The death of a Hawker in Calcutta – Who is Responsible?
Posted by Calcutta Board in Calcutta/Kolkata Jun 23rd, 2008 | 3 CommentsHawker is not an English word! However it is a very common tern in Calcutta. In 1996, the left front government started the “Operation Sunshine” to eradicate hawkers from the Calcutta’s pavements. During the clean up even by Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) about 1640 stalls were ransacked, looted, set on fire and razed to the ground. 102 hawkers were arrested.
Facts:
1. Hawkers in Kolkata numbering 275,000 generated business worth Rs. 8,772 crore (around 2 billion U.S. dollars) in 2005.
2. Almost 80 per cent of the pavements in Calcutta were encroached by hawkers and illegal settlers
Why?
Polulation is Calcutta has grown dramatically in last several decades. The extreme polpulation growth did not offer everybody a better life. Instend, like many other urban cities in India, the new population found themselves surrounded by huge poverty. The 1951 census found that only 33.2 percent of Kolkata’s inhabitants were city-born, the rest were immigrants: 12.3 percent were from elsewhere in West Bengal, 26.6 percent from other Indian states, and 26.9 percent from East Pakistan. In 1981, the Government of West Bengal estimated the total number of persons displaced from East Bengal to the state to be around 8 million or one sixth of the total population of the state. Several million refugees settled in the outskirts of Kolkata.
While the economy of Kolkata has been sliding backwards in many respects, there has been remarkable expansion in certain areas – real estate, information technology and retail trade. Big shopping centres have come up, and along with it there has been a large increase in small shops and pavement stalls. INOX like movie complexes are setting the trend in Calcutta Life. Several Night Clubs are keeping the calcuttans awake even late at night. Tata Nano is also reacing the middle class families.
Even after all of our improvents in terms of buildings and shopping complexes and fly-overs, there are still a great many people who has no job. There are too many young fellw with a bachelors degree looking for work. With more people, there exist more competetion. It is not uncommon to receive 100s of applications for only a mere 5000 rupess/month job in Calcutta. So, people are still exploring other options. When they are left with nothing, the choose Hawking as an option.
We see hawkers everywhere. They are at the streets selling cloths, books (think about College Square), food products (Futchka, Jhalmuri etc), electronics (Cameras, Watches, CDs, Movies, etc) and what not. But even being a hawker is not an easy job. There are too many hawkers selling too many products. Sometimes some of the vital sopts in the city are already booked by old hawkers too. Sometimes the Hawkers Association also have few things to say. So people have long started exploring various places apart from the city pavements in Calcutta. In local trains to Howrah or Sealdah, you will pretty much find every kind of products during your short journey including soap, tooth-paste, tooth brush, weighing machine, choths, foods, vegetables and what not.
Those hawkers hardly get any rest. They compete with other hawkers in the same compartment in the train. They sale their products cheap and does not make enough money compared to the hardship they have to take to earn their livelihood. They have also spread in buses for quite some time. Few months back, I read a news about a hawker selling some product in “Metro Rail” in Calcutta that made people mad!
They need some soft corner and some help from us. They are not stealing. They are just trying very hard to live and support their family. I am writng this long article in a very sad mood as I read about the death of a yong hawker today in one of the most read bengali newspaper. They reported that the death was not natural. The poor lad was late in catching the train. He tried to jump into a ladies compartment in hurry, but the ladies did not allow this 22 year old lad and pushed him outsite. He fell, lost his balance, cut both of his legs and finally died.
Who should we blame for the death of an innocent hawker? Lets see.
1. Hawking is illegal or you need some hawker ID from the hawker association.
2. Ladies compartments are “ladies” only.
3. Pushing a person outside the compartment is murder.
I am not sure who should we blame. If the ladies pushed him, there might have been some reason. They might have been harassed by some other hawker previously. Still, pushing somebody from a running train is simply inhumane. If you think deeper you will feel that it is also a fault of out city, we are not able to produce enjough jobs. We are failing to provide better life to millions of people. Are there are political reasons? Are there educational issues? I don’t know. But we desperately need a better city with no loss of young life. Lets pay some respect to the young hawker and learn a lesson from this incident and hope for a better future in Calcutta lifestyle.
References: I have partially used the reference for wring this article.
Calcutta Picture of The Day
Posted by Calcutta Board in Calcutta/Kolkata Jun 18th, 2008 | 1 CommentA view from atop the footbridge in VIP Road, Calcutta.
Missing Calcutta? Well see some more pictures at http://calcuttaglobalchat.net/photogallery
B.B.D Bagh – Dalhausi Square – Calcutta
Posted by Calcutta Board in Calcutta/Kolkata May 28th, 2008 | No CommentsB.B.D Bag is the shot form of “Binay-Badal-Dinesh Bagh”. The plase used to be known as Dalhousie Square and still you will see people referring BBD BAG as Dalhousie. This is a central business location in the heart of Calcutta (Kolkata) and close to “Dharmatala” of course! Binay , Badal and Dinesh all were freedom fighters and known for their courage. On December 8, 1930, they shot the inspector general of prison N.S Simpson. The BBD Bag was named after Lord Dalhousie, the Governor of West Bengal from 1947 to 1956. a
Did you know?
- BBD Bag was also known as “The Green Before the Court” and ” The Tank Square“?
- BBD Bag was heart of Kalikata or white town in old time?
- BBD Bagh has been declared among the top 100 endangered sites in the world?
- St. John’s Church is the OLDEST masonry in Calcutta?
Check out the Comple BBD BAGH photo Gallery at http://calcuttans.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=5124
Find more information from BBD BAG Wiki
Map Of BBD BAG Kolkata: (
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if you need more map, go to the end of the post and download recommended google software package!)
Agri Horticulture Garden – Calcutta (Kolkata): City Guide
Posted by DhumKetu in Calcutta/Kolkata May 10th, 2008 | 4 Comments(The Agri – Horticulture Society of India)
Picture: Flower at Agri Horticulture Garden, Calcutta (Kolkata)
Address: 1 Alipore Road, Calcutta, 700 027, West Bengal, India
Phone Number: 91-33-2479-1713/0834
Fax: 91-33-2479-3580
Email: ashi@vsnl.com
Website: http://www.agrihorticultureindia.com/
Area of Garden: 21 Acres
Hours of operation: 7 am to 11 am and 1:30 pm to 5 pm. Closed on Wednesday upto 11 am, on Thursday only open from 9 am to 1:30 pm
Bus Route: No 31, 35
Picture: Flower at Agri Horticulture Garden, Calcutta (Kolkata)The Agri Horticultural Society of India was founded in 1820 by William Carey on the Alipore Road, Kolkata. The objective was to develop and promote agriculture and horticulture in India. In course of time, the Agri Horticulture Society has already made numerous unique achievements such as introduction of various new kinds of cereals, cash crops, fruits, vegetables, flowers and more. The society also received “Royal” award by King George V in 1935. The agri-horticulture society is oldest of it’s kind in Calcutta. Membership is available to all irrespective of sex, language, race and nationality. Sri BK Nahata is the current president of Agri-Horticulture Society and you may find other council members here.
The Society offers various kinds of activities such as “Cactus and Students show”, “Foliage Plants Show”, “Home Growing Competition”, “Annual Flower Show” and more. In addition to these various shows, they also have various seminars and exhibitions. They also offers diploma via 1 year educational training course which includes “home gardening”, “bonsai production”, “mushroom culture” and more.
They also have various products and services to meet your needs starting at the basic gardening level. They offer genuine plants, plant protection chemicals, manures and fertilizers, pots, flower vase, books and many more.
They have nice parks and fields with eye soothing flowers and trees. It would be great to visit Agri-Horticulture garden with children and family. Specially during the flowers show visitors from various parts of the world come to visit the society. You should visit their official website for more information. Their official website is very well organized with loads of information.
Picture: Flower at Agri Horticulture Garden, Calcutta (Kolkata)
Picture: Flower at Agri Horticulture Garden, Calcutta (Kolkata)
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