Panel Organizers:

Prof. Santosh Ghosh - Centre for Built Environment, Kolkata, India
Dr. Tapash Biswas - Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India

Abstract

With rapid urbanization, economic growth, rural development and globalization there is marked structural changes in cities and villages in South Asia. Some cities have become big and there are demographic, physical, economic, technological and environmental imbalances within such megacities. Conflict between conservation and modernism can be vividly seen. The urban transformation with disappearing character and flavour, real estate boom and rising informal sector are presenting new urban landscapes.

A big city is an oasis for rural poverty. The villages near or around the cities are affected. There is structural transformation in villages. An understanding of the nature of functional relationship between the villages and cities is necessary - how population pressure, non-farm income, migration etc. leads to the change in the household structure and inevitable land use changes.

Mythri Prasad, Centre for Development Studies, Kerala, India
Geographies of Capital and Labour in Trivandrum City
 
Labour migrations are often perceived through the ‘push & pull' framework that emphasizes the specific local conditions at the places of origin and employment. The paper recognizes that even regional and sub,regional labour migrations have their underpinnings in the larger global economy besides in the local, microstructures. The movement of ethnic labour from the northern and eastern parts of India to the public work construction sites in Kerala managed by transnational corporations is a case in point. By attempting an ethnography of the road construction sites and tracing the every day practices of the international lending agencies, technical consultancy companies and construction corporations, the paper tries to understand the political economic context in which the construction of roads takes place, tracing the role of different actors and processes involved in the production. Towards this, it examines the continuities and discontinuities in the institutional matrix; in patterns of movements of capital and labour and in the roles different actors play in these processes.
 
 Focusing on the road construction sites in Trivandrum City, the paper attempts to understand the political economy of urban infrastructure building in the context of a regime of privatization. It explores the patterns and trajectories of relocations of ethnic communities of villages in Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand in these new spaces of global capital. Pieces of legislation concerning roads, documents of international lending agencies and the public works department, conversations with workers and visits to their living quarters and work sites, and interviews with local contractors, engineers and company officials are the major sources of this study. While exploring the spaces of  work and living inhabited by the workers, availability and distribution of food turns out to be part of a technology of labour control which, later on, after the death of two workers in one of the ‘labour camps' churns out a discourse on migrant workers and their rights enacted mostly through the media. The paper, by recognizing the discursive practices concerning urban infrastructure,flyovers, underpasses, escalators, metro railway and straight and smooth roads, situates the aspirations of smaller cities like Trivandrum who pursue the trail marks of ‘megacities'.
 Anupam Sharma, Meerut, India
Process of Urbanization, Environmental Pressure and need of an effective law and order system: A Case Study of India
 The basic function of the state is to maintain peace and order, and for this purpose from times immemorial it has created one institution or the other. In ancient times this used to be the duty of army, but to face the challenges and impacts of socio, economic and political developments, specialized administrative agencies have been created to deal with this fundamental function of the state. Now, all over the world police has been entrusted the task of maintaining order in the civil society to ensure security and speedy economic development.
Urbanisation is natural corollary of socio,economic development and it has added new complexities to the already worsening situation of law and order. In this situation the duty of police is not only to maintain law and order but to act as a catalyst of development. The objective of the paper is to ascertain as to what extent the police force has remained successful in achieving these goals? In this perspective the hypothetical question is that can effective policing channelise the fruits of development to the last man in society?
-           It is a fast upcoming accountable system? and
-           Police,people interface is necessary for making the Police system responsive, sensitive and result oriented? 
The above hypothetical questions have been examined in Indian context. India represents almost the entire South Asian region with all the challenges of Urbanization and Industrialization. It is being observed that the administration has been found wanting to deal with the challenges of modernisation in terms of urbanisation. It is being mentioned time and again that if law and order is maintained properly in India the fruits of development would reach the deprived section of the society and that the police force may be helpful in this task with its increased accountability sensitivity and commitment to national goals.
 
Ravi Sannabhadti, IRMA Gujarat, India
Case for Sustainable livelihoods in the peri,urban : Ahmedabad
 
Peri-urban or urban fringe settlements are characterized by various flows from the urban. These flows tend to have an impact on the social, economic and physical aspects in these settlements. The current paper puts forth the impacts on the livelihood sustainability in the peri,urban due to the urban impacts. The sustainable livelihoods framework given by DFID and adapted by Homeless international is used for the analysis of the various livelihood groups in these settlements. Through the study various stake gainers and stakelosers are identified in the process of urban expansion with respect to the sustainability of livelihood options currently adopted.
The analysis also focuses on the institutional mechanisms and governance setup prevailing in Ahmedabad. The interaction of these various facets of urban expansion driven by multiple players including the market forces leaves a large section of the populace vulnerable in terms of long,term usable resources. The stake losers gain in the short term but are ultimately the losers as they lose out on such resources that are productive in the long run. Though there is an exchange of resources such an exchange is unfair and pushes large sections to the brink of vulnerability. This paper makes a case for the fair exchange and controlled expansion of the urban without causing factors that induce displacement and render the people vulnerable. The expansion process itself should have inbuilt mechanisms, to include those who might be rendered vulnerable, by adopting bottom up approach of planning and strengthening the local level institutions and communities.
 
Qazi Azizul Mowla, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology,
Dhaka, Bangladesh and Mohammad Sazzad Hossain, Design-Theme, Dhaka
Traditional Wisdom in Managing the Dhaka Metropolis
 
Dhaka's urban morphology has two patterns of growth, a formal pattern evolving out of western influence and another informal pattern expressing more widely shared culture. Informal pattern is a result of a traditional socio,spatial set up where the citizens contributed directly. On the other hand, contemporary institutional framework, which is sectoral in nature, gives rise to a formal pattern. It is too obsessed with physical appearances or elaborate institutional/ legal framework for a viable community and a dynamic city. Conflict between tradition and modernism can be vividly seen. But, any attempt to institutionalize efforts without ensuring citizens participation, are not expected to yield desired result. The paper tries to explore the metamorphosis of Dhaka’s civic management which was originally participatory in nature and sees its compatibility to adopt popular pattern of growth within a formal framework. It is argued that by honouring the traditional wisdom, the indigenous institutions which depend heavily on the citizen’s participation, if revived under present context, may go a long way in the regeneration of a sustainable and vigorous city.
 
Prakash Nelliyat, Madras School of Economics, Chennai, India
Globalization, Metamorphosis, and Sustainability Challenges in South Asia: Experience from A South Indian City
 
During nineties most of the South Asian countries were liberalized and thereafter globalized their economics which led rapid economic growth and substantial structural changes in certain cities and villages.  Since South Asia is the second fastest growing economic zone (after East Asia) the major challenge is the pressure to the environment. At present the environment of South Asia is threatened as never before by increasing pollution and depletion of natural resources. After globalization substantial diversification in international trade has occurred. The manufacturing and exports of labour intensive as well as environmentally sensitive industrial products like textiles have significantly increased in developing particularly Asian countries including India. The metamorphosis of Tiruppur (a South Indian city in Tamilnadu) from an agrarian economy to the ‘knitwear capital' of India and the environmental imbalances at peripheral villages provides some insights on implications of globalization.
 
Eventhough the cotton textile (knitwear) industries in Tiruppur started in mid,nineteenth century, its growth has a moderate rate till 1990 without much structural changes or environmental impacts to the region. But industries experienced tremendous growth during 1990s particularly due to exports. The foreign exchange earnings from Tiruppur increased from US $ 64.4 million (1990) to US $ 759.4 million (2000) and US $ 1266.7 million (2005). The industries, predominantly small,scale, generate employment for about 3,00,000 people. The technological improvement in industrial sector is appreciable. The industries are well prepared for meeting the WTO agreement of Textile and Clothing which came into existence from January 2005. Recently, a mega water supply project with public,private partnership (first of its kind in Asia which supply 185 mld water) is introduced with the cost of US $ 227.4 million for meeting the industrial and domestic water need in Tiruppur. The population of Tiruppur city increased from 52,479 (1951) to 2,98,589 (2001). Besides, more migration to the city for serving the industry led considerable infrastructure deficiencies and their management is a major challenge to the Municipality. Tiruppur Urban Agglomeration also experienced substantial land use changes with a considerable reduction in agricultural land and an increase in industrial, commercial, and residential areas. 
 
The water extraction and effluent discharge (around 90 mld) by the textile processing (bleaching and dyeing) segment of knitwear industry are responsible for the environmental problems. The continues extraction of ground water from the peripheral villages of Tiruppur (may reduce in future due to the new water supply project) for industrial purpose led to the reduction of water tables and affected rural activities and livelihoods. The indiscriminate discharge of untreated or partially treated effluents over the years severely contaminated the ground water, surface water sources, and soil not only in industrial locations but also in the downstream villages of Tiruppur and its impacts on agriculture, fisheries, and drinking water sectors are critical.
 
No doubt, the Tiruppur garment industries have achieved the fundamental objective of economic reforms: ‘competition would raise quality levels domestically and enable the economy to fetch better prices in the global market'. But it is equally important to obtain the benefits of liberalization in a sustainable manner without the cost of environment. Since the pollution management efforts are in an unsatisfactory level the pressure from the overseas consumers/buyers is important. Unfortunately, the ‘eco,labels' for garments are concerned with product quality and not the manufacturing related environmental issues!
 
Tapash Biswas, Society for Women Workers and Child Labour Elimination,
New Delhi, India
Structural Transformation: Villages in Delhi Metropolitan Region
 
On perspective analysis, it has been revealed that rural population close to the urban centre has better influence of the city and differs relatively from the rural population away from it. The major question addressed in the study are; what are the spatial pattern of agricultural land use changes, education, occupational structure and standard of living and spatial variation of vegetables and food crops within the villages in general and those selected for the field study.
 
 During study a special care has been taken to understand the functional relationship between villages and the urban centers. Primary survey has been done in nine villages of Delhi Metropolitan Region covering 450 households.
 
Villages have been selected on the basis of distance. Different statistical methods are used to understand these interactions. It has been observed that there is a clear,cut gender bias in the educational attainment in the region. This indicates the existence of male dominance in Indian (patriarchal) society. Major proportion of girls attains only up to high school level. The villages in the vicinity of the metropolis seem to be changing their character (in occupation, standard of living, production of different crops) more conspicuously than those situated away from it. Distance of village from the urban area and mode of conveyance and its availability were the most important determining factors for any change.
 
Madhuri Natoo, Maharastra, India
Metamorphosis of Indian Cities and Villages
 
The common phenomenon in all the countries of South Asian region is extreme poverty, illiteracy and vast population. India is one of the prominent developing countries in this region having an industrial base. Yet, it is primarily a land of villages. As per 2001 census report, there are 6, 27,000 villages having 72.2 % of the total population.
 
Ever since independence India has been striving for economic development through the planning process. The basic objective set forth in the plans was growth with social justice through employment generation, poverty eradication and balance regional development. However, even after five decades, Indian planning could not make any significant dent in resolving there issues. Disparities developed between and within the Indian states creating few pockets of prosperity imbalances and a divide between villages and cities.
 
The villages are characterized by low levels of income, masses living in poverty, absence of sources of livelihood low level of education and thereby low levels of skills. Agriculture continues to remain the mainstay of village population. These areas cannot attract industries on account of lack of infrastructural facilities.
 
The cities on account of having infrastructure have become industrial agglomerates, attracting all types of industries and services providing job and income opportunities. These opportunities along with glamour and warmth of city life encouraged exodus of population from rural areas.
 
The policy of globalization and the opening of economy, private investment both foreign and Indian have concentrated in and around the cities for relocating of business opportunities.
 
The process of globalization coupled with liberalization has changed the metamorphosis of villages and cities. Rural poverty is aggravated by the transfer of resources including human skills. And the villages do not receive quid,pro,quo for such transfer to cities, which are becoming mega cities. By and large, the village population remained untouched by dynamic influences associated with modern economic development. The cities which saw a healthy phase are experiencing degradation, chaos and turmoil on account of strain on their infrastructures with eventually resulting into breaking down of the socio economic fabric.
 
Against this backdrop, the paper will have a focus on the following issues.
I)          to ascertain the changing pattern of employment,
II)        to evolve the growth pattern to be  adopted for ensuring Quality of Life,
III)       to examine the kind of relationship to be developed between villages and cities,
IV)       to decide on the thrust areas for bridging  gap between the  development of villages and cities.
  Sandra C. S. Marques, Lisboa, Portugal
Selling Images of South Asia.  Maldives and Kolkata, their images and its impact leading Tourism.
 
Imageability of places, cities and countries is strongly influenced by tourist and economical,political portraits in the media and marketing communication forms. As human cognition relies on inferential perception and framed categories, marketing strategies exploit partial truths in short, straight statements and places stereotyped images to direct public perceptions. 
 
When dealing with images, one can differentiate between two kinds of place similes: ‘‘rich images'' or ‘‘poor images'' and ‘‘open images'' or ‘‘closed images''. The first classification refers to knowledge exposure , a ‘‘rich image'' is that when we know a lot about them, usually from different sources; for other locations, we have a ‘‘poor image' , we know very little about them, and what we do know usually comes from only one source of information (Elizur, 1986). As for ‘‘Open images'' are those that enable one to add more characteristics, whereas ‘‘closed images'' are those to which one is not likely to add new characteristics, or at least not likely to add features that differ from the core image. Such images are also known as ‘‘stereotypes'': simplified attitudes or beliefs about a place that are not examined thoroughly and are difficult to change (Gold, 1994; Elizur, 1986).
 
This paper addresses the relationship between international perception, image building and its impact on tourism and local policy decisions towards development strategies in two contrasting places in South Asia , Maldives Islands and Kolkata.
These two sites are represented in the tourism marketing media as opposites, with "poor and closed images", and this media portrayal has implications for their position in the growing international and national competition for various resources such as, investments and businesses enterprises, particularly within tourism. The image of these places is not depending solely on their intrinsic qualities. By adopting a model strategy for advertising and mythifying results, with the right marketing of the right images , the ‘paradise utopia' , Maldives Islands makes sure that its Tourism Programme do its job in moulding foreigners' cognition and in directing them to a positive evaluation. Meanwhile, Kolkata, the mythical "third world" mega metropolis still is not able to redirect the prevailing bad images imposed by the world media.

Pushpa Kamal Subedi, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK

A Case Study Approach to Studying Fertility among the Dura

The people of the Himalayas are socially segmented along lines of caste, sub-caste and ethnic and sub-ethnic categories. Among the various socio-cultural and environmental factors influencing fertility, the Dura (a hill ethnic community in Nepal) local practices have been considered very important because it prescribes a code of life, refers to system of beliefs, attitudes and practices which individuals share in groups, and through this orientation toward life and death, is supposed to affect one's fertility behaviour. In addition, children are seen as cultural value and a labour pool where two major spheres, for example, the local farming system and the off-farm sphere are inter-locking. This paper suggests poorer women are in control of their lives. The positive relationship between fertility and poverty is not firmly established.