Mumbai / Bombay: Majoritarian Neoliberalism, Informality, Resistance, and Wellbeing

Description

Mumbai / Bombay is a quintessential urban expression which represents the questions and puzzles related to Indian urbanity. This book traces the various ways through which majoritarianism and neoliberal capitalist accumulation has reorganised Bombay or Mumbai in India. The book assesses Mumbai's present trajectories and processes as being embedded in its recent past. It looks at these changes by exploring work and labour; health and education; spatial planning and infrastructural development; politics and identity; and shows how financialisation, land speculation, deregulation, and informality have impacted the city's culture and everyday living. The contributors to this volume analyse the consequences of these changes for women and men across ages, as they live their material and cultural lives; evaluate the role of the changing nature of work, urban infrastructure, and planning; determine its outcome for public health and education; and take a measure of its manifestation in the field of arts and culture. The volume explores the processes that reorient these changes, the socio-spatial and political implications of these on the inhabitants of the city, and the resistance and response to marginalisation. This interdisciplinary volume will interest students and researchers of economics, sociology, anthropology, political science, public policy, development studies, and urban studies. It will also be useful to urban practitioners, planners, bureaucrats, activists, and general readers. Cover Endorsement Page Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents List of Illustrations Abbreviations Contributors Preface and Acknowledgements Introduction: Pathways towards Majoritarian Neoliberalism in Mumbai Mumbai from 1960s to 1990s Conclusion Notes References Part I: Work and Labour: Deregulation and Restructuring Chapter 1: Informality, missing markets, and political organisation: Case study of the Shiv Sena Section 1 Increasing informalisation of the city's economy and the changing employment structure Informalisation, missing markets, and political organisation Informalisation and mobility Section 2 Labour markets, jobs, and the founding of the Shiv Sena Politics of space and informality The Sena’s “Corporate” turn Conclusion Acknowledgements References Chapter 2: Gendered Peripheralisation of Work, Workers, and Workplace Conceptual and Methodological Situating Un-Paid Labour and Un-Development Paid Work and De-Development In Lieu of a Conclusion References Chapter 3: Living with Precariousness: Survival in Small Manufacturing Enterprises Framing the Conceptual Argument History of Intersectional Precariousness Stigma and Tenuous Dependencies in Vishesh Nagar Building Pehchaan: Strategies and Costs Conclusion Acknowledgements Notes References Chapter 4: Neoliberalism and Majoritarian Politics: Hindutva and Restructuring the Meat Business Urban Restructuring Slaughtering as Informal Caste Labour Beef Ban Meat Export Conclusion References Part II: Infrastructure and Politics: Negotiation and Resistance Chapter 5: Infrastructure Projects and Sustainable Development A Framework to Understand Infrastructure Projects in Mumbai: Historical Background PPPs and Newer Modes of Infrastructure Creation Case Studies of Recent Large Infrastructure Projects in Mumbai The Mumbai Metro Navi Mumbai International Airport and Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust Discussion and Conclusions Acknowledgements Notes References Chapter 6: Legislating the Urban in Vasai-Virar: Planning (in) the Periphery The urban in/and the periphery Vasai-Virar in transition Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Planning (and Development) Planning/schemes in Vasai-Virar CIDCO Hatao (remove CIDCO) Vasaikars' oppose the state ’ s planning policies Two phases of the struggle: HVSS and JAS Vasai-Virar: refuge of the poor The making of a political constituency Conclusion Acknowledgements Notes References Chapter 7: Socio-spatial embedding of platform mobilities: A Study on Taxi Driving Aim and approach of the contribution Urban embeddedness of the platform economy Transformation of Mumbai’s taxi sector Taxi modernisation and its impact on driving communities Emergence of digital mobility platforms in Mumbai Regulatory dis-embedding of mobility platforms and state response From micro-entrepreneurship to fleet operations Rejecting platform attachment Social embedding of mobility platforms Communities embracing the platforms Hierarchies and dynamics in large fleet networks Platform practices of surveillance and control Conclusion Notes References Chapter 8: The Difficult Quest for Solidarity and Citizenship: Civility, Politics, and Neoliberalism Introduction: The problem of civility and solidarity Powai and its neoliberal transformation Neoliberalism and the grassroots: Problematising political response and resistance Civility, Politics, and the Difficult Quest for Solidarity and Citizenship in Mumbai Politics and Responses to Neoliberalism in Mumbai: Some Conclusions Acknowledgements Notes References Part III: Well-being and Reproduction of Life: Corporatisation and Privatisation Chapter 9: Health and healthcare in the city: A Social History Perspective Describing the context Health and Healthcare in the City Health status and access to healthcare Public systems and their deterioration Private healthcare network By way of a discussion Acknowledgements Notes References Chapter 10: Right Place, Right Time: Ambulances, Injury, and Trauma in Motion Traumatic Injury in Mumbai Research Methods Ambulances in Mumbai City of Temporality City of Logistics City of Innovation Conclusion Notes References Chapter 11: The Good Muslim Student: Neoliberal Education and Islamic-English Schools Introduction: The Promise of Deen and Duniya No Getting out of the Mohalla Minority Education, Majoritarian Agendas Schooling the Muslim Middle Class Reinforcing Identity through Faith and Piety Conclusion: Anxieties of the Marginalised Acknowledgements Notes References Chapter 12: Neoliberalism and sustainability in the art ecosystem The emergence of a commercially centred art scene Mapping the Mumbai art ecosystem Blocked veins Art’s changing relationship to society Conclusion Notes References Glossary Index