North - South identity Crisis
Lieutenant Governor of Delhi Tejendra Khanna has that rare ability to call a spade a spade. Alas, this is no virtue in today's India. Khanna's recent statement, that north Indians "take pride in breaking traffic laws" unlike south Indian drivers who are generally more law-abiding, has created a furore, with cow-belt politicians of every hue calling for his head. A couple of months ago, Khanna created another storm with his suggestion that all Delhi citizens would have to carry photo ID cards. Chief ministers Sheila Dixit of Delhi, Mayawati of Uttar Pradesh and Nitish Kumar of Bihar then united in their cries that Khanna’s proposal would only lead to further harassment by the police of the poor and the marginalized, in particular, migrant workers from UP and Bihar who constitute a large proportion of the floating population of Delhi. Khanna has since ‘clarified’ (read retracted) his statement. The general impression was that by forcing Khanna to backtrack, by insisting upon the right of the poor to not possess ID cards, our political leaders had somehow protected the interests of the poor.
This is a cruel, even dangerous delusion. In truth, the poor need proofs of their identity far more than the well-to-do, but they are unable to obtain ID proofs because of ruthless vested interests. For instance, those who live near or below the poverty line (BPL) must have a ration card to obtain food grain, sugar, kerosene for fuel. Similarly, they must have their names included in ‘BPL lists’ at the panchayat/block levels so that they can obtain ‘job cards’ and find work under the National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme. Yet, prejudice and sloth combined with wholesale corruption leaves tens of millions of BPL families without ration cards, job cards, or any other proof of identity.
This total lack of ID proof is in fact the primary reason why the poor and the marginalized suffer persecution and exploitation at the hands of the police as well as other state and non-state authorities. This is why we know nothing at all, nor do we care, about the men, women and children who are ‘hired’ by labour contractors to work on roads, railways, embankments and construction sites across the country. This is why we are largely unmoved by the butchery of brick kiln workers in Assam and migrant labourers in Kashmir, by the atrocities on the children of rickshaw pullers in Nithari. Without ID, these poor people are born to be exploited. They remain faceless in life...and in death.
© R. P. Subramanian., all rights reserved.
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