Explorations: E-journal of the Indian Sociological Society, 2021
Following 'the spatial turn' in urban studies, I propose that sociology of India needs to revise ... more Following 'the spatial turn' in urban studies, I propose that sociology of India needs to revise its understanding of social stratification by extending its existing focus from the 'enactment' and 'performance' of class in cultural and political domains to studying how space is equally, if not more, constitutive of identity and difference. Towards this end, this paper forefronts the spatial in understanding how the class differentiations are hierarchised in urban space. It, thus, explores the shopping mall as both a producer as well as a product of the 'spatialisation' of India's new middle class as articulated in the changing 'spatial practices' of malls. Drawing from ethnographic research in Delhi and Gurgaon, the paper argues that the materiality of mall is supported by the heterogeneity of middle class consumers who aid the production of a socio-spatial hierarchy as they stop their patronage of old malls when bigger and newer malls enter into urban space with their promise of a better consumer experienceboth sensuous and symbolic.
The ‘spatial turn’ and the ‘third wave of feminism’ had a very far reaching impact on the way ge... more The ‘spatial turn’ and the ‘third wave of feminism’ had a very far reaching impact on the way gender and space has been approached since 1980s. It established that gender was not stand-alone, rather it intersected with everything else and hence ‘intersectionality’ became a universally recognised approach to gender matters. This applied to gender and space as well, and thus, gender studies and urban studies came to be recognised as mutually relational and co-constitutive (Löw, 2006). Irrespective of the critique of intersectionality (Nash, 2008) that emerged later, the academic recognition of the intersectionality of gender had deep implications on teaching, pedagogy, research and practice in the sphere of spatial disciplines. This chapter focuses on the intersectionality of gender and space; and more specifically the urban public space with a view to examine the potential of gender inclusive urban planning in making our cities safe for all, especially women. It does not limit itself to any particular city or cities, or any specific cross-cultural comparison or intersectionality of any specific social, economic, or gender identities; rather it makes a discursive attempt to draw an overview of the differential experiences of heterogeneity of women in cities across the globe. It adopts a feminist paradigm, both theoretically and methodologically and is socio-spatial in approach. For data, the chapter relies on review of literature, secondary data and official reports of various international organisations such as United Nations (UN), working towards gender equality in cities.
ICSSR/Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India, 2008
The survey showed that North – East District is far behind in terms of all indicators of developm... more The survey showed that North – East District is far behind in terms of all indicators of development and progress, be it the literacy rate, employment opportunities, income levels, equitable access to quality education, status of infrastructure, health, and other public amenities. The perception of people about the role of state in providing basic facilities such as roads, housing, health care, sanitation, etc. was quite poor. The situation of minority concentrated areas was far worse than other parts of the district, though on the whole the entire district seemed like some poor country cousin of the national capital – physically a part but far removed in any substantive sense. Our focus group discussions and case studies of villages and informal sector revealed startling inequalities and horrid tales of injustice, exploitation of labour and indifference by the state as well as the private employers. There is a strong and urgent need for remedial measures in the North- East District for it to be able to come at par with the rest of the country.
Formalisation and legalisation are held to be powerful instruments for empowerment of those engag... more Formalisation and legalisation are held to be powerful instruments for empowerment of those engaged in informal economic activities in urban public space. However, this paper argues that the processes of implementation of legislative reforms, far from empowering may, at times, further disempower and marginalize the very people whom they seek to help. Typically, the impact of legislation on ground may not be uniform given the differential capacities of competing stakeholders to mobilize power networks and gather political support to appropriate urban space. Drawing from 'the right to the city' perspective (Lefebvre 1991), the paper circumvents the conceptual divide between structuralist and legalist positions on informality and instead looks at the multitude of everyday 'urban navigations' (Anjaria and McFarlane 2011) at the interstices of formal and informal that are constantly underway in the form of resistance, mobilisations, protests and public interest litigations (PILs) in the production of public space. It does so by examining the politics of legalisation of street vending and the right of vendors to occupy streets and pavements in a South Delhi Market in the wake of enactment of a protective legislation in the shape of the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014. The paper makes a detailed study of the impact of court rulings on the street vendors and their struggle for appropriation of public space. Based on a critical analysis of primary and secondary data derived from news and research reports; and my own field observations and interviews, the paper seeks to understand the politics of competing rights among various stakeholders such as street vendors, shopkeepers, traders' association, South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), Delhi Police, National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI), and local residents.
If ever there could be any remotest acknowledgement of the tussle between 'right to beau... more If ever there could be any remotest acknowledgement of the tussle between 'right to beauty'and the 'right to the city', beauty would have lost even before the contest began. It was no contest at all as the right to livelihood is a more basic human right compared to the ...
The study of tradition, the bridge between past and present, has reassumed a key position in soci... more The study of tradition, the bridge between past and present, has reassumed a key position in social sciences today. The contemporary social scientists agree that no society can move into future without some attention to what it has inherited from the past .(Beteille 1998:10). To discuss the concept of tradition, thus, is to interrogate the very category of change and to ask as to how far present practices or cultural categories reveal an explicit link with the past (Harris 1996:3). The linearity implied by periodizing contrast or tradition vs. modernity, is slowly giving way to the simultaneity assumed in the juxtaposition of premodern, modern, and postmodern. Yet not so long ago, the Enlightenment thinkers deliberately sought to eschew any link with the past. While the earlier debate centred on abandonment of tradition in favour of reason, the contemporary focus is on its maintenance, reconstruction and revival. It is generally assumed that modernity reject· s the past and postmodernity accepts and recreates it. How much truth is there in these assumptions? Is tradition really rendered insignificant with modernity: Is not the postmodern penchant for the 'old' a passing fancy" It is therefore understood that the meaning and importance attributed to tradition has been changing along with the shift in the dominant intellectual currents. In this paper, I look at the manner in which tradition as a concept has been understood in social science theory. I have done so from the standpoints of modernity and postmodernity, the two major and often conflicting perspectives that have emerged in the last century for arriving at an understanding· of human societies. My concern is not to further the debate whether we have become modern or postmodem, rather it is to gauge as to how far the traits that many scholars associate with a socio-cultural condition called postmodern, have penetrated the developing societies such as India. Definitely with the time-space compression, globalisation and increasing international migration, societies today have become more susceptible to these influences. I also take this opportunity to discuss briefly the way Indian social theory has treated Indian tradition.
The form and expression of the condition of postmodernity may vary
from one culture to another de... more The form and expression of the condition of postmodernity may vary from one culture to another depending upon indigenous resistance. There is no consensus about the description of this condition. Its evidence is mostly visible in the popular culture of western world though its glimpses can be traced in almost all parts of the globe. My concern in this paper" is to look for such postmodern influences, if any, in the popular cultural tradition of Amritsar. The paper portrays the images of the city as perceived in history and grasps the contemporary changes in the cultural tradition due to the forces of globalisation and explosion of the mass media. Under focus are the new trends in culinary culture, such as a penchant for fast food; youth subculture with a detailed description of fashion, popular music, and body cult; upcoming festivals such as St. Valentine's Day, New Year's Eve, Friendship Day and Mother's Day, other sources of leisure and entertainment; wedding celebrations, and so on. Based on an exploratory field study of Amritsar, using not only the frequently used observation and interviews, but also unconventional methods such as reception analysis of the local cable network, content analysis of the local newspapers, video films of various social events, local advertisements and pamphlets, this paper seeks an interpretive understanding of the popular culture of the city.
In this paper, an attempt has been made to define the concept of
urbanism in a culture specific c... more In this paper, an attempt has been made to define the concept of urbanism in a culture specific context by operationalizing it in terms of certain indices. The need to redefine the concept in this manner arises, because there may be varieties of urbanism depending upon inter-city and intra-city variations in terms of its functional type, historicity, the background of its inhabitants, and different levels of interaction between the city and various categories of city dwellers. Also it is contended here that urbanism may not be a uni-dimensional concept. It may have many dimensions which may manifest themselves unevenly and differently in different types of settlements, as well as within the different segments of a single population. Here urbanism is'analyzed on two dimensions viz. attitudinal and behavioural. Also the inconsistencies between the levels of urbanism in terms of these two dimensions have been highlighted.
Malls are no longer confined to the metropolitan India, malls are by now
a regular feature of Ind... more Malls are no longer confined to the metropolitan India, malls are by now a regular feature of Indian cityscape and articulate a new urban sociality and consumer culture underway since the late 1990s. While the development and growth of malls in Europe and America has been a gradual process starting around mid-twentieth century; in India, however, the emergence of malls has literally been a revolution in the past two decades. And yet unlike the social inquiry in other parts of the world where shopping mall i s an established epistemological and ontological signifier of socio-spatial and cultural change, the phenomenon of shopping malls in India has received very little scholarly attention so far. This paper fills this gap by tracing the social history and evolution of the meaning, form and function of malls in India in a comparative global framework. Further, the paper makes a critical analysis of the existing conceptual and theoretical perspectives on malls to augment mall as a subject and object of future research.
UGC Saksham Report Prepared by a Task Force of a Group of Academic, 2013
A Task Force was constituted by the University Grants Commission (UGC), New Delhi, India in 2013 ... more A Task Force was constituted by the University Grants Commission (UGC), New Delhi, India in 2013 to "Review the Measures for Ensuring Safety of Women and Programmes for Gender Sensitization on Campuses". The Task Force after a large number of consultations with stakeholders submitted the report with its recommendation to the UGC.
List of Members of the Task Force 1. Dr. Meenakshi Gopinath, Member, UGC Chair 2. Prof. Mary E. John, CWDS, New Delhi Co-Chair 3. Prof. Yogendra Yadav, Member UGC Member 4. Prof. Uma Chakravarti, University of Delhi Member 5. Prof. Gopal Guru, JNU, New Delhi Member 6. Prof. Wasbir Hussain, CDPS, Guwahati Member 7. Prof. Sanjay Srivastava, IEG, Delhi Member 8. Prof. Susie Tharu, EFLU, Hyderabad Member 9. Dr. Kulwinder Kaur, Jamia Millia Islamia . Member 10. Dr. (Mrs.) Archana Thakur, DS, UGC Coordinator Inducted Members: 1. Dr. Minoti Chatterji, Kamla Nehru College, New Delhi. 2. Dr. Janaki Abraham, Delhi School of Economics, Delhi 3. Prof. Ayesha Kidwai, Jawaharlal Nehru University 4. Ms. Anjali Bharadwaj, Satark Nagarik Sangathan, Delhi
The Report was a product of joint efforts of all the members of the Task Force.
Indian Journal of Development Research and Social Action, 2017
Cities historically have shown spatial segregation on the basis of socio economic status (SES), r... more Cities historically have shown spatial segregation on the basis of socio economic status (SES), race, religion, ethnicity, language, caste or beliefs. Segregation is a contested phenomenon and its forms vary over space and time e.g. ghettos, enclaves, slums, and gated communities. While segregation can be voluntary, generally it is viewed negatively and invites state intervention to curb it through direct or indirect policies of social mixing and desegregation. In India, too, cities witness many forms of segregation and clustering and housing strategies are in place to address this issue. The present paper looks into the theoretical explanations and historical shifts in the form, patterns and implications of segregation in India and other parts of the globe. It makes a comparative analysis of housing strategies to draw policy lessons for a plural society like India. On the basis of policy analysis, the paper concludes that in order to build urban community, trust and tolerance has to be encouraged through co-habitation rather than clustering. Policies can be effective only if a holistic approach that creates conditions of social equity and inclusiveness for all including minorities and Dalits is adopted for a mode of urban living that thrives on communal harmony.
Since the second half of the twentieth century, the term public space
has become a subject of int... more Since the second half of the twentieth century, the term public space has become a subject of intense theoretical debates in critical theory across disciplines such as sociology; philosophy; geography; history, visual arts; architecture; cultural studies, law and media studies. The English translation of Lefebvre’s ‘Production of Space’ (1991)’ revolutionized the field of Urban Studies outside the Europe and America. His seminal work turned space from being a neutral vacuum in between buildings into a metaphor for the everyday urban life which is produced not just by the forces of capitalism but through the everyday life of urban dwellers as they struggle to make claims over space. In literary theory, too, public space is read as a metaphor for contemporary cultural and critical theorizing. In fact literary theory has permeated social theory in the analysis of space.
The last two decades have witnessed momentous shifts in the policies of urban development in Indi... more The last two decades have witnessed momentous shifts in the policies of urban development in India. For instance, the earlier policies of 'slum removal', 'slum relocation', and 'slum resettlement' have, in theory, been remodelled as in-situ redevelopment and in-situ up-gradation. This shift corresponds to similar policy changes in many other countries of the global south, notably in Latin America, South Asia and Africa which underwent transition to a neo-liberal model of urban redevelopment. This shift was largely guided by the dominant international discourse advocating the 'formalising of informal' and 'legalising of illegal'. With respect to the housing for urban poor, it translates into providing them with security of tenure and ownership rights. In India, the 'Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission' (JNNURM) was launched by the UPA government as a key driver to push the neo-liberal agenda of creating slum free cities in 2009 which was reintroduced by the NDA government in 2014, with a new nomenclature, the 'Smart City Mission'. In 2008, a flagship housing scheme, viz., the Rajiv Ratn Awas Yojna (RRAY) was pre-launched under the aegis of JNNURM with the explicit purpose of rehabilitating the slum dwellers in Delhi. Based on a long ethnographic study and 'right to the city' perspective (Harvey, 1982 and Lefebvre 1991), my paper narrates the experiences of the beneficiaries of this housing scheme, resettled at Bawana Industrial District on the North West periphery of Delhi. It also, revisits Delhi's slum rehabilitation policy timeline to contextualise these experiences in a state sponsored neoliberal urban regime. The paper, thus, deconstructs the 'myth' of rehabilitation in the urban planning and policy discourse.
The scholarly response to the question of Sikh identity is fairly
heterogeneous within Sikh Studi... more The scholarly response to the question of Sikh identity is fairly heterogeneous within Sikh Studies. There is also a considerable debate about the time period within Sikh history when Sikhism as a religion marked its own separation from other existing religions, faiths, and Bhakti movements so as to define itself as a distinct community of believers. The Sikh Studies also reflect varied positions on the degree of distinctiveness, flexibility and coherence within the Sikh community. The sociological response to conceptually distinguish between Sikhism as a religion with its own distinctive ideology and Sikhs as a community embedded in larger Panjabi society has refined the debate within Sikh Studies about Sikh culture, polity, and identity. To a novice, it may be quite confusing to make sense of the multiplicities of typologies such as Nanak-Panthis, khalsa (Oberoi,1997[1994]), amritdhari, sehajdhari, keshdharis (McLeod,1989), ichadharis, bikhdharis (Singh, 2004), mona (Singh, 2000) and patit (Judge and Kaur, 2010), etc., that are used to refer to Sikhs. In this paper I revisit this question of Sikh identity from two standpoints. Firstly, drawing from the growing body of literature in Sikh Studies I attempt to outline briefly the formation and crystallization of Sikhism as a distinct religion having a well-defined ideology and its response to modernity. Secondly, I take an empirical look at the significance of everyday practice of Sikh Rehat Maryada (code of conduct) amongst Sikhs to validate their claims of being Sikhs. Based on my research findings, I support the arguments that contend the monolithic tradition in favour of a pluralist base of Sikh identity. The paper is divided into three sections. The first section shows the historical processes of the formation of a separate Sikh identity till the first quarter of the twentieth century. The second section looks at the philosophical foundations of Sikh Rahit Maryada and its practice amongst Sikhs. The final section analyses the questions of Sikh identity in the backdrop of its attempts at grappling with modernity.
Explorations: E-journal of the Indian Sociological Society, 2021
Following 'the spatial turn' in urban studies, I propose that sociology of India needs to revise ... more Following 'the spatial turn' in urban studies, I propose that sociology of India needs to revise its understanding of social stratification by extending its existing focus from the 'enactment' and 'performance' of class in cultural and political domains to studying how space is equally, if not more, constitutive of identity and difference. Towards this end, this paper forefronts the spatial in understanding how the class differentiations are hierarchised in urban space. It, thus, explores the shopping mall as both a producer as well as a product of the 'spatialisation' of India's new middle class as articulated in the changing 'spatial practices' of malls. Drawing from ethnographic research in Delhi and Gurgaon, the paper argues that the materiality of mall is supported by the heterogeneity of middle class consumers who aid the production of a socio-spatial hierarchy as they stop their patronage of old malls when bigger and newer malls enter into urban space with their promise of a better consumer experienceboth sensuous and symbolic.
The ‘spatial turn’ and the ‘third wave of feminism’ had a very far reaching impact on the way ge... more The ‘spatial turn’ and the ‘third wave of feminism’ had a very far reaching impact on the way gender and space has been approached since 1980s. It established that gender was not stand-alone, rather it intersected with everything else and hence ‘intersectionality’ became a universally recognised approach to gender matters. This applied to gender and space as well, and thus, gender studies and urban studies came to be recognised as mutually relational and co-constitutive (Löw, 2006). Irrespective of the critique of intersectionality (Nash, 2008) that emerged later, the academic recognition of the intersectionality of gender had deep implications on teaching, pedagogy, research and practice in the sphere of spatial disciplines. This chapter focuses on the intersectionality of gender and space; and more specifically the urban public space with a view to examine the potential of gender inclusive urban planning in making our cities safe for all, especially women. It does not limit itself to any particular city or cities, or any specific cross-cultural comparison or intersectionality of any specific social, economic, or gender identities; rather it makes a discursive attempt to draw an overview of the differential experiences of heterogeneity of women in cities across the globe. It adopts a feminist paradigm, both theoretically and methodologically and is socio-spatial in approach. For data, the chapter relies on review of literature, secondary data and official reports of various international organisations such as United Nations (UN), working towards gender equality in cities.
ICSSR/Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India, 2008
The survey showed that North – East District is far behind in terms of all indicators of developm... more The survey showed that North – East District is far behind in terms of all indicators of development and progress, be it the literacy rate, employment opportunities, income levels, equitable access to quality education, status of infrastructure, health, and other public amenities. The perception of people about the role of state in providing basic facilities such as roads, housing, health care, sanitation, etc. was quite poor. The situation of minority concentrated areas was far worse than other parts of the district, though on the whole the entire district seemed like some poor country cousin of the national capital – physically a part but far removed in any substantive sense. Our focus group discussions and case studies of villages and informal sector revealed startling inequalities and horrid tales of injustice, exploitation of labour and indifference by the state as well as the private employers. There is a strong and urgent need for remedial measures in the North- East District for it to be able to come at par with the rest of the country.
Formalisation and legalisation are held to be powerful instruments for empowerment of those engag... more Formalisation and legalisation are held to be powerful instruments for empowerment of those engaged in informal economic activities in urban public space. However, this paper argues that the processes of implementation of legislative reforms, far from empowering may, at times, further disempower and marginalize the very people whom they seek to help. Typically, the impact of legislation on ground may not be uniform given the differential capacities of competing stakeholders to mobilize power networks and gather political support to appropriate urban space. Drawing from 'the right to the city' perspective (Lefebvre 1991), the paper circumvents the conceptual divide between structuralist and legalist positions on informality and instead looks at the multitude of everyday 'urban navigations' (Anjaria and McFarlane 2011) at the interstices of formal and informal that are constantly underway in the form of resistance, mobilisations, protests and public interest litigations (PILs) in the production of public space. It does so by examining the politics of legalisation of street vending and the right of vendors to occupy streets and pavements in a South Delhi Market in the wake of enactment of a protective legislation in the shape of the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014. The paper makes a detailed study of the impact of court rulings on the street vendors and their struggle for appropriation of public space. Based on a critical analysis of primary and secondary data derived from news and research reports; and my own field observations and interviews, the paper seeks to understand the politics of competing rights among various stakeholders such as street vendors, shopkeepers, traders' association, South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), Delhi Police, National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI), and local residents.
If ever there could be any remotest acknowledgement of the tussle between 'right to beau... more If ever there could be any remotest acknowledgement of the tussle between 'right to beauty'and the 'right to the city', beauty would have lost even before the contest began. It was no contest at all as the right to livelihood is a more basic human right compared to the ...
The study of tradition, the bridge between past and present, has reassumed a key position in soci... more The study of tradition, the bridge between past and present, has reassumed a key position in social sciences today. The contemporary social scientists agree that no society can move into future without some attention to what it has inherited from the past .(Beteille 1998:10). To discuss the concept of tradition, thus, is to interrogate the very category of change and to ask as to how far present practices or cultural categories reveal an explicit link with the past (Harris 1996:3). The linearity implied by periodizing contrast or tradition vs. modernity, is slowly giving way to the simultaneity assumed in the juxtaposition of premodern, modern, and postmodern. Yet not so long ago, the Enlightenment thinkers deliberately sought to eschew any link with the past. While the earlier debate centred on abandonment of tradition in favour of reason, the contemporary focus is on its maintenance, reconstruction and revival. It is generally assumed that modernity reject· s the past and postmodernity accepts and recreates it. How much truth is there in these assumptions? Is tradition really rendered insignificant with modernity: Is not the postmodern penchant for the 'old' a passing fancy" It is therefore understood that the meaning and importance attributed to tradition has been changing along with the shift in the dominant intellectual currents. In this paper, I look at the manner in which tradition as a concept has been understood in social science theory. I have done so from the standpoints of modernity and postmodernity, the two major and often conflicting perspectives that have emerged in the last century for arriving at an understanding· of human societies. My concern is not to further the debate whether we have become modern or postmodem, rather it is to gauge as to how far the traits that many scholars associate with a socio-cultural condition called postmodern, have penetrated the developing societies such as India. Definitely with the time-space compression, globalisation and increasing international migration, societies today have become more susceptible to these influences. I also take this opportunity to discuss briefly the way Indian social theory has treated Indian tradition.
The form and expression of the condition of postmodernity may vary
from one culture to another de... more The form and expression of the condition of postmodernity may vary from one culture to another depending upon indigenous resistance. There is no consensus about the description of this condition. Its evidence is mostly visible in the popular culture of western world though its glimpses can be traced in almost all parts of the globe. My concern in this paper" is to look for such postmodern influences, if any, in the popular cultural tradition of Amritsar. The paper portrays the images of the city as perceived in history and grasps the contemporary changes in the cultural tradition due to the forces of globalisation and explosion of the mass media. Under focus are the new trends in culinary culture, such as a penchant for fast food; youth subculture with a detailed description of fashion, popular music, and body cult; upcoming festivals such as St. Valentine's Day, New Year's Eve, Friendship Day and Mother's Day, other sources of leisure and entertainment; wedding celebrations, and so on. Based on an exploratory field study of Amritsar, using not only the frequently used observation and interviews, but also unconventional methods such as reception analysis of the local cable network, content analysis of the local newspapers, video films of various social events, local advertisements and pamphlets, this paper seeks an interpretive understanding of the popular culture of the city.
In this paper, an attempt has been made to define the concept of
urbanism in a culture specific c... more In this paper, an attempt has been made to define the concept of urbanism in a culture specific context by operationalizing it in terms of certain indices. The need to redefine the concept in this manner arises, because there may be varieties of urbanism depending upon inter-city and intra-city variations in terms of its functional type, historicity, the background of its inhabitants, and different levels of interaction between the city and various categories of city dwellers. Also it is contended here that urbanism may not be a uni-dimensional concept. It may have many dimensions which may manifest themselves unevenly and differently in different types of settlements, as well as within the different segments of a single population. Here urbanism is'analyzed on two dimensions viz. attitudinal and behavioural. Also the inconsistencies between the levels of urbanism in terms of these two dimensions have been highlighted.
Malls are no longer confined to the metropolitan India, malls are by now
a regular feature of Ind... more Malls are no longer confined to the metropolitan India, malls are by now a regular feature of Indian cityscape and articulate a new urban sociality and consumer culture underway since the late 1990s. While the development and growth of malls in Europe and America has been a gradual process starting around mid-twentieth century; in India, however, the emergence of malls has literally been a revolution in the past two decades. And yet unlike the social inquiry in other parts of the world where shopping mall i s an established epistemological and ontological signifier of socio-spatial and cultural change, the phenomenon of shopping malls in India has received very little scholarly attention so far. This paper fills this gap by tracing the social history and evolution of the meaning, form and function of malls in India in a comparative global framework. Further, the paper makes a critical analysis of the existing conceptual and theoretical perspectives on malls to augment mall as a subject and object of future research.
UGC Saksham Report Prepared by a Task Force of a Group of Academic, 2013
A Task Force was constituted by the University Grants Commission (UGC), New Delhi, India in 2013 ... more A Task Force was constituted by the University Grants Commission (UGC), New Delhi, India in 2013 to "Review the Measures for Ensuring Safety of Women and Programmes for Gender Sensitization on Campuses". The Task Force after a large number of consultations with stakeholders submitted the report with its recommendation to the UGC.
List of Members of the Task Force 1. Dr. Meenakshi Gopinath, Member, UGC Chair 2. Prof. Mary E. John, CWDS, New Delhi Co-Chair 3. Prof. Yogendra Yadav, Member UGC Member 4. Prof. Uma Chakravarti, University of Delhi Member 5. Prof. Gopal Guru, JNU, New Delhi Member 6. Prof. Wasbir Hussain, CDPS, Guwahati Member 7. Prof. Sanjay Srivastava, IEG, Delhi Member 8. Prof. Susie Tharu, EFLU, Hyderabad Member 9. Dr. Kulwinder Kaur, Jamia Millia Islamia . Member 10. Dr. (Mrs.) Archana Thakur, DS, UGC Coordinator Inducted Members: 1. Dr. Minoti Chatterji, Kamla Nehru College, New Delhi. 2. Dr. Janaki Abraham, Delhi School of Economics, Delhi 3. Prof. Ayesha Kidwai, Jawaharlal Nehru University 4. Ms. Anjali Bharadwaj, Satark Nagarik Sangathan, Delhi
The Report was a product of joint efforts of all the members of the Task Force.
Indian Journal of Development Research and Social Action, 2017
Cities historically have shown spatial segregation on the basis of socio economic status (SES), r... more Cities historically have shown spatial segregation on the basis of socio economic status (SES), race, religion, ethnicity, language, caste or beliefs. Segregation is a contested phenomenon and its forms vary over space and time e.g. ghettos, enclaves, slums, and gated communities. While segregation can be voluntary, generally it is viewed negatively and invites state intervention to curb it through direct or indirect policies of social mixing and desegregation. In India, too, cities witness many forms of segregation and clustering and housing strategies are in place to address this issue. The present paper looks into the theoretical explanations and historical shifts in the form, patterns and implications of segregation in India and other parts of the globe. It makes a comparative analysis of housing strategies to draw policy lessons for a plural society like India. On the basis of policy analysis, the paper concludes that in order to build urban community, trust and tolerance has to be encouraged through co-habitation rather than clustering. Policies can be effective only if a holistic approach that creates conditions of social equity and inclusiveness for all including minorities and Dalits is adopted for a mode of urban living that thrives on communal harmony.
Since the second half of the twentieth century, the term public space
has become a subject of int... more Since the second half of the twentieth century, the term public space has become a subject of intense theoretical debates in critical theory across disciplines such as sociology; philosophy; geography; history, visual arts; architecture; cultural studies, law and media studies. The English translation of Lefebvre’s ‘Production of Space’ (1991)’ revolutionized the field of Urban Studies outside the Europe and America. His seminal work turned space from being a neutral vacuum in between buildings into a metaphor for the everyday urban life which is produced not just by the forces of capitalism but through the everyday life of urban dwellers as they struggle to make claims over space. In literary theory, too, public space is read as a metaphor for contemporary cultural and critical theorizing. In fact literary theory has permeated social theory in the analysis of space.
The last two decades have witnessed momentous shifts in the policies of urban development in Indi... more The last two decades have witnessed momentous shifts in the policies of urban development in India. For instance, the earlier policies of 'slum removal', 'slum relocation', and 'slum resettlement' have, in theory, been remodelled as in-situ redevelopment and in-situ up-gradation. This shift corresponds to similar policy changes in many other countries of the global south, notably in Latin America, South Asia and Africa which underwent transition to a neo-liberal model of urban redevelopment. This shift was largely guided by the dominant international discourse advocating the 'formalising of informal' and 'legalising of illegal'. With respect to the housing for urban poor, it translates into providing them with security of tenure and ownership rights. In India, the 'Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission' (JNNURM) was launched by the UPA government as a key driver to push the neo-liberal agenda of creating slum free cities in 2009 which was reintroduced by the NDA government in 2014, with a new nomenclature, the 'Smart City Mission'. In 2008, a flagship housing scheme, viz., the Rajiv Ratn Awas Yojna (RRAY) was pre-launched under the aegis of JNNURM with the explicit purpose of rehabilitating the slum dwellers in Delhi. Based on a long ethnographic study and 'right to the city' perspective (Harvey, 1982 and Lefebvre 1991), my paper narrates the experiences of the beneficiaries of this housing scheme, resettled at Bawana Industrial District on the North West periphery of Delhi. It also, revisits Delhi's slum rehabilitation policy timeline to contextualise these experiences in a state sponsored neoliberal urban regime. The paper, thus, deconstructs the 'myth' of rehabilitation in the urban planning and policy discourse.
The scholarly response to the question of Sikh identity is fairly
heterogeneous within Sikh Studi... more The scholarly response to the question of Sikh identity is fairly heterogeneous within Sikh Studies. There is also a considerable debate about the time period within Sikh history when Sikhism as a religion marked its own separation from other existing religions, faiths, and Bhakti movements so as to define itself as a distinct community of believers. The Sikh Studies also reflect varied positions on the degree of distinctiveness, flexibility and coherence within the Sikh community. The sociological response to conceptually distinguish between Sikhism as a religion with its own distinctive ideology and Sikhs as a community embedded in larger Panjabi society has refined the debate within Sikh Studies about Sikh culture, polity, and identity. To a novice, it may be quite confusing to make sense of the multiplicities of typologies such as Nanak-Panthis, khalsa (Oberoi,1997[1994]), amritdhari, sehajdhari, keshdharis (McLeod,1989), ichadharis, bikhdharis (Singh, 2004), mona (Singh, 2000) and patit (Judge and Kaur, 2010), etc., that are used to refer to Sikhs. In this paper I revisit this question of Sikh identity from two standpoints. Firstly, drawing from the growing body of literature in Sikh Studies I attempt to outline briefly the formation and crystallization of Sikhism as a distinct religion having a well-defined ideology and its response to modernity. Secondly, I take an empirical look at the significance of everyday practice of Sikh Rehat Maryada (code of conduct) amongst Sikhs to validate their claims of being Sikhs. Based on my research findings, I support the arguments that contend the monolithic tradition in favour of a pluralist base of Sikh identity. The paper is divided into three sections. The first section shows the historical processes of the formation of a separate Sikh identity till the first quarter of the twentieth century. The second section looks at the philosophical foundations of Sikh Rahit Maryada and its practice amongst Sikhs. The final section analyses the questions of Sikh identity in the backdrop of its attempts at grappling with modernity.
The strength of the book lies in the exploration of new sites and
objects of consumer culture. Fo... more The strength of the book lies in the exploration of new sites and objects of consumer culture. For instance, themes such as the Superman, the fetishizaction of tribal art, and the making of an ethnic brand are some of the themes unexplored in the Indian context. In privileging the consumerist episteme, we do not attempt to undermine the structural categories of social consciousness such as caste, gender, ethnicity, or religion; rather we attempt the complementarity of the two. Hence, while we acknowledge the all-encompassing power of consumption to reconfigure classes from pre-ordained caste and class hierarchies, we do concede the limiting way that it does so. We are aware of the persisting violence of structural inequities especially with reference to gender and patriarchy that stand exacerbated rather than abated in the public domain of consumer culture.
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facilities such as roads, housing, health care, sanitation, etc. was quite poor. The situation of minority concentrated areas was far worse than other parts of the district, though on the whole the entire district seemed like some poor country cousin of the national capital – physically a part but far removed in any substantive sense. Our focus group discussions and case studies of villages and informal sector revealed startling inequalities and horrid tales of injustice, exploitation of labour and indifference by the state as well as the private employers. There is a strong and urgent need for remedial measures in the North- East District for it to be able to come at par with the rest of the country.
from one culture to another depending upon indigenous resistance. There is no consensus about the description of this condition. Its evidence is mostly visible in the popular culture of western world though its glimpses can be traced in almost all parts of the globe. My concern in this paper" is to look for such postmodern influences, if any, in the popular cultural tradition of Amritsar. The paper portrays the images of the city as perceived in history and grasps the contemporary changes in the cultural tradition due to the forces of globalisation and explosion of the mass media. Under focus are the new trends in culinary culture, such as a penchant for fast food; youth subculture with a detailed description of fashion, popular music, and body cult; upcoming festivals such as St. Valentine's Day, New Year's Eve, Friendship Day and Mother's Day, other sources of leisure and entertainment; wedding celebrations, and so on. Based on an exploratory field study of Amritsar, using not only the frequently used observation and interviews, but also unconventional methods such as reception analysis of the local cable network, content analysis of the local newspapers, video films of various social events, local advertisements and pamphlets, this paper seeks an interpretive understanding of the popular culture of the city.
urbanism in a culture specific context by operationalizing it in
terms of certain indices. The need to redefine the concept in this
manner arises, because there may be varieties of urbanism depending
upon inter-city and intra-city variations in terms of its functional type, historicity, the background of its inhabitants, and different levels of interaction between the city and various categories of city dwellers. Also it is contended here that urbanism may not be a uni-dimensional concept. It may have many dimensions which may manifest themselves unevenly and differently in different types of settlements, as well as within the different segments of a single population. Here urbanism is'analyzed on two dimensions viz. attitudinal and behavioural. Also the inconsistencies between the levels of urbanism in terms of these two dimensions have been highlighted.
a regular feature of Indian cityscape and articulate a new urban sociality and consumer culture underway since the late 1990s. While the development and growth of malls in Europe and America has been a gradual process starting around mid-twentieth century; in India, however,
the emergence of malls has literally been a revolution in the past two decades. And yet unlike the social inquiry in other parts of the world where shopping mall i s an established epistemological and ontological signifier of socio-spatial and cultural change, the phenomenon
of shopping malls in India has received very little scholarly attention so far. This paper fills this gap by tracing the social history and evolution of the meaning, form and function of malls in India in a comparative global framework. Further, the paper makes a critical analysis of the
existing conceptual and theoretical perspectives on malls to augment mall as a subject and object of future research.
List of Members of the Task Force
1. Dr. Meenakshi Gopinath, Member, UGC Chair
2. Prof. Mary E. John, CWDS, New Delhi Co-Chair
3. Prof. Yogendra Yadav, Member UGC Member
4. Prof. Uma Chakravarti, University of Delhi Member
5. Prof. Gopal Guru, JNU, New Delhi Member
6. Prof. Wasbir Hussain, CDPS, Guwahati Member
7. Prof. Sanjay Srivastava, IEG, Delhi Member
8. Prof. Susie Tharu, EFLU, Hyderabad Member
9. Dr. Kulwinder Kaur, Jamia Millia Islamia . Member
10. Dr. (Mrs.) Archana Thakur, DS, UGC Coordinator
Inducted Members:
1. Dr. Minoti Chatterji, Kamla Nehru College, New Delhi.
2. Dr. Janaki Abraham, Delhi School of Economics, Delhi
3. Prof. Ayesha Kidwai, Jawaharlal Nehru University
4. Ms. Anjali Bharadwaj, Satark Nagarik Sangathan, Delhi
The Report was a product of joint efforts of all the members of the Task Force.
has become a subject of intense theoretical debates in critical theory across disciplines such as sociology; philosophy; geography; history, visual arts; architecture; cultural studies, law and media studies. The English translation of Lefebvre’s ‘Production of Space’ (1991)’ revolutionized the field of Urban Studies outside the Europe and America. His seminal work turned space from being a neutral vacuum in between buildings into a metaphor for the everyday urban life which is produced not just by the forces of capitalism but through the everyday life of urban dwellers as they struggle to make claims over space. In literary theory, too, public space is read as a metaphor for contemporary cultural and critical theorizing. In fact literary theory has permeated social theory in the analysis of space.
heterogeneous within Sikh Studies. There is also a considerable debate about the time period within Sikh history when Sikhism as a religion marked its own separation from other existing religions, faiths, and Bhakti movements so as to define itself as a distinct community of believers. The Sikh Studies also reflect varied positions on the degree of distinctiveness, flexibility and coherence within the Sikh community. The sociological response to conceptually distinguish between Sikhism as a religion with its own distinctive ideology and Sikhs as a community embedded in larger Panjabi society has refined the debate within Sikh Studies about Sikh culture, polity, and identity. To a novice, it may be quite confusing to make sense of the multiplicities of typologies such as Nanak-Panthis, khalsa (Oberoi,1997[1994]), amritdhari, sehajdhari,
keshdharis (McLeod,1989), ichadharis, bikhdharis (Singh, 2004), mona (Singh, 2000) and patit (Judge and Kaur, 2010), etc., that are used to refer to Sikhs. In this paper I revisit this question of Sikh identity from two standpoints. Firstly, drawing from the growing body of literature in Sikh Studies I attempt to outline briefly the formation and crystallization of Sikhism as a distinct religion having a well-defined ideology and its response to modernity. Secondly, I take an empirical look at the significance of everyday practice of Sikh Rehat Maryada (code of conduct) amongst Sikhs to validate their claims of being Sikhs. Based on my research findings, I support the arguments that contend the monolithic tradition in favour of a pluralist base of Sikh identity. The
paper is divided into three sections. The first section shows the historical processes of the formation of a separate Sikh identity till the first quarter of the twentieth century. The second section looks at the philosophical foundations of Sikh Rahit Maryada and its practice amongst Sikhs. The final section analyses the questions of Sikh identity in the backdrop of its attempts at grappling with modernity.
facilities such as roads, housing, health care, sanitation, etc. was quite poor. The situation of minority concentrated areas was far worse than other parts of the district, though on the whole the entire district seemed like some poor country cousin of the national capital – physically a part but far removed in any substantive sense. Our focus group discussions and case studies of villages and informal sector revealed startling inequalities and horrid tales of injustice, exploitation of labour and indifference by the state as well as the private employers. There is a strong and urgent need for remedial measures in the North- East District for it to be able to come at par with the rest of the country.
from one culture to another depending upon indigenous resistance. There is no consensus about the description of this condition. Its evidence is mostly visible in the popular culture of western world though its glimpses can be traced in almost all parts of the globe. My concern in this paper" is to look for such postmodern influences, if any, in the popular cultural tradition of Amritsar. The paper portrays the images of the city as perceived in history and grasps the contemporary changes in the cultural tradition due to the forces of globalisation and explosion of the mass media. Under focus are the new trends in culinary culture, such as a penchant for fast food; youth subculture with a detailed description of fashion, popular music, and body cult; upcoming festivals such as St. Valentine's Day, New Year's Eve, Friendship Day and Mother's Day, other sources of leisure and entertainment; wedding celebrations, and so on. Based on an exploratory field study of Amritsar, using not only the frequently used observation and interviews, but also unconventional methods such as reception analysis of the local cable network, content analysis of the local newspapers, video films of various social events, local advertisements and pamphlets, this paper seeks an interpretive understanding of the popular culture of the city.
urbanism in a culture specific context by operationalizing it in
terms of certain indices. The need to redefine the concept in this
manner arises, because there may be varieties of urbanism depending
upon inter-city and intra-city variations in terms of its functional type, historicity, the background of its inhabitants, and different levels of interaction between the city and various categories of city dwellers. Also it is contended here that urbanism may not be a uni-dimensional concept. It may have many dimensions which may manifest themselves unevenly and differently in different types of settlements, as well as within the different segments of a single population. Here urbanism is'analyzed on two dimensions viz. attitudinal and behavioural. Also the inconsistencies between the levels of urbanism in terms of these two dimensions have been highlighted.
a regular feature of Indian cityscape and articulate a new urban sociality and consumer culture underway since the late 1990s. While the development and growth of malls in Europe and America has been a gradual process starting around mid-twentieth century; in India, however,
the emergence of malls has literally been a revolution in the past two decades. And yet unlike the social inquiry in other parts of the world where shopping mall i s an established epistemological and ontological signifier of socio-spatial and cultural change, the phenomenon
of shopping malls in India has received very little scholarly attention so far. This paper fills this gap by tracing the social history and evolution of the meaning, form and function of malls in India in a comparative global framework. Further, the paper makes a critical analysis of the
existing conceptual and theoretical perspectives on malls to augment mall as a subject and object of future research.
List of Members of the Task Force
1. Dr. Meenakshi Gopinath, Member, UGC Chair
2. Prof. Mary E. John, CWDS, New Delhi Co-Chair
3. Prof. Yogendra Yadav, Member UGC Member
4. Prof. Uma Chakravarti, University of Delhi Member
5. Prof. Gopal Guru, JNU, New Delhi Member
6. Prof. Wasbir Hussain, CDPS, Guwahati Member
7. Prof. Sanjay Srivastava, IEG, Delhi Member
8. Prof. Susie Tharu, EFLU, Hyderabad Member
9. Dr. Kulwinder Kaur, Jamia Millia Islamia . Member
10. Dr. (Mrs.) Archana Thakur, DS, UGC Coordinator
Inducted Members:
1. Dr. Minoti Chatterji, Kamla Nehru College, New Delhi.
2. Dr. Janaki Abraham, Delhi School of Economics, Delhi
3. Prof. Ayesha Kidwai, Jawaharlal Nehru University
4. Ms. Anjali Bharadwaj, Satark Nagarik Sangathan, Delhi
The Report was a product of joint efforts of all the members of the Task Force.
has become a subject of intense theoretical debates in critical theory across disciplines such as sociology; philosophy; geography; history, visual arts; architecture; cultural studies, law and media studies. The English translation of Lefebvre’s ‘Production of Space’ (1991)’ revolutionized the field of Urban Studies outside the Europe and America. His seminal work turned space from being a neutral vacuum in between buildings into a metaphor for the everyday urban life which is produced not just by the forces of capitalism but through the everyday life of urban dwellers as they struggle to make claims over space. In literary theory, too, public space is read as a metaphor for contemporary cultural and critical theorizing. In fact literary theory has permeated social theory in the analysis of space.
heterogeneous within Sikh Studies. There is also a considerable debate about the time period within Sikh history when Sikhism as a religion marked its own separation from other existing religions, faiths, and Bhakti movements so as to define itself as a distinct community of believers. The Sikh Studies also reflect varied positions on the degree of distinctiveness, flexibility and coherence within the Sikh community. The sociological response to conceptually distinguish between Sikhism as a religion with its own distinctive ideology and Sikhs as a community embedded in larger Panjabi society has refined the debate within Sikh Studies about Sikh culture, polity, and identity. To a novice, it may be quite confusing to make sense of the multiplicities of typologies such as Nanak-Panthis, khalsa (Oberoi,1997[1994]), amritdhari, sehajdhari,
keshdharis (McLeod,1989), ichadharis, bikhdharis (Singh, 2004), mona (Singh, 2000) and patit (Judge and Kaur, 2010), etc., that are used to refer to Sikhs. In this paper I revisit this question of Sikh identity from two standpoints. Firstly, drawing from the growing body of literature in Sikh Studies I attempt to outline briefly the formation and crystallization of Sikhism as a distinct religion having a well-defined ideology and its response to modernity. Secondly, I take an empirical look at the significance of everyday practice of Sikh Rehat Maryada (code of conduct) amongst Sikhs to validate their claims of being Sikhs. Based on my research findings, I support the arguments that contend the monolithic tradition in favour of a pluralist base of Sikh identity. The
paper is divided into three sections. The first section shows the historical processes of the formation of a separate Sikh identity till the first quarter of the twentieth century. The second section looks at the philosophical foundations of Sikh Rahit Maryada and its practice amongst Sikhs. The final section analyses the questions of Sikh identity in the backdrop of its attempts at grappling with modernity.
objects of consumer culture. For instance, themes such as the Superman, the fetishizaction of tribal art, and the making of an ethnic
brand are some of the themes unexplored in the Indian context. In
privileging the consumerist episteme, we do not attempt to undermine
the structural categories of social consciousness such as caste,
gender, ethnicity, or religion; rather we attempt the complementarity
of the two. Hence, while we acknowledge the all-encompassing
power of consumption to reconfigure classes from pre-ordained
caste and class hierarchies, we do concede the limiting way that it
does so. We are aware of the persisting violence of structural inequities
especially with reference to gender and patriarchy that stand
exacerbated rather than abated in the public domain of consumer
culture.