Future Now
The IFTF Blog
Prasad, Goyal, Sirohi, local communities of participation, Delhi, 01/11/09
Family Background
Mr Prasad, Mr Goyal and Mr Sirohi are in their 60s, they are office bearers of the Resident Welfare Association of Ansals Housing Society in Greater Noida. All of them have retired and moved to Greater Noida, a suburb of Delhi, in the last three years. Mr Prasad is a retired mechanical engineer who used to work with the Steel Authority of India Limited, a government run organization, where he was responsible for maintaining the power plant. He had about 100 people working under him -- from daily laborers to clerks to officers. Mr Rathi retired as a senior police officer with the Delhi police. When he was part of the service he was in-charge of the security of VIPs like the President of India. Mr Goyal owns a hardware shop in Delhi. He has retired and handed over his shop to his son.
Domain Specific Questions
We conducted a group interview with them where they told us about the issues facing their residential community and how they have formed this bottom-up organization to deal with everyday issues. Our group interview centred around questions of social networking and the creation of local communities of purpose, the use of diverse media and ICT in furthering social interaction and fostering communities, and future challenges.
All the residents of the colony have invested their life-savings and settled with their families into this colony with expectations of being provided a good neighbourhood with all civic amenities. Dispersed across this new settlement, are fifty members of the RWA far away from other neighbourhoods living in a colony, which was not developed as planned originally. Many of the promises and rosy pictures of developing a model colony turned sour with very little interest being taken by the private builder/developer and the urban authorities of Noida in this area.
The RWA was formed and later registered by some members who became conscious of a common future. The joined hands with a strong desire to break from feelings of powerlessness and isolation and come together out of need and with a vision to create a good neighbourhood. The basic activities of the RWA have been to collectively press and organize themselves to beget basic civic amenities such as regular supply of drinking water, uninterrupted power supply, security cover, sewage and sanitation facilities, maintenance of roads and parks and recreation areas, etc. Even the recreation zone and some of the delimited parks were converted and sold as residential plots. The property developer is charging each owner of land/flat a monthly amount as maintenance charges although in practice very few of these resources are being used for upkeep of the colony. After persistent struggle, an 11,000kv line was put in Nov 2007 with two transformers to ensure uninterrupted power supply to all the residents. Prior to that this area used to have very irregular power supply. Some brave residents even have filed RTI petitions seeking information to demand justice.
It’s a dispersed settlement where residents have to drive down to a nearby market to shop for basic daily necessities such as vegetables, milk, and bread, since there are no provision stores or market located in the colony. The association has made numerous written requests demanding opening of a vegetable and milk booth in the colony but these have not been met.
To foster a neighbourhood the association has started celebrating religious festivals such as Diwali and Holi and national days such as Independence Day and Republic Day and publicly affirm their presence to others. The local video channel recorded a recently celebrated community festival as well.
The RWA members hold elections every two years to elect their office-bearers. The association is registered at Meerut and they are charging an initial membership fee of Rs 1000 with subscription fee of Rs 100 per month in order to function properly and organize community programmes. The association members meet regularly once a month formally and informally members to discuss and socialize.
Networking and meetings between members are coordinated via domestic help, telephone/mobiles and SMS. Some members who are neighbours or friends also meet regularly and informally while walking and doing yoga. Currently this association is actively coordinating with resident associations of Jalvayu Vihar, the Chhat organizing committee, the Jat association, and parichowk.com (a virtual network of many organizations in the local area). They are looking into varuous ways they can leverage technology to connect with groups with similar interests.
The residents aspire for a clean healthy peaceful society, which is not lacking in any urban civic amenities. Another challenge the residents are facing currently is to get regular transport connections since at present they are heavily dependent on their own cars for everything from shopping for groceries to commuting for work or travelling for heath reasons or entertainment. They hope for better connectivity in the future and that they will have a good neighbourhood as more and more residents settle into the vacant plots/flats.
Most of the owners who have purchased land in the colony belong to educated professional backgrounds and the residents hope they would settle into the community and contribute positively. As one of them said, “we want our future generations to remember us by our selfless work." The youth are supporting the retired and elderly men with resources, providing information and training, and sometimes by doing things for the association. They are thinking of putting up their own website. At present along with the residents welfare association, the wives of many residents are meeting every month “kitty party” to socialize, play housie and discuss their family problems.
Future Questions
Speaking about the future five years from the present, the office-bearers opined that a lot would depend on their enjoying continued good health. The senior members hope to secure health facilities and a temple for common worship. While the youth members of their families want better fitness and sports facilities and cultural recreational facilities to be available within the colony. The office-bearers stated that they are worried about entry of bad elements, a rise in thefts, and deterioration in law and order in the area, since the region has a high crime rate.