Saajhe ki handiyaan chauraahe par phootti hain. Jointly owned pots break at the crossroads. The Rekhta dictionary explains it in Hindi: a shared business does not succeed, and shared work always ends in quarrels.
Saajhe ki haandi, the jointly owned pot, is used on its own. Rekhta gives “a joint venture (which does not flourish).”
In April 2009, the Second Administrative Reforms Commission summed up its findings in its Fifteenth Report. “The tendency to have large number of on-file consultations, often unnecessary, leads to diffused accountability,” it wrote. It also found “diffusion of responsibility and accountability among the large number of functionaries.”
It recommended: “The number of levels through which a file should pass for a decision should not exceed three.”
On May 13, 2024, a large advertising hoarding collapsed in heavy rain in Ghatkopar, Mumbai. Wikipedia gives 17 deaths. It stood on land held by the Government Railway Police. Before the collapse, “a dispute was going on between the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the railway police,” ETV Bharat reported.
The municipal commissioner described the railway police’s position: “A stand was taken that we (GRP) do not need permission (for a hoarding on railway land) under the Railway Act.” The BMC called this “not legally correct.”
On May 25, 2024, a fire at a game zone in Rajkot, Gujarat, killed 32 people, according to Wikipedia. In the Gujarat High Court, a lawyer for the municipal corporation said that the municipal commissioner had not known, because fire officers “never sent him any communication.”
The court asked: “For 18 months, what did the corporation do? Sat over it?” Justice Biren Vaishnav said: “The responsibility lies at the top.” Officials, the court said, cannot “pass on the buck.”
From 2016 to 2019, Paani Foundation held the Satyamev Jayate Water Cup in Maharashtra, “an annual, 45-day competition.” Villages competed in watershed management and water conservation work. “At the heart of this competition was ‘shramadaan’ (voluntary labour).” In all, “more than 4,700 villages in 76 talukas had joined the movement for change.”
Kar seva is “the voluntary contribution of physical labor towards cleaning and construction operations at sacred tanks and temples,” in the words of the Sikh Encyclopedia.
In March 2004, the sacred tank of the Golden Temple in Amritsar was cleaned by kar seva. “Devotees from far-flung areas including abroad visited the Golden Temple to participate in the kar seva,” The Tribune reported. According to Gulf News, “Within three days, volunteers cleaned every inch of the tank, carrying mud in anything they could put their hands on.”
In Swades (2004), directed by Ashutosh Gowariker, Shah Rukh Khan plays Mohan. He sets out to help the village of Charanpur, which suffers from “inconsistent electricity and frequent blackouts.” Mohan plans a small hydroelectric plant. In Wikipedia’s summary, he pays for the equipment himself and “mobilizes the divided villagers to collectively construct a water reservoir and turbine system.”
In Bengal, a barowari puja is a festival run by a community, not by one family. “The Barowari festival is held with funds raised from the public at large through donations or subscriptions,” Wikipedia notes. The tradition is traced to Guptipara in Hooghly, where “twelve brahmin friends” decided “to institute a community Puja.”
The Department of Legal Affairs lists the duties of its Multi-Tasking Staff. They include “Carrying of files & other papers within the building,” “Photocopying, sending of FAX etc.,” “Watch & ward duties,” “Driving of vehicles, if in possession of valid driving licence,” and “Upkeep of parks, lawns, potted plants etc.”
The last item reads: “Any other work assigned by the superior authority.” The list, it says, “is only illustrative and not exhaustive.”
Saathi haath badhana. Friend, lend a hand. The song comes from the film Naya Daur (1957). Sahir Ludhianvi wrote it, O.P. Nayyar composed it, and Mohammed Rafi and Asha Bhosle sang it.