This happened some time ago but it is worth a recall. I attended a two-day seminar on urbanization organized by the Marathi daily Loksatta, some time ago, yes again at a five star hotel, the Taj President at Colaba. The then Home Minister R.R. Patil pleaded helplessness of the government.
What prevents the government from taking steps that will cost nothing and hurt no one except the car lobby?
He said the government lacks the political will to curb the number of cars which are choking the roads. Okay but then what prevents the government from taking steps that will cost nothing and hurt no one except the car lobby? I noticed just outside this luxury hotel that there is no footpath on the seaword side where it is needed, where fishermen live and the poor have to walk much more. The other side of the road with lovely mansions does have a good path. It was in one of these mansions that former novelist Mulk Raj Anand lived.
So the assault on the poor continues in various ways. But the rulers and their henchmen in the media and corrupt people in academics drum up a campaign that all is well.