Contesting theIndian City: Global Visions and the Politics of the Local

Abstract

This symposium brings together three empirical studies and one conceptual overview examining the politics of redevelopment in contemporary Indian cities. Collectively these articles seek to redress the relative dearth of concerted attention to the institutional, economic and socio‐spatial changes that are shifting the terrain of urban politics in post‐liberalization India.

India's Reluctant Urbanization

“…This attention to cities and urban areas in states, however, is due to the fact that "changes and realignments of the dominant coalition" supported the reforms (Bardhan, 1998, p.131), and that there was a need for reform in the earlier model of economic development which served the interests of urban, industrial, and financial elites (Corbridge and Harriss, 2000). 4 With the renewed interest in cities and urban areas as key sites for economic growth, states, probably for the first time, have become the focal points in driving the economic agenda of the central government (Shatkin and Vidyarthi, 2014). 5 However, while there were some piecemeal programmes put forward by the Government of India and states, problems "in" cities and urban areas were given little attention till the arrival of JNNURM.…”

“…By mid-2000s many large developers that had remained confined to specific cities went national, and DLF, Unitech, Sahara Group, Emaar MGF have competed to expand land banks across many cities. For a period in the mid-2000s, as the real estate sector was growing at more than 20 per cent per year, Indian developers experienced massive increases in valuation -those valuations being driven largely by landholdings (Gupta, 2006, in Shatkin andVidyarthi, 2014). However, these real estate reforms have better benefited the private actors and did not result in the provision of housing to Economically Weaker Sections (EWSs) and Low Income Groups (LIGs) of the population.…”

“…This process, scholars like Kundu argue, has led to the expansion of the boundaries of the cities and the annexation of old and new towns with the core city (Sanga, 2008). The thrust towards commodification of urban land of both slum areas and peripheral areas of the cities has led to a great deal of contestations among various actors (Shatkin and Vidyarthi, 2014). While the shortage of land supply made informal and unauthorized land the only affordable option for the urban poor, many other actors tried to take control of the value and rents generated by the exorbitant land values (Balakrishnan, 2013).…”

“…5. Shatkin and Vidyarthi (2014) argue that urban policy, despite the attention on cities, has been experimental and has sought to encourage the decentralizing of institutional power and the commodification of urban land through state and corporate actors. The 74th Constitutional Amendment, JNNURM, and RAY are the reflective efforts to overcome the impediments, created by street politics, to market-driven urban development and implement a post-liberalization reform agenda.…”

Quantifying slum electrification in India and explaining local variation

“…The rural-urban distinction may provide an incomplete picture of the electricity problem in India, as it underestimates the complexity of the situation caused by urban slums (Shatkin, 2014). The Indian census defines slums as "residential areas where dwellings are unfit for human habitation by reasons of dilapidation, overcrowding, faulty arrangements and design of such buildings, narrowness or faulty arrangement of street, lack of ventilation, light, or sanitation facilities or any combination of these factors which are detrimental to the safety and health" (Government of India, 2011).…”