By Maxwell Pereira
It was the morning of September 7, 2003 when we were informed at Anand Vihar Police Stattion by Dr Rajan, on duty at the Shanthi Mukund Hospital in East Delhi, that a private nurse engaged to look after a comatose deaf and dumb 70-year old patient, had been raped and assaulted by the hospital auxiliary help, sweeper Bhura. The police registered a case on the statement of ward boy, Vyas Sharma, who following his nose on sighting bloodstains on the floor outside a bolted toilet door, had stumbled on to the victim inside. The girl had injuries on her face, and managed to tell the rescuer that she had been sexually assaulted.
Later in her statement, the victim gave details. That sweeper Bhura had tried to outrage her modesty while she was sleeping on a bench in the old patient’s room, and on her threatening to report against him, he had thrashed her mercilessly, tried to throttle her and raped her. When she regained consciousness she had found herself in the toilet with the door bolted from the outside.
For reasons of their own, the Shanti Mukund Nursing Home referred the victim to GTB Hospital for further treatment, even as the police lost no time in arresting the accused. A thorough investigation was also ensured, ‘midst all the accompanying public fury and the connected media, politician, government and women’s groups interventions, that any such case would naturally attract. And, apart from associating a lady police officer with the investigation of the case right from inception, the police also pressed into service its area Rape Crisis Intervention machinery through NGOs Pratidhi and Swanchetan, to counsel and provide possible succour to the victim and her family in the given circumstances.
Within four days of the incident, the victim’s right eye damaged during the assault, developed complications – ending up with the attending doctors completely removing it and further adding to the trauma. This led to more furore with allegations of medical negligence.
On the recommendation of the National Commission for Women, an inquiry committee was constituted then by the DelhiGovernment to look into the procedural and the medical lapses on the part of the hospitals involved. This medical board appointed by the Director Health Services was tasked to ascertain whether adequate and appropriate treatment was provided by both hospitals to the victim, whether there was any lapse or negligence on the part of the attending doctors or in providing treatment, and whether there was any lapse in providing the required security to the private Keralite nurse at Shanti Mukund. In its findings, the Board indicted the hospitals and many individual doctors severly for their role in the entire episode – but it is not known what action followed thereon.
An elaborate exercise was also undertaken all over, to evaluate the safety of nurses working in different hospitals generally, so that recurrence of such incidents could be avoided. The public outcry and the media attention attracted, necessarily made those in authority, the elected representatives and prominent party big-wigs and similar, to jump in the fray and join the bandwagon to say their bit, show their face, or make their presence felt.
Which also prompted some of these worthies, including the government, to declare sizeable compensation packages to the victim. But amidst all, one witnessed some other unsavoury human facets as well. Much as the case deserved sympathy and empathy for the sheer heinous nature of the assault, the mental trauma and agony suffered over the rape and the loss of an eye, there was no derth of drama and intrigue too on the part of whoever that could provide it, including the victim’s family who were not at all bereft of their own machinations or deftness at handling the matter.
Over time, the Shanti Mukund rape case slipped from public mind, as other rapes and more issues edged out the presence of its memory from one’s mind. All the while, the criminal case progressed. The charge-sheet had been filed and the trial went on. The police ensured that the witnesses deposed, and the prosecution did its job of conducting the trial. The case got the attention of the special fast track courts constituted by the Delhi Hight Court to try some sensational cases in the public eye with a view to ensure speedy justice. Till one day recently, the case burst on to the screen yet again with a bang – with Bhura’s conviction on judgement day.
This infamous case though, will not now be erased from public memory that easily. It will go into the annals of history, not just for the conviction, but for the attrocious and preposterous offer of the accused expressing condescendinly his willingness to marry the victim – made to the court on sentencing day before it could pronounce the sentence. It will be remembered for the manner in which the presiding authority of the court in turn, referred this indecent proposal to the victim prosecutrix for her consideration, justifying its act with the explanation that it was open to the prosecution to oppose the proposal and seek its dismissal. This shocking remembrance, despite the judge finally dealing out the maximum sentence of life imprisonment to the accused, after outright rejection by the victim of the outragious offer.
Strange indeed are the ways of the world. What would have happened if the girl had said yes! Would the judge have given a different sentence then even though there is no provision in law to consider it as a mitigating circumstance? What else? …well, one lives and learns!
900 words
16.05.2005: Copyright © Maxwell Pereira: 60 Ashoka Road, New Delhi-110001
Available at mfjpkamath@gmail.com & http:/www.planetindia.net.maxwell
Monday, 16 May 2005
Monday, 28 March 2005
Come into my Parlour ….!
By Maxwell Pereira
A while ago, the Delhi Police were seemingly bitten by an obsession to chase after the mushrooming massage parlours in town. Not without reason, the unsavoury hovering image of their propensity to be used as sleazy joints selling sex – always real, was rampant and glaring, assuming alarming proportions enough to attract adverse concerns for the community. A visit to the classified and other ad columns of daily papers is educative – how openly, suggestively, and aggressively the ‘services’ at these parlours are advertised, with nothing left to imagination or conjecture, despite whatever police intervention there’s been or is imminent.
Then after every raid, detailed accounts in news columns, of various services offered, the innovative masquerading adopted, and the sex objects used. The star-lets that fly in and out for a weekend binge, the house wives from so called decent backgrounds out for a quick buck with or without the knowledge of their spouse. And horrifyingly, of even tender lasses, be they from university hostels or the next door neighbourhood, who could always do with a bit more of the moolah to keep up with the latest fashion trends or the new model of the mobile phone in the market!
I am not sure what’s happened to these raids – for over the past few weeks now, one has hardly read any coverage on such raids by the police. Is it better sense, or for some other consideration? For surely, the parlours continue to exist and operate like before! Does it mean they operate now under police protection, supervision or active monitoring!?
I would be worried though, at any overly police interest in such activity, which should frankly be the sole concern of the local community. Through their RWA (Residents’ Welfare Association), may be as part of the Bhagidari stake for people’s common good as a whole. A valid and wider reason for this: Decent scientifically managed massage parlours are a necessity, since they tend to fulfil a community’s therapeutic needs. Properly managed, kept clean and transparent with whatever checks and balances prescribed, this activity can not only be a boon, but also an impetus to our famed medico/ physio-therapeutic tourism.
Massage is known to be the oldest and simplest form of medical care. Egyptian tomb paintings depict people being massaged. In all Eastern cultures, it has been continually pactised since ancient times. The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine – a Chinese book from 2700 BC, recommends “breathing exercises, massage of skin and flesh, and exercises of hands and feet" as the appropriate treatment for complete paralysis, chills, and fever."
Massage was among the principal methods for relieving pain, adopted by Greek and Roman physicians. And Julius Caesar had a daily massage to treat neuralgia. In the 5th century BC, Hippocrates the father of modern medicine wrote, "The Physician must be experienced in many things, but assuredly in rubbing... for rubbing can bind a joint that is too loose, and loosen a joint that is too rigid”. Not the least our own Ayurveda, the traditional Indian system of medicine, places great emphasis on the therapeutic benefits of massage with aromatic oils and spices. Practiced widely in India, it is now a craze in the developed world too.
Down the ages, doctors like Ambroise Pare – a 16th-century physician to the French court, praised massage as a treatment for various ailments. Swedish massage, most familiar to Westerners, was developed in the 19th century by Per Henrik Ling – a Swedish doctor, poet, and educator. His system was based on a study of gymnastics and physiology, and on techniques borrowed from China, Egypt, Greece and Rome.
Physiotherapy, originally based on Ling's methods, was established in 1894 with the foundation of the Society of Trained Masseurs. During World War-I patients suffering from nerve injury or shell shock were treated with massage. London’s St. Thomas Hospital had a department of massage until 1934. Later though, massage was eclipsed by breakthroughs in medical technology and pharmacology, as physiotherapists began increasingly to favour electrical instruments over manual methods of stimulating the tissues.
It is unfortunate that Massage lost some of its value and prestige with the unsavoury image created by "massage parlours”. This image is fading elsewhere in the world as awareness of its value and therapeutic properties keeps growing – even as we in India, despite our world famous ayurvedic massages, are still wallowing in the mire of the unsavoury image and usage, such parlours convey.
There is need to realize that Massage is now used in intensive care units, for children, elderly people, babies in incubators, and patients with cancer, AIDS, heart attacks, or strokes. Most hospices in the developed world have some kind of bodywork therapy available, and it is frequently offered in health centres, drug treatment clinics, and pain clinics. A variety of massage techniques have also been incorporated into several other complementary therapies, such as aromatherapy, reflexology, Rolfing, Heller-work, and osteopathy.
Today "massage is to the human body what a tune-up is for a car" – not anymore something for just feeling good. Losing the ancient stigma associated with blue light and red light districts for its re-juvenative or therapeutic value, it is a holistic therapy that reduces the heart rate, lowers blood pressure, increases blood circulation and lymph flow, relaxes muscles, improves range of motion, and increases endorphins, the body's natural painkillers. Therapeutic massage compliments and enhances medical treatment and helps people feel less anxious and stressed, relaxed yet more alert. Authorities may like to note!
900 words
28.03.2005: Copyright © Maxwell Pereira: 60 Ashoka Road, New Delhi-110001. (tel-23718822).
The author is available at http://www. maxwellpereira.com and maxpk@vsnl.com ; mfjpkamath@gmail.com
A while ago, the Delhi Police were seemingly bitten by an obsession to chase after the mushrooming massage parlours in town. Not without reason, the unsavoury hovering image of their propensity to be used as sleazy joints selling sex – always real, was rampant and glaring, assuming alarming proportions enough to attract adverse concerns for the community. A visit to the classified and other ad columns of daily papers is educative – how openly, suggestively, and aggressively the ‘services’ at these parlours are advertised, with nothing left to imagination or conjecture, despite whatever police intervention there’s been or is imminent.
Then after every raid, detailed accounts in news columns, of various services offered, the innovative masquerading adopted, and the sex objects used. The star-lets that fly in and out for a weekend binge, the house wives from so called decent backgrounds out for a quick buck with or without the knowledge of their spouse. And horrifyingly, of even tender lasses, be they from university hostels or the next door neighbourhood, who could always do with a bit more of the moolah to keep up with the latest fashion trends or the new model of the mobile phone in the market!
I am not sure what’s happened to these raids – for over the past few weeks now, one has hardly read any coverage on such raids by the police. Is it better sense, or for some other consideration? For surely, the parlours continue to exist and operate like before! Does it mean they operate now under police protection, supervision or active monitoring!?
I would be worried though, at any overly police interest in such activity, which should frankly be the sole concern of the local community. Through their RWA (Residents’ Welfare Association), may be as part of the Bhagidari stake for people’s common good as a whole. A valid and wider reason for this: Decent scientifically managed massage parlours are a necessity, since they tend to fulfil a community’s therapeutic needs. Properly managed, kept clean and transparent with whatever checks and balances prescribed, this activity can not only be a boon, but also an impetus to our famed medico/ physio-therapeutic tourism.
Massage is known to be the oldest and simplest form of medical care. Egyptian tomb paintings depict people being massaged. In all Eastern cultures, it has been continually pactised since ancient times. The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine – a Chinese book from 2700 BC, recommends “breathing exercises, massage of skin and flesh, and exercises of hands and feet" as the appropriate treatment for complete paralysis, chills, and fever."
Massage was among the principal methods for relieving pain, adopted by Greek and Roman physicians. And Julius Caesar had a daily massage to treat neuralgia. In the 5th century BC, Hippocrates the father of modern medicine wrote, "The Physician must be experienced in many things, but assuredly in rubbing... for rubbing can bind a joint that is too loose, and loosen a joint that is too rigid”. Not the least our own Ayurveda, the traditional Indian system of medicine, places great emphasis on the therapeutic benefits of massage with aromatic oils and spices. Practiced widely in India, it is now a craze in the developed world too.
Down the ages, doctors like Ambroise Pare – a 16th-century physician to the French court, praised massage as a treatment for various ailments. Swedish massage, most familiar to Westerners, was developed in the 19th century by Per Henrik Ling – a Swedish doctor, poet, and educator. His system was based on a study of gymnastics and physiology, and on techniques borrowed from China, Egypt, Greece and Rome.
Physiotherapy, originally based on Ling's methods, was established in 1894 with the foundation of the Society of Trained Masseurs. During World War-I patients suffering from nerve injury or shell shock were treated with massage. London’s St. Thomas Hospital had a department of massage until 1934. Later though, massage was eclipsed by breakthroughs in medical technology and pharmacology, as physiotherapists began increasingly to favour electrical instruments over manual methods of stimulating the tissues.
It is unfortunate that Massage lost some of its value and prestige with the unsavoury image created by "massage parlours”. This image is fading elsewhere in the world as awareness of its value and therapeutic properties keeps growing – even as we in India, despite our world famous ayurvedic massages, are still wallowing in the mire of the unsavoury image and usage, such parlours convey.
There is need to realize that Massage is now used in intensive care units, for children, elderly people, babies in incubators, and patients with cancer, AIDS, heart attacks, or strokes. Most hospices in the developed world have some kind of bodywork therapy available, and it is frequently offered in health centres, drug treatment clinics, and pain clinics. A variety of massage techniques have also been incorporated into several other complementary therapies, such as aromatherapy, reflexology, Rolfing, Heller-work, and osteopathy.
Today "massage is to the human body what a tune-up is for a car" – not anymore something for just feeling good. Losing the ancient stigma associated with blue light and red light districts for its re-juvenative or therapeutic value, it is a holistic therapy that reduces the heart rate, lowers blood pressure, increases blood circulation and lymph flow, relaxes muscles, improves range of motion, and increases endorphins, the body's natural painkillers. Therapeutic massage compliments and enhances medical treatment and helps people feel less anxious and stressed, relaxed yet more alert. Authorities may like to note!
900 words
28.03.2005: Copyright © Maxwell Pereira: 60 Ashoka Road, New Delhi-110001. (tel-23718822).
The author is available at http://www. maxwellpereira.com and maxpk@vsnl.com ; mfjpkamath@gmail.com
Tuesday, 14 May 2002
Traffic Cops and SMS
By Maxwell Pereira
Police Commissioner Ajai Raj Sharma inaugurated on May 13 the SMS (Short Messaging Service) of the Delhi Traffic Police. The aim behind the service is to provide aid and assistance in answer to queries from not only the average motorist of Delhi, but also to media persons and more importantly to traffic cops themselves, while operating in the field.
The service is accessible to any mobile phone user in the city. Commuters with cellphones can now get traffic related information by simply pressing a few keys on their mobiles. Information on traffic blockages, diversions, other ‘helpline’ services like pending ‘notices’ and area traffic offices. A database of 450 colonies is available for those who want more localised help. This provides instant information to a motorist about the local officer in charge, the address of the local traffic office etc – all on the basis of the area or colony name; a boon also for those whose vehicles are towed away… as is often alleged, to ‘unknown’ destinations.
A megapolis like Delhi has experienced in the recent past the impact of various technological advancements – not the least of them being in the area of communications telephony. Among them, the mobile phones – earlier considered as only a rich man’s luxury, have now become the favourite of all classes of people. This, especially after the steep fall in the rates for mobile-phone calls. Reportedly Delhi has over ten lakh mobile phone users presently, for whom the use of SMS has also become popular.
Consequently, and keeping in view the flexibility and versatility of SMS applications, the Delhi Traffic Police explored the possibility of adapting the various applications available on the Short Messaging Service through mobile telephony to reach out to the people – in matters concerning day-to-day traffic management. In the process, a wireless-application software ‘Solagem Manager’ provided by JKiNet – a division of JK Technosoft was customised at the Traffic Computer Centre with the help and collaboration of ESSAR Cellphones – for use of the traffic police, the media persons, and of the general public.
Among the various facilities now available are – motorists and vehicle owners with pending traffic violation notices can access the service on the basis of their vehicle registration number. Details of one or more challans pending if any can be accessed along with details like date and time and place of violation, the offence and the compounding fee payable, to sort it out at the Traffic Compounding Centres. More handy information is available to field traffic officers who can now not only get the vehicle ownership details instantly, but also run a background check on regular offenders and apply available provisions for enhanced punishment – eventually, further leading to likely suspension and cancellation of driving licences.
For those from the media – especially the investigative journalists seeking quick information on accidents and prosecution data etc, the facility is available as an authenticated service. They could avail the offer by getting their personal cellphones authenticated by the Traffic SMS Centre.
The Traffic SMS facility is available on number 9811452220 accessible to as many as 150 at any given point in time. This however is not toll-free. And the Traffic police caution you categorically against using mobile phones while driving. That would lead to prosecution and a hefty fine.
To get ‘Traffic Situation Information’…. on accessing the number, one needs to send SMS as ‘T’ for instant knowledge on traffic blockages, diversions or other problems at any particular time of day. This information is updated at the SMS Centre several times a day.
For Helpline services one needs to format ‘H’… and give the location from where the service is accessed. Instantly, the name of the local traffic officer with the location and address of he traffic office will appear as response output.
For information on Notices, one is required to SMS ‘N’ followed by the vehicle registration number. For media services, it is ‘M’ available only to authenticated mobile numbers of journalists for cryptic traffic info on the day’s traffic priorities, press releases if any, accident and prosecution information etc. This service is expected to be further fine tuned as needs and possibilities emerge during actual availing of the service over a period of time.
Other authenticated services available only to police officers include the “Prosecution Information Service” accessible through the alphabet ‘P’… and the Accident Information Service” through the alphabet ‘A’ followed by the Traffic Circle code. For vehicle ownership data the access format is ‘W’ followed by the vehicle registration number… and similarly for driver license related data it is at the prompt of the alphabet ‘D’ followed by the DL number. These services are meant only for police officers.
There are further facilities of a ‘Broadcast Service’ and a ‘Information Insertion Service’. Through these it is possible to broadcast SMS messages to police personnel whose mobiles are authenticated in the police database. At any given time any number of those authenticated can be sent messages. In the Information Insertion Service, facility is available to the Administrator of the SMS Service to insert records into databases for Helpline, Traffic Info Services -, etc. This further facilitates regular updating of Traffic situation and other related data coming in from the field – be it from traffic patrols, Zonal Officers and traffic Inspectors, or from routine distress calls recorded in the traffic control or at 3378888 – the traffic helpline number, by the commuter public. Things like signal-light failure, power shut-downs, congestion or traffic-jams and so on.
This latest innovation on the part of the Delhi Traffic Police – who are the first in the country to adopt this futuristic and technologically savvy programme, is yet another step to tackle the city’s growing traffic problems by use of on-going advancements in technology – expected to benefit road users, press persons and traffic cops alike and provide especially the Delhi commuters some measure of relief.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
May 14, 2002: Maxwell Pereira, 60 Ashoka Road, ND-1: 3718822, 3731765: email maxpk@vsnl.com
(published in the Delhi Mid-Day on Wednesday the May 15, 2002)
Police Commissioner Ajai Raj Sharma inaugurated on May 13 the SMS (Short Messaging Service) of the Delhi Traffic Police. The aim behind the service is to provide aid and assistance in answer to queries from not only the average motorist of Delhi, but also to media persons and more importantly to traffic cops themselves, while operating in the field.
The service is accessible to any mobile phone user in the city. Commuters with cellphones can now get traffic related information by simply pressing a few keys on their mobiles. Information on traffic blockages, diversions, other ‘helpline’ services like pending ‘notices’ and area traffic offices. A database of 450 colonies is available for those who want more localised help. This provides instant information to a motorist about the local officer in charge, the address of the local traffic office etc – all on the basis of the area or colony name; a boon also for those whose vehicles are towed away… as is often alleged, to ‘unknown’ destinations.
A megapolis like Delhi has experienced in the recent past the impact of various technological advancements – not the least of them being in the area of communications telephony. Among them, the mobile phones – earlier considered as only a rich man’s luxury, have now become the favourite of all classes of people. This, especially after the steep fall in the rates for mobile-phone calls. Reportedly Delhi has over ten lakh mobile phone users presently, for whom the use of SMS has also become popular.
Consequently, and keeping in view the flexibility and versatility of SMS applications, the Delhi Traffic Police explored the possibility of adapting the various applications available on the Short Messaging Service through mobile telephony to reach out to the people – in matters concerning day-to-day traffic management. In the process, a wireless-application software ‘Solagem Manager’ provided by JKiNet – a division of JK Technosoft was customised at the Traffic Computer Centre with the help and collaboration of ESSAR Cellphones – for use of the traffic police, the media persons, and of the general public.
Among the various facilities now available are – motorists and vehicle owners with pending traffic violation notices can access the service on the basis of their vehicle registration number. Details of one or more challans pending if any can be accessed along with details like date and time and place of violation, the offence and the compounding fee payable, to sort it out at the Traffic Compounding Centres. More handy information is available to field traffic officers who can now not only get the vehicle ownership details instantly, but also run a background check on regular offenders and apply available provisions for enhanced punishment – eventually, further leading to likely suspension and cancellation of driving licences.
For those from the media – especially the investigative journalists seeking quick information on accidents and prosecution data etc, the facility is available as an authenticated service. They could avail the offer by getting their personal cellphones authenticated by the Traffic SMS Centre.
The Traffic SMS facility is available on number 9811452220 accessible to as many as 150 at any given point in time. This however is not toll-free. And the Traffic police caution you categorically against using mobile phones while driving. That would lead to prosecution and a hefty fine.
To get ‘Traffic Situation Information’…. on accessing the number, one needs to send SMS as ‘T’ for instant knowledge on traffic blockages, diversions or other problems at any particular time of day. This information is updated at the SMS Centre several times a day.
For Helpline services one needs to format ‘H’… and give the location from where the service is accessed. Instantly, the name of the local traffic officer with the location and address of he traffic office will appear as response output.
For information on Notices, one is required to SMS ‘N’ followed by the vehicle registration number. For media services, it is ‘M’ available only to authenticated mobile numbers of journalists for cryptic traffic info on the day’s traffic priorities, press releases if any, accident and prosecution information etc. This service is expected to be further fine tuned as needs and possibilities emerge during actual availing of the service over a period of time.
Other authenticated services available only to police officers include the “Prosecution Information Service” accessible through the alphabet ‘P’… and the Accident Information Service” through the alphabet ‘A’ followed by the Traffic Circle code. For vehicle ownership data the access format is ‘W’ followed by the vehicle registration number… and similarly for driver license related data it is at the prompt of the alphabet ‘D’ followed by the DL number. These services are meant only for police officers.
There are further facilities of a ‘Broadcast Service’ and a ‘Information Insertion Service’. Through these it is possible to broadcast SMS messages to police personnel whose mobiles are authenticated in the police database. At any given time any number of those authenticated can be sent messages. In the Information Insertion Service, facility is available to the Administrator of the SMS Service to insert records into databases for Helpline, Traffic Info Services -, etc. This further facilitates regular updating of Traffic situation and other related data coming in from the field – be it from traffic patrols, Zonal Officers and traffic Inspectors, or from routine distress calls recorded in the traffic control or at 3378888 – the traffic helpline number, by the commuter public. Things like signal-light failure, power shut-downs, congestion or traffic-jams and so on.
This latest innovation on the part of the Delhi Traffic Police – who are the first in the country to adopt this futuristic and technologically savvy programme, is yet another step to tackle the city’s growing traffic problems by use of on-going advancements in technology – expected to benefit road users, press persons and traffic cops alike and provide especially the Delhi commuters some measure of relief.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
May 14, 2002: Maxwell Pereira, 60 Ashoka Road, ND-1: 3718822, 3731765: email maxpk@vsnl.com
(published in the Delhi Mid-Day on Wednesday the May 15, 2002)
Friday, 3 May 2002
Truckers at large…..
By Maxwell Pereira
Transport is a derived demand, not an end in itself and should endeavour towards the most efficient way to move freight and people. An efficient transportation system needs to be run within environmental and democratic parameters of rules and regulations that regulate the activity. Road transport has to complement and strengthen other modes of transport – and in the process inter modal confusion and conflict needs to be avoided, as it results in huge economic losses.
Road Transportation is an important means for transporting goods. In India despite a vast network of railways more than 70% of goods movement is by road. Though contributing substantially to the economy of the country, it is strange that this activity is still not recognized as an industry – and it remains mostly privatised, localised and unorganised, with most of it manipulated by big transporters, middlemen and their agents to the detriment of the majority smaller operators. The business is personalised like any other small, irregular and unorganised trade – carried out without obtaining any licence.
Not that I am suggesting that this activity should be licensed. But there exist no rules regarding eligibility for owning a truck – anyone and everyone with the money power to afford it, can own a truck. There are no effective rules or conditions for its parking and maintenance, nor for carrying specified goods. There are no rules for its employees, no rules for their homes and nature of their welfare, financial security, medical aid, compensation, or minimum wages.
In a democracy, people have a right to participate in professional and personal decisions that affect them directly and indirectly – and they should be given an opportunity and access to it also. While a certain selected lot owns the transportation sector, the actual operation is mainly dependent on people who man the trucks. These are the drivers and cleaners, mostly hailing from villages, who are more often than not illiterate, unaware and unemployed youth, who have little support, respect or avenues for survival. But with one advantage to their credit – they are all able-bodied, sturdy and adventurous.
Truck Drivers have an in-built fear of authority mainly because most of them carry fake licences or licences obtained through dubious means. They often carry fake documents for evading tax, violating permit conditions; indulge in carrying over-loads, extra passengers or illicit goods; and they are not averse to using intoxicants – in fact fortifying oneself with alcohol before taking to the wheel is often the thumb rule; which in turn, removes from them all qualms of conscience on the issue of violating various road rules and regulations.
A side of this driver/ cleaner lot is also observed to be their depressed state of mind and body, imbalanced from exposure to harsh climactic conditions, from unhygienic food, from unclean water and from irregular and long hours of duty. Because of bad treatment by their employers, by civic/ toll/ police/ transport officials, by broken down vehicles. And because of inadequate and irregular rest; with last but not the least reason being that separation from own family over prolonged periods of time.
As service providers to them, road-side ‘dhabas’ play a major role in their lives, since these places become their rendezvous points providing them facilities for toilet, bath, food, rest, at times finance, consultation, guidance, interaction, medicine; and also a pseudo family-like comfort; and a place for depositing, receiving or sending messages. Dhabas in turn have their own norms and culture depicting an environment where all religions and functions are celebrated without prejudice – becoming a place of infinite wisdom for and of the truckers, a place where they can forget all their worries.
The nature of their work exposes truck drivers and cleaners to diseases affecting the skin, lungs, eyes, their heart, also leading to hearing impairment and digestive disorders – as also depression. They have to however depend for treatment at their own expense, from unqualified doctors and quacks, resulting in further deteriorating health. Their career is then exposed to risks of life in accidents in which they are incarcerated – where too they have to contest cases at their own expense. And they are exposed to physical danger too at the hands of robbers, dacoits and truck-jackers, with not a few cases where criminals have done them to death with their bodies remaining untraced, or often going unrecognised for disposal as unclaimed. To sum up, the drivers and cleaners are also an apprehensive lot as their jobs are unsecured, temporary, un-respectful, without pension or provident fund, or other old-age benefits including insurance. Unsecured future breeds desperate individuals.
From this kind of a lot what kind of adherence to road rules and regulations can be expected!? The Traffic Police and other philanthropic bodies and NGOs have been holding health ‘melas’, counselling sessions, road safety awareness campaigns and free eye-testing camps for these truckers. During such eye-tests the majority of drivers are found driving their trucks with defective eyes. This, combined with their growing reliance on ‘spirits’ used as morale boosters for undertaking the arduous journeys ahead, turn them invariably into potential bombs – often with only devastation at the end of the tunnel.
In Delhi the movement of trucks relates mainly to wholesale markets of fruits and vegetables, food grains, fuel oil, iron and steel and other goods of the export market. Because of five National Highways converging into it, Delhi is also a thoroughfare for inter-state routes. Consequently, though trucks constitute less than five per cent of registered vehicular population in Delhi, their involvement is seen in almost 50% of the fatal accidents in a given year – on an average making them responsible for almost a thousand deaths on Delhi’s roads every year; their victims mainly being pedestrians and cyclists.
While trucks are a necessity for economic activity, they constitute a very major nuisance; by obstructing the free flow of traffic within the city by their erratic road behaviour, their sheer size and threatening bull-dozing power, and their polluting propensity through diesel emissions and use of pressure horns. In 2001, the Delhi Traffic Police launched 4.64 lakh prosecutions against truck drivers for various violations and offences.
The colossal adversarial data against them, and their increased involvement in fatal accidents puts truck drivers in the category of those with unstable state of mind, lack of knowledge of road rules, and no respect for human life or other road accident victims. It is necessary for the transport sector and committed NGOs to step in urgently to sensitise them to the requirements.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
03/05/2002: Maxwell Pereira, 60 Ashoka road, ND-1; 3718822, 3731765; email
(published in the Delhi Mid-Day on Wednesday the May 5, 2002)
Transport is a derived demand, not an end in itself and should endeavour towards the most efficient way to move freight and people. An efficient transportation system needs to be run within environmental and democratic parameters of rules and regulations that regulate the activity. Road transport has to complement and strengthen other modes of transport – and in the process inter modal confusion and conflict needs to be avoided, as it results in huge economic losses.
Road Transportation is an important means for transporting goods. In India despite a vast network of railways more than 70% of goods movement is by road. Though contributing substantially to the economy of the country, it is strange that this activity is still not recognized as an industry – and it remains mostly privatised, localised and unorganised, with most of it manipulated by big transporters, middlemen and their agents to the detriment of the majority smaller operators. The business is personalised like any other small, irregular and unorganised trade – carried out without obtaining any licence.
Not that I am suggesting that this activity should be licensed. But there exist no rules regarding eligibility for owning a truck – anyone and everyone with the money power to afford it, can own a truck. There are no effective rules or conditions for its parking and maintenance, nor for carrying specified goods. There are no rules for its employees, no rules for their homes and nature of their welfare, financial security, medical aid, compensation, or minimum wages.
In a democracy, people have a right to participate in professional and personal decisions that affect them directly and indirectly – and they should be given an opportunity and access to it also. While a certain selected lot owns the transportation sector, the actual operation is mainly dependent on people who man the trucks. These are the drivers and cleaners, mostly hailing from villages, who are more often than not illiterate, unaware and unemployed youth, who have little support, respect or avenues for survival. But with one advantage to their credit – they are all able-bodied, sturdy and adventurous.
Truck Drivers have an in-built fear of authority mainly because most of them carry fake licences or licences obtained through dubious means. They often carry fake documents for evading tax, violating permit conditions; indulge in carrying over-loads, extra passengers or illicit goods; and they are not averse to using intoxicants – in fact fortifying oneself with alcohol before taking to the wheel is often the thumb rule; which in turn, removes from them all qualms of conscience on the issue of violating various road rules and regulations.
A side of this driver/ cleaner lot is also observed to be their depressed state of mind and body, imbalanced from exposure to harsh climactic conditions, from unhygienic food, from unclean water and from irregular and long hours of duty. Because of bad treatment by their employers, by civic/ toll/ police/ transport officials, by broken down vehicles. And because of inadequate and irregular rest; with last but not the least reason being that separation from own family over prolonged periods of time.
As service providers to them, road-side ‘dhabas’ play a major role in their lives, since these places become their rendezvous points providing them facilities for toilet, bath, food, rest, at times finance, consultation, guidance, interaction, medicine; and also a pseudo family-like comfort; and a place for depositing, receiving or sending messages. Dhabas in turn have their own norms and culture depicting an environment where all religions and functions are celebrated without prejudice – becoming a place of infinite wisdom for and of the truckers, a place where they can forget all their worries.
The nature of their work exposes truck drivers and cleaners to diseases affecting the skin, lungs, eyes, their heart, also leading to hearing impairment and digestive disorders – as also depression. They have to however depend for treatment at their own expense, from unqualified doctors and quacks, resulting in further deteriorating health. Their career is then exposed to risks of life in accidents in which they are incarcerated – where too they have to contest cases at their own expense. And they are exposed to physical danger too at the hands of robbers, dacoits and truck-jackers, with not a few cases where criminals have done them to death with their bodies remaining untraced, or often going unrecognised for disposal as unclaimed. To sum up, the drivers and cleaners are also an apprehensive lot as their jobs are unsecured, temporary, un-respectful, without pension or provident fund, or other old-age benefits including insurance. Unsecured future breeds desperate individuals.
From this kind of a lot what kind of adherence to road rules and regulations can be expected!? The Traffic Police and other philanthropic bodies and NGOs have been holding health ‘melas’, counselling sessions, road safety awareness campaigns and free eye-testing camps for these truckers. During such eye-tests the majority of drivers are found driving their trucks with defective eyes. This, combined with their growing reliance on ‘spirits’ used as morale boosters for undertaking the arduous journeys ahead, turn them invariably into potential bombs – often with only devastation at the end of the tunnel.
In Delhi the movement of trucks relates mainly to wholesale markets of fruits and vegetables, food grains, fuel oil, iron and steel and other goods of the export market. Because of five National Highways converging into it, Delhi is also a thoroughfare for inter-state routes. Consequently, though trucks constitute less than five per cent of registered vehicular population in Delhi, their involvement is seen in almost 50% of the fatal accidents in a given year – on an average making them responsible for almost a thousand deaths on Delhi’s roads every year; their victims mainly being pedestrians and cyclists.
While trucks are a necessity for economic activity, they constitute a very major nuisance; by obstructing the free flow of traffic within the city by their erratic road behaviour, their sheer size and threatening bull-dozing power, and their polluting propensity through diesel emissions and use of pressure horns. In 2001, the Delhi Traffic Police launched 4.64 lakh prosecutions against truck drivers for various violations and offences.
The colossal adversarial data against them, and their increased involvement in fatal accidents puts truck drivers in the category of those with unstable state of mind, lack of knowledge of road rules, and no respect for human life or other road accident victims. It is necessary for the transport sector and committed NGOs to step in urgently to sensitise them to the requirements.
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03/05/2002: Maxwell Pereira, 60 Ashoka road, ND-1; 3718822, 3731765; email
(published in the Delhi Mid-Day on Wednesday the May 5, 2002)
Monday, 15 April 2002
The Tinted Tale
By Maxwell Pereira
Summer is in… and it is time for people to design ways and means to ward off the heat. Especially for those that enjoy air-conditioning in their cars, the tendency is to resort to darkening of their vehicle glasses with a ‘tint’ in the belief that this helps keep the heat out.
There are many other reasons too – imagined or otherwise, for people to want to be ‘tinted’. The need for privacy, to lend a form of style or aesthetics, the perceived need for security – single females driving alone at night often come up with this one, and for those criminally minded to keep their mugs and nefarious designs from public view.
Spelling out from the road traffic safety point of view some salient features on the use of tinted glasses, BHT Roberts MD in his book “The Causes, Ecology & Prevention of Traffic Accidents” has held that a filmed windshield or rear window can reduce visibility severely, especially at night. Slight tinting of the upper front windshield and rear window - especially along the glass borders, may help reduce both glare and vehicular temperature. But excessive tinting is undesirable because it can interfere with visual acuity and create excessive dimness on cloudy days. This goes for dusty days too. That while the equivalent loss of headlight power is 30%, the loss of effectiveness in seeing red brake or stop lights is 60% - as red light is transmitted through a tinted windshield with greater difficulty as compared to through an un-tinted windshield. That one can readily inspect a windshield for these features by standing in front of it and then visualizing objects in or behind the car. No distortions or other irregularities should be seen.
Provisions against the use of tinted glasses were incorporated under Rule 100 of the Central Motor Vehicle Rules – 1989; which read “…the glass of the front windscreen, and side and rear windows of every motor vehicle shall be such and maintained in such condition as to be clearly transparent and allow the driver a clear vision to the front and to the sides and through the prescribed mirror to the rear of the vehicle”. Enforcement of this rule was not immediate.
However, following a series of criminal cases in which the use vehicles with tinted glasses was observed during the early 1990s… when the Government decided to crack down on such ‘tint’ed activity, it was then observed that there were no clear cut directions in the Rule prescribing or defining the minimum level of transparency to be ensured, nor was there any equipment available with the enforcing authorities to measure the same. Consequently, the then Traffic managers of Delhi adopted an ingenious campaign against the use of tinted glasses by merely publicizing the provisions of law and putting the fear of God in the minds of those who did not conform, with veiled threats of the penal consequences, merely through advisory memos. An almost 99% success rate was achieved, despite a raging debate in the media on the pros and cons of enforcement against use of tinted glasses, ‘midst wide ranging protests and supports, with some labeling the entire exercise nothing short of quixotic.
Simultaneously though, the Delhi Traffic Police took up the matter with the Union Ministry to remedy the ambiguity, and consequently came the 1993 amendment to the Rule which laid down that …the glass of the windscreen or the rear window to be such that the visual transmission of light is not less than 70% while glasses used for side windows to be of not more than 50% opacity. Penal enforcement activity against tinted glasses then commenced, though not without some measure of opposition from some diehards!
In 1997 the High Court then intervened following a public interest litigation filed by advocate RN Bagai, wanting to know how the Delhi Traffic Police checked the 50% and 70% transmission of light through the glasses. Finding the checking resorted through the naked eye arbitrary, the Court directed that a suitable instrument be developed to check such transparency levels so that the legal prosecution be effectively enforced. The AGTME – “automatic glass transmission measurement equipment” was then developed by IIT Delhi in conformity with the testing procedures enumerated in the Indian Standards IS:2553(Part-II) of 1992 and authenticated as acceptable equipment by the Court after due testing and approval by the National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi.
Use of dark glasses or solar films and other material which restricts the transparency of windscreens and side/rear windows in violation of provision 100(2) of the CMV Rules-1989 is an offence punishable under section 177 Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 entailing a fine of Rs.100 for the first offence and Rs.300 for such subsequent offences. It would be advisable to adhere to the law and avoid hassles with the Traffic Police, since it is also possible to use the required ‘safety’ glasses or solar films etc within the parameters prescribed for transparency.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
April 15, 2002: Maxwell Pereira, 60 Ashoka Road, ND-1: 3718822, 3731765:
email maxpk@vsnl.com
(published in the Delhi Mid-Day on Wednesday, May 1, 2002)
Summer is in… and it is time for people to design ways and means to ward off the heat. Especially for those that enjoy air-conditioning in their cars, the tendency is to resort to darkening of their vehicle glasses with a ‘tint’ in the belief that this helps keep the heat out.
There are many other reasons too – imagined or otherwise, for people to want to be ‘tinted’. The need for privacy, to lend a form of style or aesthetics, the perceived need for security – single females driving alone at night often come up with this one, and for those criminally minded to keep their mugs and nefarious designs from public view.
Spelling out from the road traffic safety point of view some salient features on the use of tinted glasses, BHT Roberts MD in his book “The Causes, Ecology & Prevention of Traffic Accidents” has held that a filmed windshield or rear window can reduce visibility severely, especially at night. Slight tinting of the upper front windshield and rear window - especially along the glass borders, may help reduce both glare and vehicular temperature. But excessive tinting is undesirable because it can interfere with visual acuity and create excessive dimness on cloudy days. This goes for dusty days too. That while the equivalent loss of headlight power is 30%, the loss of effectiveness in seeing red brake or stop lights is 60% - as red light is transmitted through a tinted windshield with greater difficulty as compared to through an un-tinted windshield. That one can readily inspect a windshield for these features by standing in front of it and then visualizing objects in or behind the car. No distortions or other irregularities should be seen.
Provisions against the use of tinted glasses were incorporated under Rule 100 of the Central Motor Vehicle Rules – 1989; which read “…the glass of the front windscreen, and side and rear windows of every motor vehicle shall be such and maintained in such condition as to be clearly transparent and allow the driver a clear vision to the front and to the sides and through the prescribed mirror to the rear of the vehicle”. Enforcement of this rule was not immediate.
However, following a series of criminal cases in which the use vehicles with tinted glasses was observed during the early 1990s… when the Government decided to crack down on such ‘tint’ed activity, it was then observed that there were no clear cut directions in the Rule prescribing or defining the minimum level of transparency to be ensured, nor was there any equipment available with the enforcing authorities to measure the same. Consequently, the then Traffic managers of Delhi adopted an ingenious campaign against the use of tinted glasses by merely publicizing the provisions of law and putting the fear of God in the minds of those who did not conform, with veiled threats of the penal consequences, merely through advisory memos. An almost 99% success rate was achieved, despite a raging debate in the media on the pros and cons of enforcement against use of tinted glasses, ‘midst wide ranging protests and supports, with some labeling the entire exercise nothing short of quixotic.
Simultaneously though, the Delhi Traffic Police took up the matter with the Union Ministry to remedy the ambiguity, and consequently came the 1993 amendment to the Rule which laid down that …the glass of the windscreen or the rear window to be such that the visual transmission of light is not less than 70% while glasses used for side windows to be of not more than 50% opacity. Penal enforcement activity against tinted glasses then commenced, though not without some measure of opposition from some diehards!
In 1997 the High Court then intervened following a public interest litigation filed by advocate RN Bagai, wanting to know how the Delhi Traffic Police checked the 50% and 70% transmission of light through the glasses. Finding the checking resorted through the naked eye arbitrary, the Court directed that a suitable instrument be developed to check such transparency levels so that the legal prosecution be effectively enforced. The AGTME – “automatic glass transmission measurement equipment” was then developed by IIT Delhi in conformity with the testing procedures enumerated in the Indian Standards IS:2553(Part-II) of 1992 and authenticated as acceptable equipment by the Court after due testing and approval by the National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi.
Use of dark glasses or solar films and other material which restricts the transparency of windscreens and side/rear windows in violation of provision 100(2) of the CMV Rules-1989 is an offence punishable under section 177 Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 entailing a fine of Rs.100 for the first offence and Rs.300 for such subsequent offences. It would be advisable to adhere to the law and avoid hassles with the Traffic Police, since it is also possible to use the required ‘safety’ glasses or solar films etc within the parameters prescribed for transparency.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
April 15, 2002: Maxwell Pereira, 60 Ashoka Road, ND-1: 3718822, 3731765:
email maxpk@vsnl.com
(published in the Delhi Mid-Day on Wednesday, May 1, 2002)
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