Earthquake in India
Weak State, Strong Middle Class?
Relief activities following the earthquake in Gujarat reflect the strength of the Indian middle class. Help provided by non-governmental organizations and local voluntary organizations dominates relief work in the afflicted area, as the Gujarat government seems to be unable or unwilling to assume responsibility. Although the involvement of the people themselves is of vital importance to the whole reconstruction process, it seems that the relationship between state and private initiative has become unbalanced in the earthquake relief in Gujarat. In co-operation with three student organizations, Platform AsiA organized a meeting on the Gujarat earthquake at the University of Amsterdam on 8 February, then drawing this conclusion among others. For almost forty years, staff members from the Anthropology department of the University of Amsterdam have been conducting research in Gujarat.
* By MARIO RUTTEN & MIRANDA ENGELSHOVEN
On Friday 26 January the state of Gujarat was hit by a severe earthquake measuring 7.9 on Richter scale. In less than a minute entire villages and large parts of cities were destroyed and the material and psychological damage is beyond words. Hundreds of thousands were injured by this earthquake, which claimed an estimated 30,000 lives.
Gujarat is one of the most developed states of India. With 200,000 square kilometres it is five times the size of the Netherlands and it has a population of about 45 million. Economic development of Gujarat has been accompanied by a high degree of social inequality and great differences between the various regions within the state. The Saurashtra and Kutch peninsula, at the epicentre of the earthquake, is considered to be one of the most backward areas of Gujarat. A major part of the population in this region lives below the poverty line. Moreover, in the past few decades the regions of Saurashtra and Kutch have suffered various kinds of natural disasters, such as cyclones, droughts, and famines.
MARIO
RUTTEN
Searching for bodies of relatives in Anjar one month after the earthquake.
Earthquakes are also a common phenomenon in this part of Gujarat. The last earthquake that caused large-scale damage in Kutch took place in 1956. Since then there have been various minor earthquakes and tremors in the region. As recently as 27 December 2000, the city of Bhuj experienced a minor earthquake measuring 4 on the Richter scale, only occasioning a few lines in the local newspaper. The severe earthquake of 26 January therefore, took the people of Gujarat completely by surprise.
Right from the beginning the Indian government fell short in its task of co-ordinating the relief work. Even months after the earthquake, now that the reconstruction process should be well under way, the Gujarat government has yet to take concrete steps and all decisions on how to help the victims and rebuild the affected areas are up in the air. So far it has only shown its expertise at producing ambitious but unrealistic plans and in making promises it cannot possibly live up to. Two weeks after the quake, the Chief Minister of Gujarat announced that 800,000 houses would be rebuilt before the end of June, when the monsoon starts. The only step in this direction that was taken during the first months was the setting-up of a twenty-hour masonry course to turn 8000 casual labourers into bricklayers.
But where the government has clearly failed, the people of India have reacted to the Gujarat quake in the most impressive way. Although foreign rescue teams and international organizations received huge media attention, most relief work Indians did themselves. Quake Relief Funds were set up in all the states. Financial support, relief supplies, and volunteers poured in from all over the country. Relief camps were set up by local voluntary organizations and large Indian business houses and other private organizations 'adopted' the rehabilitation of entire villages.
It is the first time that a natural calamity of this proportion has elicited such a big response from the Indian people. Earlier, for example following the cyclone in Kutch in 1998 and the earthquake in Latur (Maharashtra) in 1993, there was also help and assistance from the other states in India, but not to the same extent as that after the Gujarat earthquake. This difference can be only partially explained by the fact that there had been less material damage and loss of lives than in the Gujarat quake.
Middle class involvement
A more important explanation for the deep involvement of the Indian people after the quake of 26 January lies in the social composition of those affected by it. The victims of earlier disasters belonged mainly to the lower echelons of society. The 1998 cyclone had especially struck those who were poorly housed, while the earthquake in Latur in 1993 occurred in an area predominantly populated by 'tribals' and low caste people. What is different about the Gujarat quake is that those affected come from all strata of society. Close to the epicentre nobody, rich or poor, was spared. Farther away from the centre of the quake, in the city of Ahmedabad, it was the urban middle class that was affected disproportionately. Although 'only' 86 apartment buildings collapsed in this city of 4.5 million inhabitants, it caused extreme panic and great concern among the middle classes, most of whom live in multi-storey buildings.
MARIO
RUTTEN
Government emergency hospital in Bhuj.
It is precisely the social composition of those affected by the quake that has made it easier for the middle classes in other parts of India to identify themselves with the victims. As a result, they are more inclined to give some of their newly acquired wealth to help their fellow countrymen in need. This effect is further strengthened by the large amount of attention paid to the quake by the Indian media, which mirrors the recent increase in the number of private television stations.
Most of the relief that the Indian middle class provides is organized through non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Development work through private organizations has become a common phenomenon in India over the last few decades. These organizations are often voluntary associations with a highly trained, usually middle class, professional staff. These types of organizations have been of vital importance in the relief activities in Gujarat, thereby compensating for the lack of promptness of action by the government.
There are also many relief activities organized by Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) living in the USA and Great Britain, many of whom originate from Gujarat. Shortly after the quake, for instance, British NRIs managed to raise 2 million pounds within two hours. In early April, the American India Foundation, a US-based organization of NRIs, organized a five-day visit of Bill Clinton to Gujarat and promised to raise 50 million dollars for relief and reconstruction work.
The help and concern of the Indian middle class for the victims of the Gujarat earthquake are a new and hopeful indication of a strengthening of civil society. At the same time, however, one cannot help questioning the tendency of the Indian government to leave a major part of the relief and reconstruction work to the non-public sector, in which they not only include NGOs and voluntary organizations, but also private business companies and political organizations. By doing so, the government not only walks away from its responsibilities it also causes other problems. Over the past few months it has become clear, for instance, that many of the middle class organizations offer help according to caste, religion, or political affiliation. The Indian press has repeatedly reported about systematic discrimination in relief activities of members of low castes and religious minorities.
MARIO
RUTTEN
Facility for free telephone calls by a youth organization of Kutchh migrants
from Mumbai (Bombay).
Moreover, it remains to be seen whether this concern of the Indian middle class will hold firm on a long-term basis. This was one of the topics of research in a study by Ghanshyam Shah on the outbreak of the pneumonic plague in the South Gujarat city of Surat in 1994. This study showed that the pneumonic plague in Surat was a symptom of a socio-political disease related to the lopsided nature of development, the crisis in governance, and a fragile and fragmented civil society. Despite these major problems, one of the consequences of the plague epidemic was that the government apparatus was greatly improved, transforming Surat from one of the dirtiest cities in India into the second cleanest city of the country two years after the disaster (Public Health and Urban Development; The Plague in Surat, New Delhi: Sage Publications (1997)).
To what extent will the experience of a disaster like the Gujarat earthquake lead to a similar realization among the middle classes that a strong state - in implementing (building) laws, rules, and regulations, and in being able to provide relief quickly and effectively - is in the interest of all citizens? In the past few months, many have stressed the need to study the failure of the Gujarat government to respond adequately to this disaster. Such a study, however, should be undertaken within a broader perspective and include the role of the non-government relief organizations and their relationship to the state and its institutions. Moreover, it should also focus on possible changes in public concern regarding the implementation and safeguarding of rules and regulations. A more professionally managed and sufficiently equipped state apparatus coupled with a stronger civil society will restore the balance between government aid and private initiative, a balance that is of vital importance for successful support, reconstruction, and rehabilitation of the hundreds of thousands of victims of the Gujarat earthquake. *
Dr Mario Rutten is a sociologist with long-term research experience in Gujarat and among Gujarati migrants in Britain. He visited the earthquake-affected area in February. He is Director of the Platform ASiA of the University of Amsterdam and Head of the IIAS Branch Office Amsterdam.
E-mail: mrutten@pscw.uva.nl
Miranda Engelshoven, MA is PhD-student in anthropology at the Amsterdam School for Social Science Research of the University of Amsterdam. Her PhD thesis, on caste in contemporary urban India, focuses on Saurashtra Patel migrants in Surat City.
E-mail: engelshoven@pscw.uva.nl