On 23 August 2023, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) successfully put a lander and a rover (Chandrayaan-3) near the south pole of the Moon. The entire world celebrated this scientific achievement and India rightfully highlighted its scientific capabilities through this achievement. Many Indians celebrated this event in their own way, my brother, who runs a small business, a sweet shop, also celebrated this by distributing two free jalebis (a popular Indian sweet) to all customers who visited his shop the next day of the landing. The same shop from which he earns his livelihood and supports his family, the same shop where he celebrated his country's marvelous scientific achievement, was ruthlessly demolished by the same country's government machinery whose success he was celebrating just a few days back. However, this is not the post about Chandrayaan-3 or my brother's loss. This is the story of India which on one side celebrates the achievements of some and then crushes the livelihoods of some who try their best to support their families by whatever means available to them.
The businesses that were demolished were present on private property but their fault was that they didn't have all the required papers or permits. So, instead of charging the fines, making sure that proper permits are procured, or dragging them into a court of law, the government thought the best mode of action was to demolish those properties without any due process. And this all happened in this century, that too in the country that calls itself the biggest democracy in the world. To tell you the truth, this is not the first time I have seen this happening. We have lived under the threat of demolition for more than 25 years in our home in Pune, India. The reason was the same, lack of proper government documentation. The home was built on the land purchased by my father but he couldn't obtain proper permits due to his lack of knowledge and also as no one else in that neighborhood had any permits. However, our home was never demolished as we had protection from the local politician, and that home still stands there even today, but we have seen other homes and shops getting demolished. Some of these demolitions were for land encroachment where people encroach on government land. At least such demolitions are somewhat justified as the land belonged to the government, but that's an exception and not the norm, most of these demolitions involve properties built on privately owned land. Such demolitions destroy families, as most of the time they invest their entire fortune to build that structure. For some it's their only home, for some, it's their only source of income, some take hefty loans to set up that business, some sell their lands and jewelry to raise money to build their dream home. Once such property gets destroyed these people have nowhere to go, their only shelter or livelihood is gone and the economic impact is so devastating that for most it is impossible to come out of the burden of debt and sense of total loss. Many times, these people get fooled by misleading or false promises by the land seller or their landlord, however, neither the landlord who rented or sold the land nor the government who demolished the property gets affected, and the only victim in all this is the family currently dependent on that property.
The lander and rover of the Chandrayaan-3 mission are sending photos of the Moon and ISRO is proudly sharing them. Indians are happy as this was funded by their tax money. I wonder what my brother and many like him whose investments and dreams are demolished by the government machinery must be thinking while looking at those moon pictures and then looking at the debris of their hard work. Will they feel any happiness about this achievement that was supported by their tax money when the same tax money was used to destroy their shops? What message is one supposed to get when on one side the government claims to encourage entrepreneurship and then ruthlessly destroys the businesses of solo entrepreneurs? What the country's youth is supposed to do when unemployment is high and there is a serious threat of government actions Two completely different pictures, from the same country: one happy, another very sad; one looking at the future with enthusiasm, another worrying if they can have any future at all; one shared all over the world, another no one bothers to even check. The same country, the same taxpayers money, but completely different outcomes, one optimistic another ruthlessly dark and gloomy.
Thank you for reading and please share your views on this topic.
© Vinay Thakur, All rights reserved, Vinay can be reached at thevinay2022@gmail.com
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