The Samyukt Kisan Morcha has called the nationwide bandh to intensify the farmers’ agitation against the Centre’s three agricultural laws. Whether or not Mumbai will shut down completely as part of the September 27 Bharat Bandh will depend on the stand of the Maha Vikas Aghadi, farmer union leaders have said.
The president of the All-India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), Ashok Dhawale, told Afternoon Voice “We have announced bandh and that would take place everywhere else in the state, but as long as Mumbai is concerned, it would depend on what Maha Vikas Aghadi Government decides. However, there will still be blockades and appeals to close shops in the city to some point. Again, we are not going to force anyone, people can render their support in solidarity with farmers.”
A state-levelmeeting of the leaders of various political parties, farmers’ organizations, agricultural labourers as well as women, youth, students and teachers have been planned for September 20 at Bhupesh Gupta Bhawan in Prabhadevi.
Speaking about the plans for September 27 Bandh, Dhavle said, “We will go down to the masses level everywhere and hold numerous meetings in rural areas, towns, and cities. Leaflets will be distributed in the seven days leading up to the bandh. This bandh will also coincide with the completion of 10 months of the farmers’ struggle, which is on September 26,” Dhawale added.
In a statement, Jan Andolananchi Sangharsh Samiti, Samyukta Shetkari Kamgar Morcha, All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee, Trade Unions Joint Action Committee, Unorganized Workers Struggle Committee, and Hum Bharat ke Log/Nation for Farmers called for a state-level preparatory meeting for Bharat Bandh at 5 pm on September 20.
For almost 200 years, the media has been working to expand Hindi on a global scale. The name of the first Hindi newspaper was “Udant Martand”, which was published in Calcutta in 1826. Even before independence, businessmen from all over the world used to learn Hindi, because for doing business in India, they were needed to know Hindi. Owing to having a big size of the market, the Indian market was the source of earning much more profit for businessmen from all over the world.
India was therefore the centre of attraction for many countries of the world. Today’s media is also drenched in the colour of Hindi. In general, the medium of its communication is Hindi, because, in India, most people speak Hindi & also understand Hindi. Hindi is the language of communication for all in print, electronic, social or web media.
Radio in India started in the third decade of the twentieth century, while Doordarshan started in the sixth decade of the twentieth century. Private TV channels also came to India in the nineties of the twentieth century. The Internet also came in this decade, but social media and web media came to India in the first decade of the twenty-first century. With the arrival of these new faces of the media, there was an unprecedented speed in the spread of Hindi in the country and abroad. Hindi was heard and learned even in the states where Hindi was not spoken.
Dainik Bhaskar, a Hindi daily, is today the most circulated newspaper in the country. The total circulation of Dainik Bhaskar Group newspapers in the period of January to June 2019 was more than 54 lakhs. It is noteworthy that this number is even more than one million from the second-ranked Times of India group.
Today, most Hindi news, advertisements and programs are being broadcast on TV. Hindi is also dominated by social and web media. Hindi newspapers are also being published from abroad. For example, the newspaper “Hum Hindustani” is being published in America. Many Hindi portals are also being operated from abroad. For example, the Hindi literary portal “Setu” is being operated from America.
According to the 22nd edition of the World Language Database, “Ethno-Lodge”, English is the most spoken language in the world, with Mandarin in second place and Hindi in third place. About 113 crore people speak English, while 62 crore people speak Hindi. Today Hindi is spoken and understood prominently in more than 3 dozen countries. Hindi is even the second most popular language in America after English.
Hindi literature is very rich. It is full of emotions of heroism, devotion, spiritualism etc. It is compared with the best literature in the world. Hindi literature has been continuously enriching for the last 1200 years. The Hindi language has inherited a rich vocabulary of many languages and dialects. Hindi has openly accepted words from Arabic-Persian, Urdu, English, Sanskrit, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Oriya and dialects of Awadhi, Magahi, Bhojpuri, Brajbhasha, Bundelkhandi etc. People of the country and abroad are also learning Hindi to read Hindi writers and poets. Many people have learned Hindi for reading the novel “Chandrakanta-Santati” which was written by Devaki Nandan Khatri.
The Hindi language is also technically flexible, as it can be easily used on computers, the internet, social and web media. Today, many books, newspapers and magazines are being published in the Hindi language on topics related to technology and business. Hindi has become internet and computer friendly. Hindi is also the language of email, social media, and web media. Hindi has become the vehicle of the development of science and technology and business. Today, books related to science and business are being translated into Hindi. Business newspapers are being published in Hindi, in which the names of “Business Standard”, “Financial Express” and “Economic Times” can be taken prominently.
Social media originated in the first decade of the 21st century. Social media is conducted through the Internet. Social media like Orkut was very popular during the year 2007. Later came Facebook. At present, Instagram, Twitter, Google, WhatsApp etc. are popular social media. The Hindi language is being used the most in all these social media.
Hindi is the language of the people and because of the media, today Hindi is being spoken and understood the most in India. Although faulty Hindi or Hinglish is also being used in electronic, social and web media, it cannot be considered as a hindrance in the development of Hindi. Due to this, Hindi is getting rich continuously. Most of the films are being made in Hindi because the film is the most popular medium of entertainment and partly education. Films of desi and foreign languages are being dubbed in Hindi and served to Hindi speaking and understanding audience, due to which its popularity is increasing rapidly.
The first condition for becoming a global language is that more and more people communicate in that language, it has the ability to assimilate the words of other languages, its literature should be rich etc. If seen, Hindi meets all these criteria. This is the reason why it is expanding rapidly in the world.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of AFTERNOON VOICE and AFTERNOON VOICE does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
Criticising the Central government for staying apathetic towards the farmers’ issues for a year now, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Friday said that the government had betrayed the farmers by bringing in ‘black laws’ on September 17, 2020.
Addressing party workers outside Rakabganj gurdwara, Badal was participating in the protest march organised by SAD to observe ‘black day’ on the completion of one year of the enactment of three farm laws.
Mocking the government’s slogan of ‘Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas’, Badal said that with the introduction of these farm laws, the government has brutally crushed all the promises they did to the farmers.
“They promised to double the income of farmers by the year 2022 but introduced these black laws. Not only did they betray their ally parties, but also betrayed all the farmers of this country,” she stated.
“Many people of Punjab shed their blood during the independence struggle. The farmers of Punjab gave food to the people of this nation when the country was begging for food grains from foreign countries,” she added.
Adding that SAD has always stood against brutality, Badal said that they would not stay quiet if the government does not scrap the farm laws. She, along with the SAD workers, raised slogans against the farm laws.
The SAD leader also condemned the government for not letting people inside the national capital. “The farmers, even women, were stopped on the borders. Despite all these restrictions, there are so many of us here to protest against these black laws,” she said.
SAD General Secretary Prem Singh Chandumajra on Thursday had informed that their party will hold a protest march from Gurudwara Rakabganj to Parliament in Delhi and will demand repealing of the three farm laws.
In the wake of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, Delhi Police issued a notice to SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal and spokesperson Daljit Singh Cheema stating that the protest march will not be allowed in the national capital.
Despite the notice, the SAD president reached Rakabganj gurdwara and the police have tightened security as the SAD workers gathered in large numbers outside the gurdwara to protest against three farm laws.
Farmers have been protesting since November 26 last year against the three newly enacted farm laws: Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; the Farmers Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and farm Services Act 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.
Farmer leaders and the Centre have held several rounds of talks but the impasse remains.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said that Narendra Modi was the first chief minister in the country to understand the seriousness of the climate change phenomenon and institutionalise its management.
He was speaking after planting a sapling at the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) training ground at Mudkhed in the Nanded district of Maharashtra, which made the security agency achieve the target of one crore sapling plantations in the country.
“When Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat, he was the first to understand the seriousness of climate change and ensure its institutionalised management. Many chief ministers focus on building roads, ensuring education facilities and drinking water schemes. But Modi also worked on climate change and worked for planting saplings,” he said.
Describing global warming and climate change as enemies, Shah said, “We have to protect the environment and natural resources.” He added that the CRPF has achieved the target of planting one crore saplings on Modi’s birthday, which is also the Marathwada Multi Sangram Din (Marathwada Liberation Day).
Shah paid tributes to the country’s first home minister Sardar Patel and the martyrs of the Marathwada liberation movement on the occasion. “Without the CRPF, the country’s internal security is impossible,” he said while hailing the achievements of the 3.25-lakh strong force for meeting every expectation.
He said one crore saplings have been planted by the CRPF in 170 districts across the country.
“The government can plant saplings, but CRPF should protect it. I urge every CRPF jawan to get associated with one sapling,” the minister said.
The actor with his selfless campaign for homeless migrant workers during lockdown earned him huge gratitude. Interestingly, it gave him a heroic stature that has often eluded him after so many years. Social media was buzzing with news related to his kindness and magnanimity.
In May 2020, during the nationwide lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Sood helped thousands of stranded Indian migrant workers to reach their homes by arranging buses, special trains, and chartered flights for them. In July 2020 he arranged a chartered flight to bring home over 1,500 Indian students stranded in Kyrgyzstan, flying them from Bishkek to Varanasi. His charity during the pandemic was lauded, and he was hailed as a real-life hero in India.
On 25 July 2020, a video of a farmer’s daughters plowing a field, like bulls with a yoke on their shoulders, went viral over social media. Sood quickly sent the family a tractor. On 5 August 2020, he helped 101 medical students, predominantly from Tamil Nadu, who was stranded in Moscow during the lockdown; reach Chennai safely on a chartered flight arranged by him after they contacted his team for help.
Be it sending migrants back to their home towns through all possible means of transport, or helping someone in need of critical surgery, or just someone needing a house — actor Sonu Sood has been the first one to extend a helping hand during this pandemic. The entire Covid-19 crisis till this point has seen him emerges as a Good Samaritan.
However, of late some people started calling him names and terms such as ‘biggest scam of 2020’. They claim Sood didn’t actually help migrants on such a large scale, and even shared screenshots, alleging that most of the people who sought help from him on Twitter have now deactivated their accounts. Whatever might be the reason for his philanthropic work soon he came in controversies.
He cites an example of one incident, which was questioned, and the people he helped himself came forward to clarify. “Someone said ‘Yeh log to foreign se kisi ko nahi laaye’. A couple of days back, a flight landed from the Philippines, and they replied on that tweet of students ‘You don’t exist, it’s fake. The students sent their boarding passes and flight number, along with college names to check. Suddenly, these trolls vanished. These are paid, people. One-two people run 100-200 accounts,” he shares.
Let us not get into undue controversy, because at least he is helping the needy people. Even if it is a publicity stunt if it’s a kind of his investment to get the attention, what’s wrong? That is helping thousands of people! Even in May 2021 when we were having 4 Lakhs + cases he was still helping people, with the arrangement of Oxygen Cylinders and much more. I don’t really know if a man can do this much for a long time if he doesn’t do it heartily. But still, let us assume it’s publicity…Let it be then! Such publicities are good for the country.
About the so-called deleted accounts of those who asked for help? The actor already clarified that those tweets had sensitive data, which the concerned people seeking help deleted afterwards. “Just think… if someone had shared their Aadhaar card, phone number, and after he had helped them, they delete it. Why would they want their details to remain there?
In fact, the actor requests the trolls to use the money they earn from this, to further help those in need. “Their kitchen runs with this. They earn money on every tweet, which is fair enough. I’m telling them to run their kitchens, but the money which they get from trolling, help someone else, don’t keep it all at home.
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The raids come days after Sonu Sood’s well-known meeting with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who declared him the brand ambassador for a “Desh ka Mentors” programme for school students.
Sonu Sood told Afternoon Voice, “Let the authorities do their job, I will corporate with them. Will not be able to comment further.”
Though Sonu Sood has always maintained that his charity has nothing to do with politics. And at the same time, he has a soft corner for Shiv Sena in Mumbai and Aam Aadmi Party at large. Somewhere BJP sees him as a threat. Sonu Sood has won millions of hearts not only by his acting but also doing rendering help to migrants during the lockdown. Sood can influence Upcoming UP elections if he joins campaigns.
This morning income Tax officials went to his home in Mumbai, after raids at his offices that ended late last night. Tax-men are investigating Sonu Sood’s property deals with a Lucknow-based real estate company. Officials searched six locations linked to the actor yesterday, including the office of his charity based at his home in Juhu.
Opposition politicians had alleged a witch-hunt against the actor, whose philanthropy during the Covid crisis earned him the tag of the “saviour of migrants”. Sonu Sood arranged buses, trains and even flights to take hundreds of migrants, stranded and helpless in the lockdown, to their home state. During the second wave earlier this year, he organised oxygen for Covid patients.
In 2012, the I-T dept had conducted raids on premises of many Bollywood celebs including Sood. There were reports of allegations against his Mumbai property, which he had bought in Rs.30 crore.
Meanwhile, the BJP-led Union government has earned the disrepute of targeting opposition leaders and anyone critical of the government by using government agencies such as CBI, NIA and ED, along with the Income Tax department.
Till now BJP played its politics around condemning Nehru, hating Muslims, protecting cows, drinking its urine, but now they got into your education syllabus.
BJP has an ANTI-SCIENCE agenda because it’s very important for them that their supporters remain blind, emotional, and logicless. If anyone becomes a critical thinker, they would lose precious votes and blind supporters. That’s why we see regular anti-scientific statements coming from them
Modi once said “Our feelings of cold changed, the climate didn’t change”, “Evolution is wrong because we didn’t see ape turning to man” – Junior Education minister in Center Govt. “Cows exhales oxygen” – Education minister of Haryana. “Cow shit helps prevent cancer” – Some random BJP minister. There are many such mindless statements were made by BJP leaders. But their urge of
Commercialization and saffronisation in the education system have intensified.
BJP’s Madhya Pradesh government made the announcement that the Ramcharitmanas of Tulsidas will be part of the curriculum for undergraduate students and students of engineering will have to learn about Ramsetu — which many in the right-wing considers a feat of engineering.
This will have a 100-mark question paper and include topics such as “Spirituality and religion in root sources of Indian culture”, “Four ages in Vedas, Upanishads and Puranas”, “Difference between Ramayana and Shri Ramcharitmans” and “Incarnation of divine existence”.
There is also a proposal to include the biographies of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh founder Dr KB Hedgewar, Bharatiya Jan Sangh chief Deen Dayal Upadhyaya and Dr BR Ambedkar among other leaders as part of the first-year foundation course in medicine to instil social and medical ethics in students.
BJP is not only re-writing science but they are possibly rewriting every subject that will benefit their agenda. In early incidences references to Jawaharlal Nehru have been deleted from the new social science textbook for Class VIII. There was no mention of who India’s first prime minister was. The rewriting of history textbooks is an old priority of the Hindu nationalist movement.
In the 1970s, former Jana Sangh members in the Janata Party and the Morarji Desai government had asked for changes in textbooks. In May 1977, Desai has presented a memorandum that sought the withdrawal of four history books — of which three were intended for use in teaching — from public circulation. The books in question were Medieval India by Romila Thapar, Modern India by Bipan Chandra, Freedom Struggle by A. Tripathi, Barun De and Bipan Chandra, and Communalism and the Writing of Indian History by Romila Thapar, Harbans Mukhia and Bipan Chandra.
The memorandum criticized these works above all for not condemning forcefully enough certain Muslim rulers — including Aurangzeb — and emphasizing that freedom struggle leaders such as Bala Gangadhar Tilak and Aurobindo were partly responsible for the antagonism between Hindus and Muslims.
However, the BJP succeeded in changing parts of textbooks in the state they formed a government in the 1990s. After BJP leader Keshubhai Patel took over as chief minister in 1995, the Gujarat State Board of School Textbooks published a Class IX social studies textbook in which Muslims, Christians and Parsis were presented as “foreigners”. It was also written that “in most of the states, the Hindus are a minority and the Muslims, Christians and Sikhs are in a majority”. A Class VIII social studies textbook also included a highly derogatory description of Christian priests: “The accumulation of power and wealth in the hands of the priests resulted in a perversion of the religion. Some of the priests became pleasure-loving and badly behaved.”
In the early 2000s, another social science textbook for Class X described Adolf Hitler in the following terms: “Hitler lent dignity and prestige to the German government within a short time by establishing a strong administrative setup. He created the vast state of Greater Germany. He adopted the policy of opposition towards the Jewish people and advocated the supremacy of the German race.
BJP Minister Satyapal Singh has said Darwin’s theory was “scientifically wrong” since there are no witnesses to humans evolving from apes and it should be removed from science books.
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat said all ancient civilisations such as Mahenjodaro, Harappa and our culture developed in places which are now in Pakistan. “Why didn’t Pakistan tell (India) to take another name since everything of ‘Bharat’ has emerged from here. So, we are ‘Bharat’ and you take any other name. They did not say this and rather wanted to separate from the name ‘Bharat’. Because they know that with the name ‘Bharat’, Hindutva comes in. And Hindutva is there, so is ‘Bharat’. Gog knows what BJP is going to gain out of all this drill of changing the history and introducing mythology to engineering students.
Madhya Pradesh government has introduced “Ramcharitmanas” of Tulsidas as part of the curriculum for undergraduate students and students of engineering will have to learn about Ramsetu — which many in the saffron clan considers a feat of engineering. For the medical stream, students will be offered the option of studying medicine in Hindi. On the approval of the syllabus committee for higher education, “Ramcharit Manas Ke Vyavharik Darshan” (Applied philosophy of Ramcharitmanas) has been introduced as an elective course for first-year BA students from the academic session of 2021-22.
Madhya Pradesh’s Medical Education Minister Vishwas Sarang told Afternoon Voice, “Very soon a committee would be formed to ensure that medical education courses are arranged in Hindi as well. In the near future, we will start medical studies in Hindi too.”
This will have a 100-mark question paper and include topics such as “Spirituality and religion in root sources of Indian culture”. “Four ages in Vedas, Upanishads and Purans”. “Difference between Ramayana and Shri Ramcharitmans” and “Incarnation of divine existence”.
In the foundation course for English, a preface to Mahabharata by C Rajagopalchari will be taught to first-year students — the objective, according to the order, is to help students develop “leadership ability and humanistic attitude by focusing on various dimensions of personality development”.
Madhya Pradesh made an effort towards having a Hindi curriculum for higher studies earlier. In 2011, the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Hindi University was established in the state for engineering and medical education in Hindi. But even after 10 years, it has made no headway. The engineering stream was discontinued in 2018 in absence of adequate faculty, translated syllabus, books and students. Medical studies in Hindi have not been started till date.
By way of students, the university has eight peons and two drivers; 74 departments are being handled by 29 teachers — all guest faculty. No recruitment has taken place in the last 10 years.
There is also a proposal to include the biographies of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh founder Dr KB Hedgewar, Bharatiya Jan Sangh chief Deen Dayal Upadhyaya and Dr BR Ambedkar among other leaders as part of the first-year foundation course in medicine to instill social and medical ethics in students.
Higher Education Minister Mohan Yadav said the changes were meant to “bring our glorious past to the fore”. The syllabus is being implemented “on recommendation of scholars”, he added, countering Congress allegations of “saffronisation of education”.
“It has been proved by a NASA study that Ram Setu was a man-made bridge-built millions of years ago,” he said.
MTDC owns about 128 acres of land in Gorai in survey nos. 46, 53,54,56,57,59. Some person called Dashrath Chavan informed MTDC about the encroachment on its land. He said he had struck a deal with a couple — Dinesh Pavle and his wife Fatima — for a big plot for Rs 20 lakh last year and paid them Rs 12 lakh. However, locals later told Chavan that there was a legal tangle over its ownership.
The said scam was exposed after MTDC officials were told in May about encroachment on the land. MTDC had tried to consolidate its landholding in the area in 2007, but the exercise was halted after locals went to court. The court had ordered that no construction of any kind would be done on the land without its permission.
Sanjay Dhekane, Sr. Manager Legal & Personnel of MTDC said, “The moment we were tipped of we carried out a survey. It was found that 20-25 guntha [a guntha is about .025 acre] from survey no. 53 had been encroached upon and a house had been built on it.”
Following a complaint by the tourism corporation, the local police launched a probe and found Pavle and his wife had made forged papers to pass off the land as their inherited property.
Adv. Ganesh Sudhir Vaidya, “Basically if a buyer understands that any property, he is dealt with is the government has undertaken a zone; then he will not buy it. The seller in such a situation should give an idea to the customer before transacting. The customer also must use his right to information about the land or property before he agrees. In such cases, the giver or dealer should not cheat his client.”
The couple made bogusly papers to show that the land belonged to their family. Police and MTDC are investigating the matter; meanwhile obtaining property search records from the office of the sub-registrar of assurances is a must if you are a buyer or seller.
A buyer has to give public notice in 2 leading newspapers, one in English and the other in the local language, giving 14 days to file written objections along with documentary evidence subtending ownership rights of the property, none of the above was taken into consideration by the seller or buyer.
Vijay Nalavade, Property Developer, “See the one who takes over a property. Firstly, one has to carefully study the site papers. He has to take advice from his advocacy. A big deal is never done with blind eyes. By the ministerial contacts will manage and digest this land in the government zone is the loophole these parties hide play with. Normally they think this assumption of Government land will be put easily in their pockets. Then when it’s an issue and the matte is hot, they start playing hide and seek.”
“The one who is fooled should appeal to the court. At first, he should register a petition on the injustice he has experienced,” said Raja Shirsat, Real Estate Broker.
“Meet the advocate first. Get a Land property search Report. A search report traces the history of a property that was the original owner of the property and how it has moved hands over some time before reaching the present seller. NOC is an important factor. Now when the money gets transferred from you can understand where the money is going in a private account or government account. These are the vital and important points one has to be careful of,” said Shiv Singh, Real Estate Manager.
“We had a piece of land at Gorai allotted by the Collector. We have found out some encroachments are happening there. We got a Complaint from Dashrath Chavan that some proxy specimen pretending to be this landowner is dealing in business to sell this property. We have then filed an FIR through Gorai Police Station. The Cops are investigating the matter,” said Sanjay Dhekane, Sr. Manager Legal & Personnel of MTDC.
“We haven’t got any such Information. On this issue and nobody or no one will be able to say anything on this matter. The ITDC has not got any such information on this,” said Ankush, ITDC, Chief Vigilant Officer (Dept).
Most of the slums in Mumbai are illegally occupied and gradually became legal habitats. See pans, collector lands, government lands are free passage for migrants and land sharks. Illegally occupied slums are steadily evicted by land mafias by giving them money or alternate accommodation.
What has happened is that if the slum is right in the heart of the city, it has a lot of value. In fact, Mumbai slums cost billions. This attracts all kinds of vested interests. The politicians promise money to the inhabitants, they get them registered as voters, they raise requests to regularize the ownership of land, which they occupy on humanitarian grounds.
When we talk about better standards of living it includes living in healthy neighbourhoods. Had it been a developed country, they would simply build alternative homes, move out the residents of Dharavi and bulldoze down the area to create a new township on the basis that the housing there does not conform to basic norms of housing laws.
We actually can afford to do that, without considering the billions generated by reclaiming all that real estate, but it will not stop until there are people willing to live in that mess. One day, as people get more educated and are more productive than people who live on casual labour, these slums won’t find anyone willing to live there. You will then find no resistance to reform the slums.
Land mafia often pays money to agents to move people into government lands and then declare it as residential or commercial land and take ownership.
Things are changing; it needs Indians to be better equipped with productivity so that they do not compromise with such situations.
Experts claim it is a myth that land is not available in Mumbai to house the poor–land is available but is owned by a powerful elite, which ensures that vacant land is not freed for slum dwellers. The National Commission on Urbanisation reported that 91 people in Mumbai owned 55 per cent of vacant land. This concentration of ownership, in fact, is a widely known phenomenon, accepted by government officials as well.
It is not that houses are not available in Mumbai, but these are unaffordable to the lower middle class. There are a few developers who control the Mumbai housing sector. We need to break this jinx and deregulate the housing sector.
In mid-2016, property prices in Mumbai’s business districts reached record levels, becoming, for a brief period in 2020, the most expensive real estate in the world is built in south Mumbai. Unleashed by a series of national-level industrial and monetary reforms, demand for residential and commercial property intensified among both local investors and global speculators.
Yet the increased demand was met with constrained supply — due both to geographic limitations (Mumbai is an island city with few transits linkages to the mainland) and a regulatory context posing restrictions or disincentives on certain types of development — prices rose dramatically if we look at the projects like Nijman, 2000; 2002; Bertaud, 2002). Responding to these market pressures, the local state began making certain highly valued lands available for development through a series of industrial land conversions, slum clearance schemes, and the de-reservation of certain public lands.
Construction activities in Mumbai’s island city and northern suburbs expanded, further bolstered by the growth of the finance industry, access to new sources of capital, and both funding and pressure from multilateral aid agencies. Although activity slowed somewhat after the mid-1990s peak when some speculators left and real estate prices began to ‘correct’, both prices and demand have remained high and property development has emerged as one of India’s and Mumbai’s fastest-growing industries.
With construction crews becoming a common sight throughout the city in the late 1990s, two new shopping centres then drew little attention when constructed in the Crawford Market area of South Mumbai, opposite the city’s police headquarters. The Sara and Sahara Shopping Centres opened in 2000, joining a myriad of new shopping centres and retail establishments that had appeared in the area in the previous five years.
It was soon learnt that the Sara and Sahara Shopping Centres had been built illegally by the D-Company, the city’s largest and most notorious mafia organization, on land belonging to the state government’s public works department.
As the details of the case came to light in mid-2003, it was learned that representatives of the D-Company had purchased the property from a small-scale businessman who had been illegally squatting on the public land. The D-Company then acquired the requisite building permits from the municipal building department, with the payment of hefty bribes, and constructed the buildings with few obstacles.
As more information about the D-company’s involvement in the shopping centre project surfaced, it became apparent that the mafia organization had been running a highly profitable property development business since the mid-1990s, constructing retail and residential buildings in other parts of Mumbai, as well as in Dubai and Karachi. Further investigation revealed that the D-Company was not the only criminal organization involved in such activities at the time, but that all of the city’s major organized crime groups had involved themselves in real estate and property development.
Poised on the northern edge of South Mumbai is a piece of real estate developers who would love to get their hands on. Rubbing shoulders with upmarket Bandra, Dharavi is known as Asia’s largest slum, but it’s actually much more than that–it’s a settlement in which people live and work, producing a wide array of goods and services. The government’s plan to ‘redevelop’ Dharavi is threatening a huge number of livelihoods.
Supported by an illicit nexus of politicians, bureaucrats and the police, the mafia has emerged as a central figure in Mumbai’s land development politics. The structural shifts that facilitated the criminalization of land development and the implications of mafia involvement in local politics are visible here.
Any suggestions, comments or disputes with regards to this article send us at feedback@www.afternoonvoice.com
The Samyukt Kisan Morcha has called the nationwide bandh to intensify the farmers’ agitation against the Centre’s three agricultural laws. Whether or not Mumbai will shut down completely as part of the September 27 Bharat Bandh will depend on the stand of the Maha Vikas Aghadi, farmer union leaders have said.
Criticising the Central government for staying apathetic towards the farmers’ issues for a year now, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Friday said that the government had betrayed the farmers by bringing in ‘black laws’ on September 17, 2020.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said that Narendra Modi was the first chief minister in the country to understand the seriousness of the climate change phenomenon and institutionalise its management.
The raids come days after Sonu Sood’s well-known meeting with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who declared him the brand ambassador for a “Desh ka Mentors” programme for school students.
