Two recent seminars discussed Bangalore's traffic in two different contexts, and I happened to listen in
Two recent seminars discussed Bangalore's traffic in two different contexts, and I happened to listen in.
The first was a two-day seminar hosted by the European Commission, and featured distinguished speakers from Europe and India. It had its share of speakers who were erudite and passionate, but not particularly articulate when it came to public speaking.
Daniele Smadja, the European Commission's ambassador, livened up the proceedings with her spontaneity and her delightful disregard for diplomatic gravitas. Two things I learnt about her, and that you're unlikely to hear about elsewhere: she is reading Ramachandra Guha's India After Gandhi, and she shopped like crazy for clothes when she got some time off during her two-day sojourn in Bangalore.
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AT HOME: Daniele Smadja, European Commission's ambassador to India, at the office of a garment workers' union in Bangalore |
Statistics ruled, as they should at what was described as an "information seminar".
The theme was what the European Commission was doing for the environment, hacks like me got to learn about projects that wouldn't have caught our attention in the clam of our everyday news reporting.
Daniele Smadja took us to the office of a garment workers' NGO in New Timber Yard, a congested
neighbourhood that the marketers would describe as downmarket. She sat on the floor with garment workers as they discussed their problems with journalists. Garments account for about 16 per cent of our export revenue, yet workers in the sector live miserable lives.
For some reason, the garment industry is not watched as closely as the software industry. No software firm would be able to harass its women employees the way garment factories do. Women are refused permission to go to the loo, or given targets that make it impossible for them to relieve themselves. They get no leave when they are pregnant, and supervisors use filthy language to get unreasonable amounts of work done. The minimum wage is about Rs 100 a day, and employers rarely pay more than what is mandatory. And ironically, what is produced in these sweat shops is sold in the glitziest markets of the world.
The European Commission is supporting many worthy causes in India, including those of garment workers, Devadasis and AIDS patients.
To return to Bangalore's traffic... Anumita Roy Chowdhury of the Centre for Science and Environment, Delhi, made a persuasive presentation about how many of our environmental problems could be tackled if we only learnt to allocate our resources better. She described Bangalore as a bus-and-pedestrian city, and made out a case for better public transport. The thing with Bangalore, as those of us living here know, is that the roads are always being widened at the cost of our footpaths. Our city is car-friendly and pedestrian-unfriendly.
Another meeting, addressed by Rajeev Chandrashekhar, MP, briefed journalists about a blueprint drawn up for this city by Agenda for Bengaluru Infrastructure and Development Task Force, better known as Abide. The best part of his presentation was what it proposes for our roads: more buses, more pedestrians, less cars, less smoke. On that happy note, till next week then.
