At Lajpat Nagar, yesterday my daughters witnessed something for the first time.

Policemen thrashing and beating street hawkers and vendors, and throwing away their belongings. Within a minute the buzz in the market turned into silence. As, a lot of vendors quickly fled the scene with their belongings. I knew everything would be back to the normal soon.

But, for my daughters this was something shocking, and something which should not happen to anyone. I could notice their sad and confused faces, and I also prepared myself for some new questions. I decided to introduce two new words to my younger daughter:

Disparity and Privilege.

I told them that the world doesn’t give everyone a fair chance. We belong to a lucky and privileged lot. This hawker who was being beaten, was standing here, honestly earning for his family..he was not the one really at fault. Our planning is at fault. Our planning isn’t really inclusive, it is mostly done keeping only the rich in mind. It ensures that poor remain poor and rich become richer. Poor people have no place in the system. That creates a lot of disparity in the society – and so the insecurity, mistrust and crime.