Corruption in DDA that we have been pointing to for long has been caught. Since DDA has only one mandate, development according to Master Plan, this is about subversion of planned development. Since planned development protects Delhi and everyday rights of its citizens this is about harm done and being done to all. This is about usurping a tenth of Delhi’s land by denying citizens their entitlements and about as much more in other ways to make for a range of problems including a serious water crisis. All have set their gaze on some persons and some cases, none of which touch ordinary citizens directly. A question that bothers is how, despite the Constitution and democracy, ordinary people matter little amidst special people and thieves. Perhaps what is needed is to re-commit ourselves to the ideals of the Constitution and democracy. We will do so on the birth anniversary of the father of our Constitution. Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar since his views on democracy give us the confidence of being right in the way we think.


| All citizens are invited | Rangpuri Pahari | 14 April 2003 | 9 am – 11 am |

Our effort in pursuit of equitable Master Plan entitlements are in line with Dr Ambedkar’s following view of democracy:

  • We must make our political democracy a social democracy as well… a way of life which recognises liberty, equality and fraternity as the principles of life.
  • Democracy in India is only a top dressing on an Indian soil which is essentially undemocratic.
  • Constitutional morality is not a natural sentiment. …We must realise our people have yet to learn it.
  • Rights are protected not by law but by social and moral conscience of the society. If social conscience is prepared to recognise the rights…, rights will be safe and secure. But if rights are opposed by the community no Law, no Parliament, no Judiciary can guarantee them.

Our twin effort to support planned and oppose unplanned development is in line with the following by Dr Ambedkar:

  • What you have lost others have gained. …You have no lands because others have usurped them.
  • It is your claim to equality that hurts them. They want to maintain status quo. If you accept your lowly status …they will allow you to live in peace. When you start to raise your level, the conflict starts.
  • History shows …vested interests have never been known to have willingly divested themselves.
  • To idealise the real which more often than not is full of inequities is a very selfish thing to do. …to make such an ideal real is nothing short of criminal. It means perpetuating inequity on grounds that whatever is settled is settled for all times. Such a view is opposed to all morality. …the ethical doctrine is that whatever is wrongly settled is never settled.

Our view of the Plan, from which our group derives its purpose, is similar to Dr Ambedkar’s of the Constitution:

  • I feel the constitution is workable, it is flexible and it is strong …if things go wrong …the reason will not be that we had a bad Constitution. What we will have to say is that Man was vile.

The idea of a synergy platform of citizens’ groups is consistent with Dr Ambedkar’s view of a strong society:

  • The strength of a society depends upon the presence of points of contacts, possibilities of interaction between different groups in it… to bring the disintegrating elements together and to reunite them.

Our efforts for responsible citizenship and against politics of favours are in line with Dr Ambedkar’s following views:

  • There are different modes of survival… To fight in a battle and live in a glory is one mode. To beat a retreat to surrender and to live the life of a captive is also a mode of survival.
  • Indifferentism is the worst kind of disease that can affect people.
  • Being grateful has limitations, no man can be grateful at the cost of his dignity, no woman at the cost of her chastity and no country at the cost of its freedom.
  • Educate, agitate and organize; have faith in yourself.

Village Groups

Rangpuri Pahari Groups

Flat groups

Service providers

Mahipalpur Gram Sewa Samiti
Yuva Jagriti Manch

Vidyarthi Abhibhavak Manch
Nala
Hans Raj Camp
Malakpur Kohi

Vasant Kunj

Rehri Patri Vyapari Ekta Manch
Arjun Camp
Rajiv Gandhi Camp (ex)
Bandhu Camp