With the Slums in Tow
It must be frustrating to live in a major city but face daily power outages, water shortages and the stench of manure from urban-dwelling farm animals. Any reprise from this life would be welcome.
In India, gated communities are fast becoming popular for the people that can afford them. But the protected oasis provided by many of these communities is a quick fix to India's infrastructure problems, rather than a long-term solution.
In recent years India has witnessed a boom in the upper-middle class, much of it due to outsourced jobs from the U.S. and Europe. This population can afford some of the luxuries not available to all Indians, such as reliably running water and electricity, clean streets, even 24-hour security.
They also demand special services, maids, chauffeurs and gardeners. So over time, manual laborers who populate neighborhoods these nouveau riche were trying to flee simply relocate to locations where jobs are available.
“Townships are just one example of how Indian city planners increasingly focus on the upper strata of society and ignore the vast majority of city dwellers,” believes Krishna Menon, director of the TVB School of Habitat Studies in New Dehli.
Menon also points out that gated communities gated reinforce India's traditional caste system, a system the country is trying to shed. A recent New York Times article on India's gated communities suggests that these enclosed home sites, "pressed up against the slums that serve them, has underscored more than ever the stark gulf between those worlds.”
It's not that conditions for the poor are becoming worse. But the lack of infrastructure is becoming more apparent as gated communities face some of the same problems that Indian cities do. A story in Britain's Guardian newspaper says about Central Park, a new community outside of New Dehli,
The power fails, the air-conditioning switches off and the taps run dry. Unscrupulous developers fail to deliver, confident that they will never be prosecuted by India's slow-moving legal system.
Gated communities may provide families with more security, but they don't inoculate residents against the country's deeper structural problems. Since India is the world's largest democracy, where politicians as well as developers are responsive to the upper-middle-class residents, perhaps those residents should use their collective power to bring about changes that would benefit everyone.
Digg
Facebook
Google Buzz
LinkedIn
StumbleUpon
Twitter
Printer-friendly version
Comments
Urbanization and the Future World
Major factors for civilization to end were, trade war, urbanization affecting natural resources and environmental disaster, modern growth neglecting basic human needs, population growth and human degradation, rivalries and aggression, excessive regime expenditure and economic failure. Extinction of any civilization is gradual, prolonging survival depends on strength of the country’ social pattern and resources. Strong countries prolong until they commit mistakes to become weak. It is because of natural law “nothing is immortal”. All civilizations when reaching to its peak, the regime’s overconfidence on modern materialistic growth and neglecting approach towards natural resources became the root cause to their extinction.
Mesopotamian’s civilization with multi cities having finest cultural and literature achievements crumbled during 2300BC due to high toxic land unfit to agriculture. Between 1500-1000BC Indus valley civilization comprising two cities Harappa and Mohenjo-daro with more than 100 cities and villages were highly civilized knowing scripts of more 250 characters. Rivalries and devastation by flood weakened this civilization; later invaded by Ancient Aryans. Ancient Mayan’s civilization was the first to introduce accurate calendar, mathematics and astronomy. This developed society gradually ended due to rivalries, converting crop lands to inspiring temples, complexes, and homes, diseases and viruses. The Plagues of Egypt (absolute astronomy.com) Archeology and natural explanation - The Egyptian Ipuwer Papyrus is a single surviving papyrus holding an ancient Egyptian poem, called The Admonitions of Ipuweror The Dialogue of Ipuwer and the Lord of All.... describes a series of calamities befalling Egypt, including a river turned to blood, men behaving as wild ibises, and the land generally turned upside down. However, this is usually thought to describe a general and long term ecological disaster lasting for a period of decades, such as that which destroyed the old kingdom.
Disrupted natural resources accounted falling of major civilizations. Major factor of each civilization’s disintegration was devastating agriculture land and ecological disaster. Most civilizations neglected the role of rivers when reached to modern growth. The situation applies to our modern world too as most of world river water unused end up in sea. Forests are converted to agricultural land, and agricultural land to urban cities, rising population and consumption of fuel, industrial commodities mounting up pollution for species. Anarchy formed by heavy urbanization and urban industrialization and so on.
http://www.sadashivan.com/negativepositivefactorsandwe/id19.html
Learning and understanding mistakes of ancient civilizations is the solution to global warming and spreading new diseases and viruses. Natural law needs modification in systems to suit circumstances. Following one system for all circumstances is blunder. We must study nature and its behavior in order to implement in social culture and economical life. Understanding nature and its laws will definite solution to our present world.
http://www.sadashivan.com/negativepositivefactorsandwe/id18.html
Capitalism at work. Not
Capitalism at work. Not always the prettiest thing, but maybe a step in the right direction??
Post new comment