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Just over one year ago, I had proposed this QoL Act for Mumbai, during some email exchanges with local Activists. I am now elaborating this idea below, hoping I will get some pro-active response.
Citizens using any public space have a right to go about without being forced to:
1. hear loud music, traffic sounds, azaans, religious incantations, spiritual speeches, fire-crackers, celebratory drums-taashaa, etc.
2. view adverts., mis-leading publicity, ‘fair and lovely’ type adverts, raunchy posters and hoardings, adverts diverting children, divisive adverts, hoardings promoting: politicians, religions, paranormal and blind faith remedies, etc.
3. absorb bad smells, open cooking smells, butchers working in open, rotting garbage, etc.
4. walk thru muck, rubbish, dust, rubble, open garbage, scavenging insects and birds, stray animals (dogs, cats, pigs, cattle, goats, sheep, horses, camels, rats), insect clouds, etc.
5. taste foul polluted air and water and have to wait for incessant noisy processions of all kinds, at all hours of the day and night, anytime during the calendar year.
6. see and touch badly maintained streets, footpaths, water fountains, building facades, parks, trees, public toilets, street signage / furniture, etc.
7. get caught up in extended traffic jams and wait for multiple green signals (upto 6 minutes per cycle), with incessant junction hawkers, beggars and eunuchs as company.
8. hardly ever get to use the footpaths, city bus or trains without anxiety and trauma.
9. do without easy access to information or guidance from the Regulatory, Statutory and Security Institutions, even after having powerful citizen friendly Acts like: RTI and Disclosure Law in the legal statutes.
10. do without adequate: libraries, health care, courts, education opportunities, job training, safety, recreation, sports facilities, housing, gardens, open grounds and spaces, city infrastructure, street furniture.
Surely ... more such points can be added. All our five senses are overwhelmed and minds distressed. Need for facilities for the handicapped and the distressed / deserted is only a dream. Children between two and fourteen are wandering the streets begging and ensuring they will be unemployable when grown up due to lack of work skills.
There is yet no holistic act / policy dealing with mis-use of public spaces or spaces in private areas which impinge on citizens at large. In a democratic society, citizens have a right to some minimum quality of life. All the points above prevent basic quality of life. I think, Mumbai needs a MCGM act to cover this basic right.
It is my hope to work on a 'green paper' for this cause ... MCGM Urban Quality of Life Act. I believe the existing MCGM Act is some one hundred twenty-two year old, and now has a patch work of amendments to cover each and every demand of the politicos, many citizen unfriendly.
We now need to get beyond such petty activity and go for something fresh and citizen-centric and friendly. Illegal banners, unwanted foot bridges, rusty city water pipes, encroached footpaths and inadequate agro-markets, bad roads, mis-managed Municipal Schools and Civic Hospitals, in-equitable home taxes, zero tolerance for pedestrians, vandalism, these are only the tip of the change that all citizens would wish to see.
QoL is described in Wikipedia at the link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality_of_life and a QoL-Index is shown at link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality-of-Life_Index where India is at lowly #73 for year 2005 and also at link: http://www1.internationalliving.com/qofl2010/index.php where India has a low score of 58 for year 2010. The Mercer QoL ranking for year 2009 shows Mumbai at a low #148 rank, see the link: http://www.mercer.com/qualityoflivingpr Various factors and categories are used, some may not be relevant for Mumbai today. The International Living Magazine places India at rank #88 out of 194 nations for the year 2010 at the link: http://forum.globaltimes.cn/forum/showthread.php?t=11938
I desire to have a limited debate; Activists could present papers on various angles to this basic premise of mine. Such a debate can be an essay ‘mail in’ from which ‘collation paper’ can be made for points to be covered. A five point grading (1 to 5) for various factors and categories with time lines and do-ables to improve on the grading should be included. I am not sure how one can go about this and request experts to guide this at the formative stage. A decent format-spreadsheet would be useful. Once a Citizens’ Document is ready, it can be taken up with the MCGM and the State Govt. for analysis and implementation.
I request all concerned well wishers to write on this topic: MCGM Urban Quality of Life Act (as a subject line in the emails) and email: jnm.movement@gmail.com Please include your Name + PIN code + Mobile Code so the same can be included in the 'contributors list'. If a standard document is referenced, please include its details for the 'bibliography'. Such a thread will enable me to follow up and hopefully make a summary collation :) for deeper study. Requesting your indulgence and comments.
