By Shilpa Santhosh

Abstract

Marginal urbanism often acts on social exclusion. Social exclusion in India has developed over caste and religion of communities. Dalits, Muslims and Adivasis occupy the poorest neighbourhoods in Indian cities. People belonging to minority communities are forced to occupy spaces of locational disadvantage, where they are recipients of inadequate sanitation, education and health care facilities from the civic and municipal corporations. Adding onto this, Indian cities, especially Delhi, have been removing slum dwellers and minority communities from their spaces of residence, creating tension and increasing the list of displaced people. This article will trace elements of marginal urbanism and how it has influenced “clearing up” the Indian cities as India presides over the 2023 G20 summit. 

Marginal Urbanism in India 

Urbanization in India has created elements of exclusion and division, the brunt of which is mostly faced by poor minority communities. The growth of select development in cities and urban spaces is also one factor leading to the formation of slums and informal settlements. India currently has the Smart Cities project implemented across 100 cities intending to transform these cities into places of quality and economic growth. However, only selected areas of the cities are being transformed as they are spaces either occupied by the upper class or hubs of tourist attractions. This selective transformation of various cities poses the negligence of other areas, especially those spaces occupied by the marginalised communities. 

This renewed urbanised culture caters to Marginal Urbanism, where people, spaces and residences are excluded from development and transformation. Marginal Urbanism refers to the existence and characteristics of marginalized or disadvantaged urban areas within cities, and these areas are often characterized by social and economic decay, degraded urban environments, and a negative territorial stigma.

Marginal urbanism has forced people to settle in areas not allocated by municipal corporations, increasing the number of slum dwellers and settlements. As India presides over the 2023 G20 summit, the slum settlements stand against the values of development that India represents. With the G20 summit progressing, municipal corporations around the country are clearing up the slum settlements to protect the Indian image of development. This “urban cleansing” has further deepened urban exclusion, displacing thousands of underprivileged migrants and slum dwellers.  

Breaking Families and Homes: G20 Edition

India’s G20 presidency began in December 2022, with the meetings scheduled to extend up to the third quarter of 2023. Although the most important meetings are to be conducted in New Delhi, the summit also holds varied locations like Goa, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Lucknow, Indore, Jodhpur, Chennai, Chandigarh, Thiruvananthapuram and many more cities on countless themes ranging from Health to Finance. The extent of the G20 Summit’s influence on these cities has catered to extensive urban cleansing by municipal corporations. 

In the early months of 2023, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi conducted an extensive anti-encroachment drive intending to remove all “encroachments” in the Yamuna Flood Plain area. This drive displaced around 300 residents, leaving them with no roof above their heads. At the same time, Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board [DUSIB] also demolished shelters in Sarai Kale Khan, leaving hundreds of men homeless. It is believed that such demolitions are taking place as part of the G20 beautification drive. 

Punjabi Bagh, Tughalabad, and Mayur Vihar are some of the areas in Delhi that are under the scanner for demolition. Many other sites are at risk of demolition, and the number of people getting displaced is also increasing. The civic bodies are not providing any alternatives to the displaced, forcing them to settle in other dingy spaces/areas within the city. This is also a violation of Section 247 of the New Delhi Municipal Council Act 1994, which states that“no order of demolition shall be made unless the person has been given, by means of a notice served, a reasonable opportunity of showing cause why such order shall not be made”. 

G20 beautification and slum clearance are not just restricted to Delhi’s urban spaces. This can be spotted in several other Indian cities, from Bangalore to Hyderabad, Indore to Gandhinagar and many more. In all these, the key driver of urban beautification and development is the international summits and events in these cities. In India’s Reluctant Urbanization: Thinking Beyond, it was observed that the sizes of the cities are usually in sync with the infrastructural investments. This adds to the fact that major cities like Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, and Hyderabad receive plenty of urban projects. With this, one can also assume that urban beautification is treated as a political symbol, hoping to represent the urbanized lives people of these cities lead. In such cases, urban projects become more than themselves.

A Repetition Of History: 2010 Common Wealth Games

Urban displacement due to an international summit or event is not the first occurrence in India. The same series of events had happened during the urban beautification at the time of the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi. Around 2,50,000 people were left homeless as part of Delhi’s beautification project, evicting people from different city ends. The establishment of village games and stadiums cleared out people in clusters. The Juhgi-Jopri is one such cluster that had to face the brunt of it. 

Forced evictions stand as a cruel infringement of fundamental human rights, and such acts during the construction of stadiums in Delhi for around 16-19 sites plummeted marginalised people into pits of despair and poverty. The forced evictions in Delhi not only curtailed fundamental human rights but it was not implemented according to the planned eviction chart, as set by the United Nations. Such sudden evictions leave the displaced with little or no time to prepare themselves or even look for alternatives to relocate. 

The evictions must also take place in a very methodological manner, where forces of police officers and other administrations are available, the reasons for eviction being told to the settlers, and preferably, relocating them to other spaces of residence. The lack of all this had filled the Delhi evictions with gruesome and cruel administrative activities. This also meant that instances of misuse of power dynamics were witnessed, as people were left homeless. 

Conclusion

Contemporary urban projects and beautification further deepen marginal urbanism, trapping marginalised people in this vicious housing cycle. To effectively address the core issue of marginal urbanism, it is imperative to implement development projects in cities that prioritise uplifting socially and geographically disadvantaged individuals rather than utilizing them as a means of prestige. 

Developed cities are not just cadets of pride but also stepping stones to improving the living conditions of a country’s residents. India must shift the aim of its urban policies from that. India has come a long way since 1947 in terms of development, and she still has a long way to go. 

About the Author

Shilpa Santhosh is a public policy postgraduate at the Jindal School of Government and Public Policy. As an aspiring policy analyst, she has a keen interest in health policy, urban governance & planning, and human rights.

Image Source: https://www.independent.co.uk/asia/india/g20-summit-mumbai-slums-sheets-b2245651.html