of more than 35,000 cows and buffaloes. Add this to thousands of stray dogs and monkeys.

Cows are sacred to those Hindus who have not met with an accident due to the menace. Only those who have not seen the fury of these animals on the highways and city roads can be prompted to be angry at the mistreatment to these animals.

The issue here is who is to blame? If you and me are confused, same is the case with judiciary. The Gujarat High Court has been hearing the cases about impounding the cattle from the to-be-conferred-Mega-city Ahmedabad for days together now. No body seems to be having a solution. The civic authorities face some of the toughest challenges when it comes to religious sentiments. Temples, Mosques and Church memorials right in the middle of the roads have continued for too long that the roads are now designed so as to accommodate these structures right in the middle.

What looks good for you may not be good for me and vice versa. One has to decide matters in its merit and not on religious sentiments. Take the case of Yoga. Preachers in India have become celebrities by curing diseases using yoga. The yoga advocates say, the practice can do wonders, especially in controlling anger. They also claim that the project had been successfully tested on some 100,000 prisoners in about 15 countries.

But take the case of a Norwegian prison where the yoga classes had a negative impact. The prison authorities stopped the yoga blaming that it had provoked "strong reactions: agitation, aggression, irritability, trouble sleeping and mental confusion".

There is a set of fixed rules that all civic authorities have to follow and that includes a clean and clear road and other amenities. Foreigners visiting the country have been writing how the country is a giant toilet. Everyone seems to be having no time but to relieve themselves. Other big aspect is spitting. So much so that the corners of buildings in Gujarat are painted with pictures of Gods so that at least seeing them, some may be postponing their urgent need to spit to the roads or grounds. That doesn’t always happen.

Having said so, how can you blame them? There is not a single public utility space in the entire city. So if you are roaming around the city and wants to relieve yourself, just sharpen your nose for the obnoxious odor and adjust your glasses to see clearly a corner. It is all yours.

This despite the fact that Gujarat has the distinction of having Environmental Sanitation Institute that takes pride in promoting a national toilet culture. Its head talks so much about toilets that many Indians know him as "Mister Toilet."

We are big planners and poor implementers. This is the reason that 61 percent of the 50 million plus people in Gujarat defecate in the open as they have no toilet facilities.

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