Price of Progress

We discussed in our previous post as to how the organized retail is gaining ground in India and how it is leading to a win-win situation for everyone. But there is a price that we have to pay for the progress that we are making. This price takes different forms and some of them are mentioned here. To give you a simple example: just think about the number of times you have gone to Juhu beach over the last few years. If you put it on graph, I bet, you will get a downward sloping curve. I remember it used to be an event during my school days whenever we would go to Juhu beach. It was a lot of fun as well as one of the best places to hang out with your friends. People would sit there till sunset which was an amazing sight; nature’s beauty at its very best.
But that number has constantly come down since we have encountered the biggest hang out place of them all: Malls. At least this has been the case with me and a lot of people that I know. I just don’t remember the last time I had gone to Juhu beach. Just think of those kids who are in school and have not even heard of Juhu beach. What a huge loss that is going to be; loss not in terms of money but the fact that they will miss out on the joy of walking bare feet at beachside with a bhel in their hands. Agreed that malls crate a lot of employment and a lot of income but the indirect impact is that people who used to sell bhel and kulfi at beach like Juhu lose out. Just take another example of books and how the organized players have replaced the Book walas who used to sit outside Churchgate station. Though they are still there but their number has reduced drastically. I came to know from one of the Book wala that number of Book sellers have gone back to their villages as they had to close down their business (which could also be due to regulation that forced them out of business). One more example could be Mewad Ice cream carts that used to be seen earlier but suddenly they have disappeared and have been replaced by Softee Ice cream parlors who sell better quality ice cream (debatable) at the same price. Still, the question here is not who is better but the fact that person who is selling Softee Ice cream is not same as the one who used to sell Mewad Ice cream. So again, a job has been crated at the cost of another job.
Let me just mention once again that the objective here is not to question the importance of malls (which signify progress in this case) as we can’t stop progress. But at the same time we need to take into account the victims of that progress (Mewad wala, Bhel wala, Book wala) who have lost their employment and gone back to their villages which will certainly have negative impact on their income. Present generation will miss out on better things in life like walking down the Juhu beach and seeing the sunset. Finally everything boils down to individual choice. As we progress, we get better off than we were earlier, there is no doubt about it. Given a choice, personally I would prefer a mall over a Juhu beach. As I get a variety of products at cheap prices as well as a centrally air conditioned place to hang out with my friends without spending a single rupee! Now it is up to me to strike a balance between the two i.e. Progress & the Price of that progress.