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| Friday, 20 February 2004 |
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Unmet needs - a breeding ground of crime by Chandra Edirisuriya The basic needs of civilised man are food, clothing and shelter. It is the bounden duty of rulers of men in organised society to see that all are provided with these basic needs. During British colonial times there were slums only in big cities, especially the city of Colombo but there were no shanties anywhere in this country. The rural villages had wattle and daub houses thatched with straw, grass or cadjan with all the appurtenances of a decent abode. The food of the people differed according to social class but none can be said to have been underfed. The same can be said of clothing. The dress differed from social class to social class but all were decently clothed. The present day scenario is different. While some live in palatial houses with amenities like air-conditioning not to mention electricity and pipe borne water, a vast number of people live in shanties which were unheard of in earlier times. The population explosion has resulted in an exodus of people from suburban areas to towns mainly to the city of Colombo in search of a place and a means to live, putting up unauthorised make-shift structures with whatever imaginable material from pine wood planks from crates to card board, polythene etc. It is these shanty dwellers along the canals, waterways and lakes like the Beira Lake who have been largely responsible or polluting these water bodies. The occupiers of these shanties are the poorest of the poor in the city. Their children have turned street urchins. As one who has had adequate food to eat, a roof over the head and enough clothes, shoes etc. to wear all throughout life, I can well imagine the frustration, discontent, dissatisfaction, jealousy and mental aberration caused when a growing young man misses such essential as food, clothing and shelter. It is such young people who are easily drawn to crime, drugs, alcohol, smoking and other vices like child prostitution. Disorganised life without the basic needs is fertile ground for the proliferation of crime. It is a big question whether the acts of criminals who have graduated to murderers should be a regular prime time TV show, derogatorily referred to by some, with contempt, as "Angili Malakuna". The test is that if a program like this is obnoxious to the taste of an ordinary person with a peaceful disposition and a refined taste it is highly questionable whether such a program should be shown on TV as a regular program qui bono. The tone of the commentator is such that it is like lightning strikes hell. It is also not without reason that it is called a "course on crime". What has to be done is not to highlight crime on TV for viewers, some of whom not be so refined in taste, but to make available the basic needs like food, clothing and shelter to all by a program of sustained development by the State. People adequately refined in taste with the basic needs having been supplied and satisfied will not view this kind of crap. |
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