The Hindu : Victims look for work

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 16, 2002

Opinion

Opinion - Leader Page Articles

Victims look for work

By Kalpana Sharma

As the Gujarat Government seems uninterested in either reconstructing the destroyed homes or the shattered lives of the victims of the communal violence, the burden of that will have to be borne by civil society.

FEW IN Gujarat failed to notice the alacrity with which national leaders descended on the State after the attack on the Akshardham temple complex but took weeks to find time to comfort the thousands of victims of the communal frenzy that gripped Gujarat since March. These victims are still waiting — for a signal that will assure them that life will some day become "normal" again. At the moment, they have heard little that holds out this promise.

The Gujarat Government maintains that most of the camps sheltering the victims of the communal violence are now closed. Yet, the larger camps such as the one at Shah Alam or Dariakhan Ghumat still have a few thousand inhabitants. There are also smaller camps in the city. Their numbers swell whenever there is a hint of renewed violence. Sometimes women and children sleep in the camps, while the men spend the nights near their destroyed homes to ensure that these are not occupied by anyone else. Still others have moved into rented accommodation or are staying with relatives but still keep a link with the camps. These have become places not of refuge but of support.

Today, the issue uppermost in the minds of the victims is restoration of livelihood. "Give us work", is the universal demand. And this is where most civil society groups that worked on relief are now concentrating their efforts. The problems are at two levels, says Shakeel Ahmad of the Islami Relief Committee that has been in the forefront of the relief and rehabilitation efforts. One is that of people with businesses — restaurants, small workshops, larger factories — that were destroyed. The bigger businesses were insured. But they represent only a small percentage of the estimated 17,000 commercial establishments affected by the violence.

Some businessmen have decided not to take any chances in the future. For instance, Dr. Ahmad says many from the Chillia community, who are primarily in the catering business, are moving out to Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. They owned many restaurants on the Ahmedabad-Mumbai highway. Most of these eating places — many of them pure vegetarian and employing mostly non-Muslims — were razed to the ground.

The other more difficult and virtually invisible problem is that of the thousands of workers in the informal sector. According to some estimates, 79 per cent of Ahmedabad's economy, particularly after the closure of textile mills, is in the informal sector. It is the men and women dependent on this unorganised sector that have paid the highest price for the violence.

Take home-based workers who roll beedis, or make ready-made garments. They have to collect their raw material from outside and work at home. The finished product is either collected from them, or delivered by them after which they get paid. None of this was possible for weeks on end. The violence has destroyed not just their homes, but also their places of work.

Street vendors are another category that suffered huge losses. Their presence dominates many parts of Ahmedabad. Yet, in the highly competitive climate in which they operate, if the spot where they park their trolley or basket is left unoccupied for some weeks, inevitably someone else grabs it. This is what has happened to many thousands of vendors. Although many of them are being helped to rebuild their lives — for instance Action Aid India is providing the trolleys — they have lost their original locations. Even if they have managed to regain these locations, some of them cannot risk returning to the areas from where they conducted their business for fear of being attacked again. So today, they need help not just to replace the tools of their trade, and their capital, but also the space from where they can safely conduct their businesses.

According to the Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA), which comprises almost three lakh members most of whom are based in Ahmedabad, livelihood security is the most crucial issue for the future. In the last few months, SEWA has been engaged in rehabilitating its own members of whom 77,800 were affected by the violence just in Ahmedabad city. Of these, 22,800 were in camps. SEWA is arranging for loans and other assistance so that the vendors and home-based workers, who are part of the organisation, can get back to work.

The organisation has Hindu and Muslim women members and they remain convinced that the strongest foundation for communal harmony lies in recreating the economic inter-dependence that has existed between the two communities.

Based on calculations made by the Gujarat Institute of Development Research, SEWA estimates that over 10 lakh workers in the informal sector in Ahmedabad incurred losses totalling Rs. 179 crores in just 40 days, from February 28 to April 8. The violence, of course, continued sporadically over a longer period. As a result, many of these workers could not resume normal business. So the losses are bound to be much higher.

Another category of workers affected by the violence are those who had either permanent, or temporary jobs, in larger establishments. Many such workers have stated that when they reported back for duty after a forcible absence of several months, they were told that their services were not needed anymore. Babubhai Bedar Shah from the Jalampuri chali in Saraspur, Ahmedabad is typical of this type of worker. He says that he had worked as a private taxi driver for 15 years with a Hindu owner. When the trouble began, he returned the taxi to the owner for fear that it would be damaged. Once some semblance of peace returned, he went back to join duty but was told that there was no work for him. In his chawl there are 15-20 Muslim drivers who are out of work.

Unless these livelihood needs are addressed, life in a city like Ahmedabad is unlikely to return to normal. In the past, both communities occupied economic spaces that necessitated a considerable level of inter-dependence. Not all such spaces have disappeared, as is evident from the manner in which some of SEWA's members, irrespective of the community to which they belong, have managed to return to work. But this may not be possible elsewhere given the communal poison that has been spread.

Despite the general gloom, what is encouraging to witness in Ahmedabad, over six months after February 28, are the many efforts, large and small, that have been made by individuals who wanted to help. Efforts such as those by a well-known Hindu businessman who rebuilt the homes of 94 Muslims and Hindus in Juhapura. Or a group of young filmmakers from Mumbai who adopted a small chawl in Behrampura. After months of quiet and steady work, they have helped women to start working again, brought a smile to the faces of once traumatised children and restored at least a small measure of confidence in the community.

All this has been done despite the Government. And unfortunately, it could all be negated if the Government chooses once again to let loose the forces of hate. Peace hangs by a very slender thread in the Ahmedabad of today.

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