The historical background of this drama

The drama began when the country got independence from the colonial rule. New rulers took the place of the Britishers, the so called Brown Sahebs. These Sahebs, had their education in elite schools in England. There they came across the phrase "Master plan for a city". They started with the city directly under their rule, the capital of India and formulated a plan that did not care for the ground reality in an Indian city, it just tried to copy the plans for cities in the affluent west. For example, it never cared for the fact that a majority of Indians are poor, they have had no choice for employment. Self employment (trading) was and is the safest bet. But to trade one needs a shop. So there was always a need for as many shops as there was for houses for residence. Also people, who are not resident of posh colonies, want a market close to their residence, they can and could not afford to go very far off for shopping. Such market space was never planned, neither was the exploding population of the city kept in mind.

The result is not hard to imagine and can be seen in most of the streets of the capital. People have opened shops anywhere they could find affordable space. This affordable space could only be found in residential colonies, an added attraction is/was the proximity to the clientle.

The Sealing Drama

Delhi is very turbulent these days. It all started when some RWAs (Resident Welfare Associations) petitioned to the Supreme court of India, that the uncontrolled commercial activity within the residential areas is causing a lots of nuisance to the residents. Which is an uncontested truth. The court examined the laws and found that indeed most of the commercial activity in the residential areas is against the Master Plan for the city approved by the Government. It therefore asked the Government to take appropriate actions. One of this appropriate action is to (seal)force these shops to shut down.

And that is the preamble to the drama that residents of Delhi are witnessing for past several months!

Let us first get acquainted with the main actors of this drama.

1. The Politicians, who have encouraged and gained power because of there nexus with shopkeepers.
2. The affluent business community, which has prospered leaps and bounds due to this laxity of the various goverments.
3. The Common man.
4. The Police.
5. The Municipal Corporation.
6. The Central Government.
7. The Supreme Court.