Priyanka Jain, Delhi Community Manager
For those of us living in Delhi today, let’s start our look at 2014 by admitting that we’re lucky. We don’t live in the city we lived in two years ago, where our political choices were so limited and our collective conscience was in a state of sleepy inertia. If you followed the debates and movements of the year 2013, you know there is still hope for our city. But all of this aside, we still have a problem: water scarcity through corruption, slum rehabilitation, and sexual assaults affect the citizens of Delhi across class, caste, and gender boundaries. Before Delhi progresses up the ladder of livability, the year 2014 will require answers to four big questions.
The Nirbhaya Fund
First, did the horror of a girl who was brutally gang-raped and injured, with a rod shoved inside her genitals, fast-track the reforms for women’s safety? The answer today is a resounding “No.” 94 percent of 2,178 people surveyed in the Times of India poll said that our cities aren’t any safer for women a year after the horrific Nirbhaya gang-rape. On the one hand, we saw the case as a catalyst. It led to the Nirbhaya Act, which increased the quantum of punishment for crimes against women, and to the “One Billion Rising” campaign, which galvanized women from across the world. But the perception of insecurity hasn’t changed. In the 2013-14 Union Budget, GOI announced the Nirbhaya Fund, 10 billion rupees to enhance women’s safety in public spaces. Year 2014 will show the effectiveness of Nirbhaya Fund in changing the perception of safety for women in Delhi.
Debut of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and None of the Above (NOTA) vote option
Second, will the introduction of the None of the Above (NOTA) vote option, and 2011 and 2012 anti-corruption protests, followed by the success of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in 2013, increase accountability in governance and help cut corruption? A total of 44,000 voters (0.63 percent) exercised the NOTA option in Delhi. The number, when compared to other states — Chhattisgarh (4.6 percent), Rajasthan (1.92 percent), and Madhya Pradesh (1.9 percent) — is quite low. But it has made the politicians more accountable. Another sign of progress is the unprecedented rise of AAP, with 28 seats in the Legislative Assembly elections. It’s most likely that AAP will form the government with the support of congress. But, more importantly, it has shaken up the political order in Delhi and spurred the parties to pass the Lokpal Bill. The Lokpal Bill, armed with the Right to Information Act, will provide the necessary institutions for people to fight corruption effectively.
Setback with Section 377 IPC
On the other end of the spectrum is the reversal in the fundamental rights of Delhi’s citizens with the recent Supreme Court verdict upholding Section 377 IPC, a law criminalizing homosexuality — a ruling that some activists called a “black day” for the LGBT community. It quashed a 2009 Delhi High Court verdict that had decriminalized homosexuality. Free for the last four years, will the LGBT community of India again face sexual assault, harassment, blackmail, and extortion by the police, neighbors, and even family members?
Water scarcity and Delhi’s tanker mafia
Water scarcity is Delhi’s biggest challenge, despite the fact that no other capital in the world has the kind of water availability Delhi has. According to Ashish Kundra, additional chief executive officer at Delhi Jal Board (DJB), Delhi has 670 million gallons per day (MGD) of water supply. The supply would go up to 810 MGD after completion of the Sonia Vihar project. And if divided by the 150 million people who reside in Delhi, it comes to 220 liters per capita per day (almost 11 buckets). DJB says that it loses 50 percent of its water. The speculation is that private suppliers or “water tanker mafia” tap DJB booster stations as well as bore wells in farmhouses located on the outskirts of Delhi, and distribute the water at exorbitant prices. If the above is untrue, where is the remaining 335 MGD of water supply going?
Photo credit: sandeep bisht